Anyone else feels like absolute shit after crashing? it's not even the pain of it it's just the faith in your ability slowly dying inside. When I was younger it was whatever but now it feels like someone chipped away a chunk of confidence.

Idk i haven’t crashed seriously
Rode into a fence the other day when i was tryna change music on my phone but it was low speed and i managed not to grab the barbed wire
if i were to actually fuck my bike up id be very upset but aside from that, idk

>>2044901 (OP)
Never had to bad crashes on my mtb/downhill rig but a few close calls.
Never felt bad afterwards but the pain gets worse the older you get.
My biggest fear is crashing my roadbike going downhill at 70kmh+ wearing a literal bathing suit and a 300g heavy foam helmet tho. I had the habit of chasing motorcycles down on a specific road around where i live but i stopped that.

It definitely loses its luster when you're not a kid. When I was young I could just do stunts and crash for lols and get up like it was nothing. Now I'm old, last crash I had ended up hurting way more than it should have so I went to get checked out and it spiraled into thousands of dollars in hospital bills and CT scans and a bunch of cracked bones I didn't know I even had and 6 months of physical therapy and no riding

This is why I think there's such a disconnect between how kids view nice bikes vs adults. A kid can just crash multiple times a week and maybe just need a new box of band-aids and neosporin a few times a year, so his main concern is can the bike handle it and can he afford to replace it several times a month, of course a gaspipe piece of shit will be more appealing than a hi-mod carbon sled, this is the mentality that drives all these shitposts about how nice things are a scam. An adult can crash once and it becomes a 3kb CSV Schedule A list for itemized deductions the next year, he's incapacitated for longer than it takes to save up for a whole new bike so it's not remotely relevant if the bike is slightly more susceptible to crash damage because the main goal is don't crash because crashing fucking sucks and destroys your quality of life.

Don't get old, kids

>>2044901 (OP)
>cross a pedestrian + bicycle bridge during my daily commute
>at the end of it, there's a steel plate for water drainage, just as it forks to a staircase for the pedestrians on one side, a 90° turn and long ramp for cyclists
>on one rainy day, slip and fall on the plate while taking the turn, nothing bad, just got my pants wet and it's on the way bak home from work so it's really not important, I just put on some dry pants at home
>oh well
>the very next, equally damp day, fall on the exact same spot AGAIN
>once again, no big problem
>complete mental block ever since, almost come to a halt before riding over the plate every single time, every single day
Maybe I'm just a pussy.

>>2044905
This. If i crash im gonna have a lot more to worry about than hurt feelings

>>2044908
look at it this way, if you crashed the pain is already in the past even if you break your bike or have bills to pay, it is what it is. Your cycling skills however will never be the same. If you make a mistake doing something potentially deadly, the psychological effects are deeper the older you get even if you don't recognize them or simply refuse to. It takes longer to fully recover and "send it bro" again with each passing year.

I'm going full unracer dad bike, that's it for me.

>>2044912
I used to skateboard a lot, i was pretty good so i used to do pretty dangerous shit. Already experienced the “is it really worth it tho?” With that shit, just stopped doing it because getting seriously injured doing that would be fucking retarded
However, since i broke up with the seemingly love of my life (6 year toxic relationship she was so sexy tho) i started riding like a fucking retard, sending it fully, complete gamble if there is gonna be an oncoming car right around the corner. im enjoying it, its good to regain the ability to fucking send it, even though i know its literally retarded. I’ll keep doing it until I either die, or grow out of it for the second time

>>2044901 (OP)
I think I never experienced what OP describes but something closely related. For me it's just that every injury will make riding just a bit harder so over time, when some cager fucked your hips, an ankle, both AC joints, an elbow, your wrists etc. that all combined makes riding harder than it used to be, you just need more motivation to hold your fitness. At thr same time the crashes and cager behaviour in general are somewhat of a deterrent. I can tell I'm not as motivated as I used to be in my youth anymore, I don't insist on riding as hard as much anymore. I think it might actually be a subconscious mechanism that avoids crashes.

>>2044901 (OP)
>Anyone else feels like absolute shit after crashing?
it's the only time I feel alive

>>2045025
lel. When I was younger the anaesthetist and one of the surgeons in the local hospital knew me by my name and I must say I never found it particularly lively to be in a hospital full of injured and sick people, some of which closer to the other world than here, with staff telling you you cant leave, at best for a small stroll aroubd the premises if really necessary.

ive been riding my road bike pretty much daily on city streets for 2500-3000 miles a year the past 6 years and ive never gotten into a single accident. i also have to fly down a huge hill every morning at 30-35 mph that i live on top of. i dont know how ive been so lucky.

>>2045143
Yeah, that sounds lucky or maybe your motorists are attentive and considerate or your infrastructure doesn't have the rat traps they call 'bicycling infrastructure'.
I mean 3000 miles and less than a decade at it isn't much but then again from my perspective enough to warrant you getting hit real bad at least a few times.
You know standard stuff like: Go through a roundabout, a motorist waiting sees you and just accelerates into you. Or a motorist has reason to turn right and just choses to do on a trajectory that has you in it. Or a motorist slamming a door into your face and if not hitting you at least forcing a reaction that causes a crash. Or a motorist switching lanes and you guesyed it, the new one has you in it of course. Idk but those are the classics that, if you were in my area, would have happened already (maybe not the door the door is kinda rare).

>>2045180
>You know standard stuff like [horrible shit x 10]
>Idk but those are the classics that, if you were in my area, would have happened already
Y'know, maybe cycling infra isn't so bad? Most of that shit wouldn't happen here

i haven't rode since i broke all the weight bearing bones in my ankle

>>2045397
How did you crash that badly? Were you doing mtb bullshittery?

>>2044901 (OP)
Yeah my last crash and near crash both had me questioning and doubting my ability and skill. I think it's a pretty normal reaction.
>>2045143
I was the same as you until a year ago. I ride about 2500 miles a year for the last 6 years. Then it finally happened 5 years in, I got hit by a car. I was coming down a hill approaching a stop sign and a car making a left turn cuts the turn real sharp and hits the left side of my body. I got a mild concussion from my head hitting the driver side of the windshield and a severe sprain on my wrist from the handlebars being forced into my body. Somehow I didn't have any broken bones or fractures and I was back on the bicycle 3 weeks later. I wasn't wearing a helmet then, and I still don't wear a helmet now. I figure when it's my time to die, it's my time to die. A helmet isn't going to change that. So don't let your guard down is basically what I'm saying. The cyclists that don't get hit are the ones that are cautious and always aware of their surroundings. Risk can't totally be eliminated, but it can be mitigated.

>>2045580
>A helmet isn't going to change that
>Risk can't totally be eliminated, but it can be mitigated
Yes, by wearing a helmet you fucking knucledragger

>>2045580
>I still don't wear a helmet now
I was you once but that changed after a few close calls and a really bad crash where i could have died if i didnt wear a helmet.
Also imagine hitting concrete at 20mph from a height of 6' without a helmet. You'll die, simple ass.

>>2045470
just in my driveway turning around fell over. absolute retard shit

>>2045600
Did you have clipless pedals? Fall was too fast to clip out?

>>2044901 (OP)
other than a bruised wrist or my knee hurting for a week i could not have cared less

>>2045597
I have never worn a helmet, been in many bad crashes and I still dom't wear a helmet.
I think you do not understand the mental state of the people who choose not to and probably also why some people tide like they do.

>>2044901 (OP)
I have small crashes all the time to build up a tolerance to big crashes. I have gone over the bars of every bike I have ridden except my current grabel shitter for some reason.

>>2044901 (OP)
As a kid who grew up skating and BMXing I had hundreds of tumbles, many quite serious, before I turned 12. Two things happen - 1 You lose your fear of falling, 2 you learn how to fall.

Didn't make me more reckless, just more confident and capable.

>>2046043
But don't you make the same observation as generally everyone else:
You reach an age where things just don't heal anymore as they used to. As in always slower and sometimes not completely.
I don't want to know how fucked up my shit would be if I did the stuff I did as a kid today. It's worse enough with the shit cagers do to you.

everyone is laughing at you

>>2046043
>gain more fear of falling because falling hurts

>>2046061
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Every bump and scrape, each fracture and dislocation, the young body heals and reinforces. The young mind writes the lessons to hard drive. Every experience teaches you something, sometimes many things.
What you did wrong, what you did right, what you can improve, how you can avoid certain situations, things to look out for. Much of this learning takes place in the subconscious and in the body itself. muscle memory records effective tumble and roll techniques, not getting as badly hurt as you might becomes automatic in situations you've experienced before. Confidence emerges alongside competence.

Yes, we get older, we become less robust, slower to react and require longer recover than when we were in our prime.

But experience narrows those gaps significantly. In the same scenario a veteran of a thousand falls will fare significantly better than a first timer in his prime, not only because he'll know to avoid the situation that results in a fall, he'll instinctively do what's best when situations are inflicted upon him.

>>2046153
something something simpsons meme it will happen to you too etc. just get older first then see if you will say bs like that

>>2046236
that's coming from a skater and a fixed gear courier btw I too felt invincible in 20s the "falling skillz" you learn will not shield you from age

>>2046237
I also dread all the old injuries coming back with a vengeance when I'm a senior. I have a few accumulated that on a bad day when I'm stressed or exhausted hurt a little like wrists or knees

>>2046153
My fucked up collarbone disagrees.

>>2046153
>What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
I've seen the nearly killed and that couldn't be more wronger.

>>2046153
I remember being a child

Had my first cartwheel-crash today.
Was trying to be cute and turn sharply by leaning my steed an extra 20 degrees, but I accidentally hit the front brake and walla. (somewhat sideways flip)
My brake levers and handlebars got very unaligned in the process, whereas I was okay within the hour. Did my bike take the brunt, or did my youth (<20) protect me?