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The fastest I've ever gone on a pushbike was around 80 km/h (50 mph), down a hill. It's pretty fun and a great adrenaline rush, but holy shit it's dangerous. I

The fastest I've ever gone on a pushbike was around 80 km/h (50 mph), down a hill. It's pretty fun and a great adrenaline rush, but holy shit it's dangerous. It's not like I was wearing protective gear, my polystyrene helmet and lycra wasn't going to protect me at that speed. All it would've taken for me to fuck myself up was a large stone or a nail in my tyre or even just speed wobbles. I stopped hill bombing pretty quick. It's not really worth the risk. The fastest I've managed on a flat is around 60-70 km/h, drafting behind a random car. That's also not safe, if the driver tapped their brakes, I'd go straight into them. There's something so cool about going at car speeds, but without a motor.

komali2 8y ago
As I get older, every time I find myself cruising at 50mph in traffic on the freeway on my motorcycle, I ask myself how the fuck younger me thought this was an acceptable speed at which to start lanesplitting. Was I insane? Nowadays I'll start around 40, more like 30, and never more than 10 over. It's a shame so many motorcyclists die young, before they get a chance to "grow into" some safety sense. I distinctly remember talking with my friends age 12 about how (apologies) "gay" helmets were on our bicycles. We'd speedbomb hills too, it was fun. I remember feeling no fear back then. I remember my parents telling me "you're an idiot for thinking you're invulnerable." Why do we think that way when we're young, that we're immune to damage? What changes? We experience more death firsthand? If I hadn't had to clean up car accidents and watch a friend lose her intelligence to a helmetless bicycle accident, would I still feel invulnerable? I wonder about this woman - did she do this because she lacked the fear? Or did she feel it, and all the positives of doing it overruled her fear? Maybe she was just confident enough in her safety measures to do it anyway?
- sbr464 8y ago
  You aren’t alone. Younger me is a scary person.
- blihp 8y ago
  When you're young and lucky you lack both the experience of bad things happening to you and others and, if you're healthy, you think 'well I've always felt pretty much the way I feel now and when I get hurt I heal pretty fast' so you don't think too much about it. Also, most of the people around you tend to be in the same state, though there were probably at least a few exceptions but they were so few that they're easy to overlook. Then you get older and experience aches and pains where there were none before, when you get hurt instead of shaking it off you either take longer to heal and/or need a trip to the doctor, maybe you deal with a nasty illness/injury or two, see people you know dealing with and/or taken out by nastier things. Throughout all this you start becoming your parents saying things like 'stop running around with that... you could put an eye out' (hell, by this time you probably met someone who did just that) I figure in a few more years I'll be driving 20mph in the fast lane with my blinkers on... after all, what's the rush? Hey kids, get off my lawn! ;-)
  - macintux 8y ago
    > (hell, by this time you probably met someone who did just that) My young cousins were playing tug of war with a bungie cord. One let go and the other ended up with a damaged eyeball.
- sbr464 8y ago
  Here’s a tldr on the subject, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2396593/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2396593/
  - craftyguy 8y ago
    > Here’s a tldr on the subject, That's the longest tldr I've ever seen.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
- nickpsecurity 8y ago
  An EMT in the family told me they call the ones without helmets "future, organ donors." Said they see too many of them that don't make it. I just try to stay away from anyone on a bike when I'm driving. I don't do it myself, though, cuz I was worried about potholes, deer, and so on. I figured I'd crash over something small I didn't see or avoid in time. My reflexes aren't that good. ;)
  - dvdkhlng 8y ago
    I think people are overestimating the merit of normal bicycle helmets. I think the actual effect is something like this ([1]): > The most reliable estimates indicate that at speeds of up to 20 km/h helmets reduce the risk of head injury by 42%, the risk of brain injury by 53%, and the risk of facial injury by 17%, whereas they increase the risk of neck injury by 32%. These estimates are partly based on research carried out in countries like the United States and Australia, where standards for bicycle helmets are stricter than they are in Europe and can offer protection at higher impact speeds. In wikipedia [2] I find this quote: "This effect is statistically significant in older studies. New studies, summarised by a random-effects model of analysis, indicate only a statistically non-significant protective effect" And to the parents around here, make sure your kids know when to not wear a helmet (choking accidents [3]) [1] https://www.helmets.org/stats.htm#effectiveness https://www.helmets.org/stats.htm#effectiveness [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet#Effectiveness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet#Effectiveness [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet#Accidental_hanging_by_helmet_straps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet#Accidental_hang...
    - komali2 8y ago
      I wonder if the neck injury thing is just because a "lesser than" injury is actually getting reported? I haven't seen anything in the article about it, but for example iirc there was this hullabaloo about motorcycle helmet data indicating an increase in back injuries for helmet-wearers, until someone pointed out that dead-on-site riders would be reported as simply "dead," with their injuries unaccounted for.
      - 8y ago
- gnulinux 8y ago
  I was maybe 10 or younger and I was speedbombing downhill with my younger sister. We were fearless and very, very fast. Of course we weren't wearing any helmet or whatever. One time as we were racing, she was winning, she shifted her bike toward my direction and slowed down. I ran into her bike and flew out of my bike. Next thing I know I'm in the air, falling down towards the hill. When I finally hit the ground, I uncontrollably rolled downhill another maybe 10 meters. All my face and body was covered in blood and soil. My mom, seeing this incident from far away, ran for help. She told me, when I grew up, that when she was close enough to see me she was sure I was dead because of all the blood on the asphalt and what not. But thanks to the gods of probability, I didn't even break a bone. I don't understand how can human body can be so resilient that a 10 year old kid can survive such an accident without any damage other than his skin (and it wasn't permenant, I forgot about this event until now). I was stupid and I probably did that again and again, possibly even the next day. Now 15 years later, I bike everyday, but I bike very cautiously. I was lucky once, I don't wanna try my luck again.
  - jacquesm 8y ago
    The big factor is that you simply weigh less.
    - TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
      Also, as far as I understand, growing bones impart a bit more flexiblity to the skeleton due to epiphyseal plates at either end of long bones. Or is this a myth?
      - MaxfordAndSons 8y ago
        I believe that's true, but I doubt it's really a factor in this phenomenon of kids surviving high speed crashes that would likely be fatal to adults. It's really just a matter of a less massive body generating (exponentially) less force on impact.
    - p1necone 8y ago
      The inverse square law is a powerful thing.
- keyle 8y ago
  Same. Been riding 15 years. My goal is always to be able to ride tomorrow.
- felipemnoa 8y ago
  >>Why do we think that way when we're young, that we're immune to damage? The answer to this question is simple: Ignorance It is the same ignorance that causes a toddler to put its hand in the fire without any fear. >>What changes? The experience of being burned is what changes. You are no longer ignorant. >>Maybe she was just confident enough in her safety measures to do it anyway? Or maybe she's just an adrenaline junkie. Also, doing something dangerous plenty of times with no consequences will reduce your fear.
- accrual 8y ago
  There's definitely a fearless aspect that comes with youth. I recall mine vividly and there were certainly times I gambled with my life. It's helped me grow as a person but I could never recommend such recklessness in hindsight. Perhaps some things can be learned but not taught.
- zwily 8y ago
  At least kids seem to be getting better about helmets. It’s really really rare that I ever see a kid not wearing one when mountain biking, at least where I am.
  - ndnxhs 8y ago
    I have never seen someone at the mountain bike park without a helmet. That would be just insane. Also most of the people taking on the tough trails have full face helemets.
  - ghaff 8y ago
    Helmets have become more common for a lot of activities. They used to be unheard of in skiing unless you were a racer and now are probably worn by most--especially kids. Of course, e-scooters and bike shares provide a counter-trend as they don't make it convenient to have a helmet.
    - Filligree 8y ago
      > They used to be unheard of in skiing unless you were a racer and now are probably worn by most--especially kids. What, seriously? What kind of skiing are you talking about? I've never once seen anyone wear a helmet for cross-country skiing, and I wouldn't think it's necessary anyway. For one thing it's usually walking pace, but also snow is soft.
      - ghaff 8y ago
        I thought it was obvious I was talking about downhill skiing. Of course people don't wear helmets for cross-country even for racing.
      - amalcon 8y ago
        Presumably grandparent means downhill. Twenty years ago, you basically couldn't buy an adult-sized helmet for alpine skiing even if you wanted to. These days, it's weird not to have one. I think the change was due to some high profile deaths from tree collisions in the late 90s.
- blotter_paper 8y ago
  > Why do we think that way when we're young, that we're immune to damage? What changes? I'm not saying that all of the "life experiences" answers are wrong, but I think there's more to it. For an organism to be successful it has to survive (to a point), but it also has to be efficient at doing physical tasks. I think we're naturally inclined to push our limits at a young age so that we know where those limits are, and we can more safely straddle them when we're older. Evolution could have made children cautious, and it did, to an extent. But there is a balance. A child who is too cautious never learns how to run safely, and an adult who doesn't know how to run safely can't chase a gazelle very well.
- foobarbecue 8y ago
  In my case it's not that I've gained fear, it's that self-preservation is now worth more, mostly because I've spent so much time filling this brain with things. I'm legitimately worth more now than I was in my daredevil days, so I expend more effort protecting myself.
  - emodendroket 8y ago
    Well, one could easily make the opposite argument: the life of a young person is worth more because more life is left. Presumably that's why we find it more tragic when a young person dies than an old person.
- PhasmaFelis 8y ago
  > Why do we think that way when we're young, that we're immune to damage? What changes? We experience more death firsthand? If I hadn't had to clean up car accidents and watch a friend lose her intelligence to a helmetless bicycle accident, would I still feel invulnerable? There's a theory that, from an evolutionary standpoint, young men are wired to fearlessly fight and die to protect the rest of the community. If they survive long enough, they calm down and take on other roles, letting the new generation of kids take over as cannon fodder. Take with a grain of salt, obviously, because we're all a lot more complex than our evolutionary history, but it seems plausible.
- hevi_jos 8y ago
  >Why do we think that way when we're young, that we're immune to damage? Probably overprotection by parents. When I was a kid I was left alone with my friends with no parents supervision a lot. We did very risky things and risked our lives several times, but in controlled and normal environments like climbing trees and going to the mountain. When something went wrong you will get painful feedback like bruises. But you knew what your limits were. Quite interesting, those children that had their parents forbidding them to go with us actually had traumatic experiences later in life, once they were free from their parents. They will buy a motorcycle or car, take risks and die or almost die. It was like they lacked the experience we had and replicated it, but with machines in non humane environments. Instead of bruises they will crash a very expensive car.
  - hfdgiutdryg 8y ago
    I took risks as a kid and then went out and crashed cars and motorcycles as an adult. I didn't learn anything about motorcycle dynamics from falling out of trees or face-planting off shoddy bicycle ramps.
- oblio 8y ago
  https://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/02/18/at-what-age-is-the-brain-fully-developed/ https://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/02/18/at-what-age-is-the-... TL;DR: Human brains are fully formed after 25 years. This means that you make decisions differently before 25 and after 25.
  - bitexploder 8y ago
    Not sure why you were down voted. The risk taking mechanisms in our brains aren’t fully developed until around that age. I thought this was reasonably well understood
- restalis 8y ago
  "Why do we think that way when we're young, that we're immune to damage? What changes?" I see you've received a lot of answers already, but not an explanation (worthy by my standards). Here's my stab on it: 1. Remember how everyone got to ride a bike in the first place. It looked dangerous, yet we had to get over our fear AND try to suppress it consistently long after the point of riding and not falling any more. And that kind of fear suppression exercise was necessary again and again all over our childhood. It's no wonder that with so much repetition it grew to become part of our character, at least for a while, at least until the voices that once encouraged us to overcome our fears went silent. 2. The level of responsibility we bear and the awareness of it, including the responsibility for ourselves, especially enough to feel it in our choices, grows only with time. As younglings, we care less about "serious and boring" (i.e. "act responsible") and more about "fun and exciting" and weight our decisions accordingly.
- sosuke 8y ago
  My current theory on "why do we think that way when we're young" is a disconnection in logic between the older perspective and younger perspective. You don't think you're invulnerable when you're young you simply just don't think about what happens next. When your brain matures and you get older you realize you're going to be around a much longer time than you ever imagined. Your pre-frontal cortex gets a stronger voice and says "watch out you'll die in a second doing that!" An adults perspective is they young think they will never get hurt. A youths perspective never thinks about getting hurt in the first place.
- harshulpandav 8y ago
  I have been experiencing the same. A few factors I can think of. Exposure -- As kids, we aren't exposed to consequences of accidents, blood, etc. So because we have 'seen' less of it, we believe it cannot happen to us. Responsibilities -- I believe the 'responsibility' factor kicks in as we age. When we are kids, we are for ourselves so we end up taking more risks. As we get older, get married, have kids, watch our parents getting older, we start caring more for security as life seems to be important because of our dependents. We are adults for majority part of our lifetime so as we grow older we only become habituated to remain careful about our life.
- ScottBurson 8y ago
  > Why do we think that way when we're young, that we're immune to damage? What changes? We've evolved this way — not just humans, but mammals in general, and probably other species too. Risk-taking when young is adaptive for the community, if not always for the individual. If no one ever hunts in the place where a tiger was once seen, how will the tribe ever find out that the tiger has moved on?
gnulinux 8y ago
One thing I love biking (I bike everyday as I commute with a bike and also usually bike randomly in the street for fun) is biking is fun both slow and fast. There is something very appealing about biking as fast as car, almost like showing off your muscles to the driver. Biking slow is also fun since it requires a lot of balance. Sometimes I try to bike as slow as pedestrians. At that speed you really need to balance yourself as even the slightest perturbation can cause you to speed up in order to rebalance. It's very calming, refreshing and relaxing once you figure out how to bike that slow.
lostlogin 8y ago
> There's something so cool about going at car speeds, but without a motor. Land yachting, where you are about 10cm off the ground is like this. Big wide beach on a windy day with no one about and it’s amazing.
pcurve 8y ago
50mph downhill is very dangerous... indeed. When I was 12, I rode downhill with a friend riding in the back... really fast. But I doubt it was more than 25-30mph. I hit a dip, somehow managed to do a front-flip, landed on parked car and asphalt. I scraped my knee so deep, it didn't bleed. It was white! Instead of going to doctor, I unrolled the skin back onto my kneecap, went home, wrapped it up, and went to bed, and hope for the best. Almost 30 years later, I still have a nasty scar from it. Since the incident, I developed deep fear of going downhill and losing balance. Ski? nope. Snowboard? ugh. I can ride them, but if I find myself going just a wee bit fast, I brake. Long winded way of saying... yes, riding bicycle even at 30-40mph is no joke...
abandonliberty 8y ago
I used to go that fast downhill before I started riding a motorcycle. On a motorcycle I wore full armor. Then I realized I would cycle at similar speeds wearing lycra. I don't anymore.
jac_no_k 8y ago
/me concurs! I have a 53x12 setup and top out at just above 120 cadence. It really is interesting to be going 70kph, passing mopeds! When I'm drafting behind these random cars, vans, and box trucks, I stay right at the edge of being in the slip stream. If the vehicle ahead does something dodgy, I have an escape route or at least a bit more distance to brake. Getting dropped out of the slipstream is really a drag! Easily lose 20kph+ of speed.
LinuxBender 8y ago
Very smart to stop. My neighbor mistakenly took out one of the hill bombers last week with his truck. The bicyclist was rushed off to the hospital. At that speed, there is just no room for mistakes or traffic.
onetimemanytime 8y ago
>>It's not like I was wearing protective gear, my polystyrene helmet and lycra wasn't going to protect me at that speed. Exactly, even if you have a kevlar one, your organs, brain, spine, neck etc will not be happy once you from 50mph to zero once you hit a car or wall.
mojoe 8y ago
I was on a mountain ride here in Colorado a few years back when I got a little too exuberant -- I was going about 45 mph when I hit a corner that was sharper than I thought, and the tires slid out from under me. I tumbled for quite a way, and when I stopped I was missing a lot of skin and my shoulder was dislocated (tore through my labrum in the front). Fortunately a nice woman stopped and took me to the emergency room (her three year old daughter told me "I only ride my bike on flat ground" which I deserved). I got off lucky, only 3 months of physical therapy. I'm more careful these days.
burnte 8y ago
I went to 45mph and felt like I was going to die. :) Fun, but yes, dangerous.
sidstling 8y ago
I ride my bike to work every day. It’s a 25 km journey, so with 250km a week I think I ride quite a bit. The fastest I’ve ever gone was 58,8km (ran out of hill before I got to 60) and holy cow that was scary. I can’t imagine getting to 80, must’ve been terrifying.
marvin 8y ago
I must be weird. I've always been afraid of dying from some stupid accident when doing something potentially dangerous, even when I was 16. Thankfully, it hasn't stopped me from flying gliders or rock climbing. (I did get some criticism from my peers for being too careful, after not going 20 meters above the terrain at 250kph, but the older folks seemed to rather comment that I had some sense).
Matthias247 8y ago
I don’t know, I don’t think there is anything more dangerous in riding a bike at 80km/h than it is eg to ride a car at 200. Both can be fine if the situation (traffic, view, ground, etc) permits it. If the situation isn’t safe then both are stupid things to do. That said the thing from the linked article is obviously on the more dangerous side, since the lane is super narrow and the margin for errors low.
mikhailfranco 8y ago
I once did "over 50mph" free-wheeling down Parley's Canyon on I80, from Park City to Salt Lake City (~2000' drop in 10 miles; 700m fall in 15km). There's no alternate route there, so bikes are allowed on the Interstate. I only slowed down after I had to swerve out into the traffic lanes to avoid a broken wooden pallet lying in the shoulder. It's not the steepest of the local canyons, but one of the fastest for bikes because it's straight, wide and has good visibility of the road ahead.
rhcom2 8y ago
I fell on skis going 55mph. Broke my wrist and thumb.

komali2 8y ago

As I get older, every time I find myself cruising at 50mph in traffic on the freeway on my motorcycle, I ask myself how the fuck younger me thought this was an acceptable speed at which to start lanesplitting. Was I insane? Nowadays I'll start around 40, more like 30, and never more than 10 over. It's a shame so many motorcyclists die young, before they get a chance to "grow into" some safety sense. I distinctly remember talking with my friends age 12 about how (apologies) "gay" helmets were on our bicycles. We'd speedbomb hills too, it was fun. I remember feeling no fear back then. I remember my parents telling me "you're an idiot for thinking you're invulnerable." Why do we think that way when we're young, that we're immune to damage? What changes? We experience more death firsthand? If I hadn't had to clean up car accidents and watch a friend lose her intelligence to a helmetless bicycle accident, would I still feel invulnerable? I wonder about this woman - did she do this because she lacked the fear? Or did she feel it, and all the positives of doing it overruled her fear? Maybe she was just confident enough in her safety measures to do it anyway?

sbr464 8y ago
You aren’t alone. Younger me is a scary person.
blihp 8y ago
When you're young and lucky you lack both the experience of bad things happening to you and others and, if you're healthy, you think 'well I've always felt pretty much the way I feel now and when I get hurt I heal pretty fast' so you don't think too much about it. Also, most of the people around you tend to be in the same state, though there were probably at least a few exceptions but they were so few that they're easy to overlook. Then you get older and experience aches and pains where there were none before, when you get hurt instead of shaking it off you either take longer to heal and/or need a trip to the doctor, maybe you deal with a nasty illness/injury or two, see people you know dealing with and/or taken out by nastier things. Throughout all this you start becoming your parents saying things like 'stop running around with that... you could put an eye out' (hell, by this time you probably met someone who did just that) I figure in a few more years I'll be driving 20mph in the fast lane with my blinkers on... after all, what's the rush? Hey kids, get off my lawn! ;-)
- macintux 8y ago
  > (hell, by this time you probably met someone who did just that) My young cousins were playing tug of war with a bungie cord. One let go and the other ended up with a damaged eyeball.
sbr464 8y ago
Here’s a tldr on the subject, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2396593/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2396593/
- craftyguy 8y ago
  > Here’s a tldr on the subject, That's the longest tldr I've ever seen.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
nickpsecurity 8y ago
An EMT in the family told me they call the ones without helmets "future, organ donors." Said they see too many of them that don't make it. I just try to stay away from anyone on a bike when I'm driving. I don't do it myself, though, cuz I was worried about potholes, deer, and so on. I figured I'd crash over something small I didn't see or avoid in time. My reflexes aren't that good. ;)
- dvdkhlng 8y ago
  I think people are overestimating the merit of normal bicycle helmets. I think the actual effect is something like this ([1]): > The most reliable estimates indicate that at speeds of up to 20 km/h helmets reduce the risk of head injury by 42%, the risk of brain injury by 53%, and the risk of facial injury by 17%, whereas they increase the risk of neck injury by 32%. These estimates are partly based on research carried out in countries like the United States and Australia, where standards for bicycle helmets are stricter than they are in Europe and can offer protection at higher impact speeds. In wikipedia [2] I find this quote: "This effect is statistically significant in older studies. New studies, summarised by a random-effects model of analysis, indicate only a statistically non-significant protective effect" And to the parents around here, make sure your kids know when to not wear a helmet (choking accidents [3]) [1] https://www.helmets.org/stats.htm#effectiveness https://www.helmets.org/stats.htm#effectiveness [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet#Effectiveness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet#Effectiveness [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet#Accidental_hanging_by_helmet_straps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet#Accidental_hang...
  - komali2 8y ago
    I wonder if the neck injury thing is just because a "lesser than" injury is actually getting reported? I haven't seen anything in the article about it, but for example iirc there was this hullabaloo about motorcycle helmet data indicating an increase in back injuries for helmet-wearers, until someone pointed out that dead-on-site riders would be reported as simply "dead," with their injuries unaccounted for.
    - 8y ago
gnulinux 8y ago
I was maybe 10 or younger and I was speedbombing downhill with my younger sister. We were fearless and very, very fast. Of course we weren't wearing any helmet or whatever. One time as we were racing, she was winning, she shifted her bike toward my direction and slowed down. I ran into her bike and flew out of my bike. Next thing I know I'm in the air, falling down towards the hill. When I finally hit the ground, I uncontrollably rolled downhill another maybe 10 meters. All my face and body was covered in blood and soil. My mom, seeing this incident from far away, ran for help. She told me, when I grew up, that when she was close enough to see me she was sure I was dead because of all the blood on the asphalt and what not. But thanks to the gods of probability, I didn't even break a bone. I don't understand how can human body can be so resilient that a 10 year old kid can survive such an accident without any damage other than his skin (and it wasn't permenant, I forgot about this event until now). I was stupid and I probably did that again and again, possibly even the next day. Now 15 years later, I bike everyday, but I bike very cautiously. I was lucky once, I don't wanna try my luck again.
- jacquesm 8y ago
  The big factor is that you simply weigh less.
  - TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
    Also, as far as I understand, growing bones impart a bit more flexiblity to the skeleton due to epiphyseal plates at either end of long bones. Or is this a myth?
    - MaxfordAndSons 8y ago
      I believe that's true, but I doubt it's really a factor in this phenomenon of kids surviving high speed crashes that would likely be fatal to adults. It's really just a matter of a less massive body generating (exponentially) less force on impact.
  - p1necone 8y ago
    The inverse square law is a powerful thing.
keyle 8y ago
Same. Been riding 15 years. My goal is always to be able to ride tomorrow.
felipemnoa 8y ago
>>Why do we think that way when we're young, that we're immune to damage? The answer to this question is simple: Ignorance It is the same ignorance that causes a toddler to put its hand in the fire without any fear. >>What changes? The experience of being burned is what changes. You are no longer ignorant. >>Maybe she was just confident enough in her safety measures to do it anyway? Or maybe she's just an adrenaline junkie. Also, doing something dangerous plenty of times with no consequences will reduce your fear.
accrual 8y ago
There's definitely a fearless aspect that comes with youth. I recall mine vividly and there were certainly times I gambled with my life. It's helped me grow as a person but I could never recommend such recklessness in hindsight. Perhaps some things can be learned but not taught.
zwily 8y ago
At least kids seem to be getting better about helmets. It’s really really rare that I ever see a kid not wearing one when mountain biking, at least where I am.
- ndnxhs 8y ago
  I have never seen someone at the mountain bike park without a helmet. That would be just insane. Also most of the people taking on the tough trails have full face helemets.
- ghaff 8y ago
  Helmets have become more common for a lot of activities. They used to be unheard of in skiing unless you were a racer and now are probably worn by most--especially kids. Of course, e-scooters and bike shares provide a counter-trend as they don't make it convenient to have a helmet.
  - Filligree 8y ago
    > They used to be unheard of in skiing unless you were a racer and now are probably worn by most--especially kids. What, seriously? What kind of skiing are you talking about? I've never once seen anyone wear a helmet for cross-country skiing, and I wouldn't think it's necessary anyway. For one thing it's usually walking pace, but also snow is soft.
    - ghaff 8y ago
      I thought it was obvious I was talking about downhill skiing. Of course people don't wear helmets for cross-country even for racing.
    - amalcon 8y ago
      Presumably grandparent means downhill. Twenty years ago, you basically couldn't buy an adult-sized helmet for alpine skiing even if you wanted to. These days, it's weird not to have one. I think the change was due to some high profile deaths from tree collisions in the late 90s.
blotter_paper 8y ago
> Why do we think that way when we're young, that we're immune to damage? What changes? I'm not saying that all of the "life experiences" answers are wrong, but I think there's more to it. For an organism to be successful it has to survive (to a point), but it also has to be efficient at doing physical tasks. I think we're naturally inclined to push our limits at a young age so that we know where those limits are, and we can more safely straddle them when we're older. Evolution could have made children cautious, and it did, to an extent. But there is a balance. A child who is too cautious never learns how to run safely, and an adult who doesn't know how to run safely can't chase a gazelle very well.
foobarbecue 8y ago
In my case it's not that I've gained fear, it's that self-preservation is now worth more, mostly because I've spent so much time filling this brain with things. I'm legitimately worth more now than I was in my daredevil days, so I expend more effort protecting myself.
- emodendroket 8y ago
  Well, one could easily make the opposite argument: the life of a young person is worth more because more life is left. Presumably that's why we find it more tragic when a young person dies than an old person.
PhasmaFelis 8y ago
> Why do we think that way when we're young, that we're immune to damage? What changes? We experience more death firsthand? If I hadn't had to clean up car accidents and watch a friend lose her intelligence to a helmetless bicycle accident, would I still feel invulnerable? There's a theory that, from an evolutionary standpoint, young men are wired to fearlessly fight and die to protect the rest of the community. If they survive long enough, they calm down and take on other roles, letting the new generation of kids take over as cannon fodder. Take with a grain of salt, obviously, because we're all a lot more complex than our evolutionary history, but it seems plausible.
hevi_jos 8y ago
>Why do we think that way when we're young, that we're immune to damage? Probably overprotection by parents. When I was a kid I was left alone with my friends with no parents supervision a lot. We did very risky things and risked our lives several times, but in controlled and normal environments like climbing trees and going to the mountain. When something went wrong you will get painful feedback like bruises. But you knew what your limits were. Quite interesting, those children that had their parents forbidding them to go with us actually had traumatic experiences later in life, once they were free from their parents. They will buy a motorcycle or car, take risks and die or almost die. It was like they lacked the experience we had and replicated it, but with machines in non humane environments. Instead of bruises they will crash a very expensive car.
- hfdgiutdryg 8y ago
  I took risks as a kid and then went out and crashed cars and motorcycles as an adult. I didn't learn anything about motorcycle dynamics from falling out of trees or face-planting off shoddy bicycle ramps.
oblio 8y ago
https://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/02/18/at-what-age-is-the-brain-fully-developed/ https://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/02/18/at-what-age-is-the-... TL;DR: Human brains are fully formed after 25 years. This means that you make decisions differently before 25 and after 25.
- bitexploder 8y ago
  Not sure why you were down voted. The risk taking mechanisms in our brains aren’t fully developed until around that age. I thought this was reasonably well understood
restalis 8y ago
"Why do we think that way when we're young, that we're immune to damage? What changes?" I see you've received a lot of answers already, but not an explanation (worthy by my standards). Here's my stab on it: 1. Remember how everyone got to ride a bike in the first place. It looked dangerous, yet we had to get over our fear AND try to suppress it consistently long after the point of riding and not falling any more. And that kind of fear suppression exercise was necessary again and again all over our childhood. It's no wonder that with so much repetition it grew to become part of our character, at least for a while, at least until the voices that once encouraged us to overcome our fears went silent. 2. The level of responsibility we bear and the awareness of it, including the responsibility for ourselves, especially enough to feel it in our choices, grows only with time. As younglings, we care less about "serious and boring" (i.e. "act responsible") and more about "fun and exciting" and weight our decisions accordingly.
sosuke 8y ago
My current theory on "why do we think that way when we're young" is a disconnection in logic between the older perspective and younger perspective. You don't think you're invulnerable when you're young you simply just don't think about what happens next. When your brain matures and you get older you realize you're going to be around a much longer time than you ever imagined. Your pre-frontal cortex gets a stronger voice and says "watch out you'll die in a second doing that!" An adults perspective is they young think they will never get hurt. A youths perspective never thinks about getting hurt in the first place.
harshulpandav 8y ago
I have been experiencing the same. A few factors I can think of. Exposure -- As kids, we aren't exposed to consequences of accidents, blood, etc. So because we have 'seen' less of it, we believe it cannot happen to us. Responsibilities -- I believe the 'responsibility' factor kicks in as we age. When we are kids, we are for ourselves so we end up taking more risks. As we get older, get married, have kids, watch our parents getting older, we start caring more for security as life seems to be important because of our dependents. We are adults for majority part of our lifetime so as we grow older we only become habituated to remain careful about our life.
ScottBurson 8y ago
> Why do we think that way when we're young, that we're immune to damage? What changes? We've evolved this way — not just humans, but mammals in general, and probably other species too. Risk-taking when young is adaptive for the community, if not always for the individual. If no one ever hunts in the place where a tiger was once seen, how will the tribe ever find out that the tiger has moved on?

gnulinux 8y ago

One thing I love biking (I bike everyday as I commute with a bike and also usually bike randomly in the street for fun) is biking is fun both slow and fast. There is something very appealing about biking as fast as car, almost like showing off your muscles to the driver. Biking slow is also fun since it requires a lot of balance. Sometimes I try to bike as slow as pedestrians. At that speed you really need to balance yourself as even the slightest perturbation can cause you to speed up in order to rebalance. It's very calming, refreshing and relaxing once you figure out how to bike that slow.

lostlogin 8y ago

> There's something so cool about going at car speeds, but without a motor. Land yachting, where you are about 10cm off the ground is like this. Big wide beach on a windy day with no one about and it’s amazing.

pcurve 8y ago

50mph downhill is very dangerous... indeed. When I was 12, I rode downhill with a friend riding in the back... really fast. But I doubt it was more than 25-30mph. I hit a dip, somehow managed to do a front-flip, landed on parked car and asphalt. I scraped my knee so deep, it didn't bleed. It was white! Instead of going to doctor, I unrolled the skin back onto my kneecap, went home, wrapped it up, and went to bed, and hope for the best. Almost 30 years later, I still have a nasty scar from it. Since the incident, I developed deep fear of going downhill and losing balance. Ski? nope. Snowboard? ugh. I can ride them, but if I find myself going just a wee bit fast, I brake. Long winded way of saying... yes, riding bicycle even at 30-40mph is no joke...

abandonliberty 8y ago

I used to go that fast downhill before I started riding a motorcycle. On a motorcycle I wore full armor. Then I realized I would cycle at similar speeds wearing lycra. I don't anymore.

jac_no_k 8y ago

/me concurs! I have a 53x12 setup and top out at just above 120 cadence. It really is interesting to be going 70kph, passing mopeds! When I'm drafting behind these random cars, vans, and box trucks, I stay right at the edge of being in the slip stream. If the vehicle ahead does something dodgy, I have an escape route or at least a bit more distance to brake. Getting dropped out of the slipstream is really a drag! Easily lose 20kph+ of speed.

LinuxBender 8y ago

Very smart to stop. My neighbor mistakenly took out one of the hill bombers last week with his truck. The bicyclist was rushed off to the hospital. At that speed, there is just no room for mistakes or traffic.

onetimemanytime 8y ago

>>It's not like I was wearing protective gear, my polystyrene helmet and lycra wasn't going to protect me at that speed. Exactly, even if you have a kevlar one, your organs, brain, spine, neck etc will not be happy once you from 50mph to zero once you hit a car or wall.

mojoe 8y ago

I was on a mountain ride here in Colorado a few years back when I got a little too exuberant -- I was going about 45 mph when I hit a corner that was sharper than I thought, and the tires slid out from under me. I tumbled for quite a way, and when I stopped I was missing a lot of skin and my shoulder was dislocated (tore through my labrum in the front). Fortunately a nice woman stopped and took me to the emergency room (her three year old daughter told me "I only ride my bike on flat ground" which I deserved). I got off lucky, only 3 months of physical therapy. I'm more careful these days.

burnte 8y ago

I went to 45mph and felt like I was going to die. :) Fun, but yes, dangerous.

sidstling 8y ago

I ride my bike to work every day. It’s a 25 km journey, so with 250km a week I think I ride quite a bit. The fastest I’ve ever gone was 58,8km (ran out of hill before I got to 60) and holy cow that was scary. I can’t imagine getting to 80, must’ve been terrifying.

marvin 8y ago

I must be weird. I've always been afraid of dying from some stupid accident when doing something potentially dangerous, even when I was 16. Thankfully, it hasn't stopped me from flying gliders or rock climbing. (I did get some criticism from my peers for being too careful, after not going 20 meters above the terrain at 250kph, but the older folks seemed to rather comment that I had some sense).

Matthias247 8y ago

I don’t know, I don’t think there is anything more dangerous in riding a bike at 80km/h than it is eg to ride a car at 200. Both can be fine if the situation (traffic, view, ground, etc) permits it. If the situation isn’t safe then both are stupid things to do. That said the thing from the linked article is obviously on the more dangerous side, since the lane is super narrow and the margin for errors low.

mikhailfranco 8y ago

I once did "over 50mph" free-wheeling down Parley's Canyon on I80, from Park City to Salt Lake City (~2000' drop in 10 miles; 700m fall in 15km). There's no alternate route there, so bikes are allowed on the Interstate. I only slowed down after I had to swerve out into the traffic lanes to avoid a broken wooden pallet lying in the shoulder. It's not the steepest of the local canyons, but one of the fastest for bikes because it's straight, wide and has good visibility of the road ahead.

rhcom2 8y ago

I fell on skis going 55mph. Broke my wrist and thumb.