[SA Chris]

https://gripped.com/video/mountain-biker-rides-classic-burgers-and-fries-in-squamish/

sod that.

[jwi]

hahaha!

[User deactivated.]

This seems to be the MTB equivalent of someone free-soloing a jug ladder up the side of a high-rise building.

Looks cool but doesn't look very hard.

[Fultonius]

This seems to be the MTB equivalent of someone free-soloing a jug ladder up the side of a high-rise building.

Looks cool but doesn't look very hard.

With a step ladder 1/5 of the way up it 

Pretty mad though, cynicism aside.

[SA Chris]

Equivalent of a bouldering pad when soloing a big route, legit. Anywhere else, they would have piled up a big pile of dirt.

LH, I've done the route, and it's plenty steep enough.

[remus]

UK edition https://www.instagram.com/p/CA-FF3xnXHY/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I remember seeing the pics and wondering if it'd be alright, then climbed it and decided it was fucking mental.

[MischaHY]

UK edition https://www.instagram.com/p/CA-FF3xnXHY/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I remember seeing the pics and wondering if it'd be alright, then climbed it and decided it was fucking mental.

Prime difference between sports like DH and climbing though isn't it. I feel like risk tolerance in bike sports is vastly higher than in climbing. I always found it bizarre that I could onsight solo grit E5 but couldn't get myself to do remotely techy drops. The biggest stuff I ever hit was the easy but somewhat long drops at Stile Cop. Funny how it's straightforward to tolerate low risk high consequence for some people but then others can hit big drops all day but never fathom the idea of soloing. I've always wondered who is more risk averse but I think it's the climbers who are judging the risk factor correctly.

[cheque]

I feel like risk tolerance in bike sports is vastly higher than in climbing. I always found it bizarre that I could onsight solo grit E5 but couldn't get myself to do remotely techy drops.

Boldness and confidence involving momentum is almost a completely different type to that used in most climbing I think. I climb/ have climbed with a few people who are ridiculously confident and gung-ho when blasting around on a mountain bike course or driving around country lanes too fast but hate to move away from gear, while I’ve always been (much more so before my accident but it comes back more all the time) the other way round.

I guess one is having the confidence in reacting to external dangers very quickly and the other is the confidence in staying calm in a slow-paced situation where you’re responsible for initiating the movement and have time to think?

Having the combination of the two is really the ideal I guess with the extreme example being someone like Dan Osman who can climb really quickly and dyno while soloing.

[User deactivated.]

UK edition https://www.instagram.com/p/CA-FF3xnXHY/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I remember seeing the pics and wondering if it'd be alright, then climbed it and decided it was fucking mental.

Prime difference between sports like DH and climbing though isn't it. I feel like risk tolerance in bike sports is vastly higher than in climbing. I always found it bizarre that I could onsight solo grit E5 but couldn't get myself to do remotely techy drops. The biggest stuff I ever hit was the easy but somewhat long drops at Stile Cop. Funny how it's straightforward to tolerate low risk high consequence for some people but then others can hit big drops all day but never fathom the idea of soloing. I've always wondered who is more risk averse but I think it's the climbers who are judging the risk factor correctly.

I'm the other way round. Maybe because I'm a better bike rider and have much more experience than I do with climbing, but I feel that I have a better understanding of what I can get away with on bikes. More often than not, crashing isn't that bad when you know how to fall well (riding BMX competitively as a teenager is like earning a black belt in how to crash well, twice I've hit the roof upside down with my wheels and got away with it!). The times I've got hurt have usually been a freak accident on something very easy. I guess this is similar to Honnold's quote about no free soloists dying whilst trying something cutting edge. When I was at my very best around the age of 21, I knocked myself unconscious after my front wheel slid on the coping, just dropping into a quarter pipe to start a run. I could have done this blindfolded and moments before had been attempting flairwhips (backflip 180 with a tailwhip) on the same ramp!

When it comes to climbing, I'm fairly brave when it comes to bouldering and highballs, but I have absolutely no tolerance for solos where the most likely consequence of a mistake is death or being properly spannered, even where the probability is low. The consequence might look similar on 50 foot MTB gaps, but in my experience it's usually not.

Essentially, MTB/BMX/skateboarding = high probability, moderate consequence, and soloing/dodgy trad = low probability, high consequence. If you define risk as probability x consequence then the overall risk is probably higher in MTB, but that doesn't tell the whole story.

[SamT]

I've always thought the devils slide on Lundy was a prime candiate. Big vert drop in then smoothing out into a long long slab. However, theres a big wave cut platform at the base that you'd have to build a plywood ramp up, which would spectacularly launch you miles into the air to then plunge into the atlantic. Danny M stylee. 

Doubt you'd get permission mind. SSSI, marine nature reserve etc.

[SA Chris]

What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over!

There is a wee gap to aim for on the climber's left side.

[steveri]

Right then. Anyone reckon one of the Noggarth slabs would go on a fixie?
https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/noggarth-1390/#photos&gid=1&pid=4

[steveri]

Kinda reminds me off the insanely modded jeeps we came across in Moab https://www.amusingplanet.com/2015/05/hells-revenge-and-lion-back.html

[jwi]

UK edition https://www.instagram.com/p/CA-FF3xnXHY/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I remember seeing the pics and wondering if it'd be alright, then climbed it and decided it was fucking mental.

Prime difference between sports like DH and climbing though isn't it. I feel like risk tolerance in bike sports is vastly higher than in climbing.  [...]

Downhill mountainbiking has gotten popular among a certain subset of Scandinavian climbers. None of my old friends there  can climb anymore because they have sustained multiple complicated fractures or permanent brain injuries from stupid cycling crashes. No one has died from cycling though, and fatal accidents seems to be more common in climbing. Convenience sample, obviously.

[IanP]

Downhill mountainbiking has gotten popular among a certain subset of Scandinavian climbers. None of my old friends there  can climb anymore because they have sustained multiple complicated fractures or permanent brain injuries from stupid cycling crashes. No one has died from cycling though, and fatal accidents seems to be more common in climbing. Convenience sample, obviously.

I've done a fair amount of mountain biking over the years (though significantly less than climbing) both xc and enduro/downhill.  My personal experience and back of envelope analysis of people I know is that the chance of minor to fairly major injury is much higher in mountain biking than climbing, while climbing has a higher (but still pretty small) chance of fatal/near fatal inury.

[Fultonius]

UK edition https://www.instagram.com/p/CA-FF3xnXHY/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I remember seeing the pics and wondering if it'd be alright, then climbed it and decided it was fucking mental.

Prime difference between sports like DH and climbing though isn't it. I feel like risk tolerance in bike sports is vastly higher than in climbing.  [...]

Downhill mountainbiking hasgotten popular among a certain subset of Scandinavian climbers. None of my old friends there  can climb anymore because they have sustained multiple complicated fractures or permanent brain injuries from stupid cycling crashes. No one has died from cycling though, and fatal accidents seems to be more common in climbing. Convenience sample, obviously.

I think the highlighted bit is key...

I grew up as a kid mountainbiking (when I started full-suss wasn't even a thing), progressed through the ranks in the DH racing scene (came 4th overall in Scotland one year, in seniors (not elite). (nostalgia brag over) and I still ride a fair bit now, on and off.

My observation is that anyone who picked it up as an adult hasn't learned how to fall, and therefore ends up with broken wrists, collarbones etc.

Out of all the people I used to ride and race with, none have suffered life changing injuries. (that I can remember).

Also the thing someone mentioned about the dynamic aspect is also very relevant. You have so much more time to ponder and weigh things up soloing.

I'm clearly getting less risk tolerant on the bikes as I age though... We left Whistler to the end of our Canada trip, not the start! Did manage a few laps of A-line though 

[IanP]

I think the highlighted bit is key...

I grew up as a kid mountainbiking (when I started full-suss wasn't even a thing), progressed through the ranks in the DH racing scene (came 4th overall in Scotland one year, in seniors (not elite). (nostalgia brag over) and I still ride a fair bit now, on and off.

My observation is that anyone who picked it up as an adult hasn't learned how to fall, and therefore ends up with broken wrists, collarbones etc.

Out of all the people I used to ride and race with, none have suffered life changing injuries. (that I can remember).

Agree on the not suffering life changing injuries but most people I know have done any significant DH biking have had accidents which required hospital treatment, broken bones etc.  This includes those who took it up at a younger age such as my brothers lad who raced moderately seriously in his mid/late teens (competitive but just below the top age level lads),  I think significant injuries including broken bones are pretty much part of the sport in the way that isn't really true for climbing - climbers do break ankles etc but in my experience it's much more likely to see people complaining about overuse injuries with fingers, elbows, shoulders etc.

You're right about the learning to fall bit, remember seeing a lad doing 360s at Glentress and was actually even more impressed when he missed one and managed to dismount and run down the hill as if it was nothing!

[webbo]

Broken bones are very common for road cyclists who are basically just riding on smooth surface.

[User deactivated.]

Ah, memories! Managed to dig up an old riding video with a crash montage near the beginning.

To give an idea of the amount I used to crash, I think this was all filmed over around 4 sessions! 



I still wouldn't solo a 30m VS, but I would try a 10m highball at my limit.

[SA Chris]

Broken bones are very common for road cyclists who are basically just riding on smooth surface.

One of my climbing mates who has stopped climbing, went from enduro to cyclocross to road racing and injuries have got worse. Broke both collar bones in races.

[chriss]

The main danger's with road cycling are cars & doing 40 odd mph with 1mm of lycra and a piss pot for protection. Most half savvy MTB riders (especially DH) go full face helmet, knees & spine protection. Obviously BMX is too cool for anything.

I've mixed it up between BMX, MTB & climbing most of my life. 80% of my serious breaks/ bashes have been riding DH on natural terrain. The speed & fact that there's trees, rock's to hit make it a painful one. When it goes wrong it goes wrong fast & it's hard to get out of.

[kingholmesy]

I’ve been seriously thinking of buying a mountain bike.  Reading this thread is making me think twice. 

[SA Chris]

You can do it at any level you choose. My wheels rarely go more than a couple of inches off the ground and I can still have a great time out. You just choose the strength of your poison. If you buy an e-bike I will be bitterly disappointed though!

[kingholmesy]

No danger of an e-bike! Looking at hardcore hardtails - might have to quiz the UKB hive mind on what exactly to go for another day.