More from practice on Saturday:
Pushing back up to the trail at sunset:
Carnage / wreck photos from Southridge / Fontana
- Thread starter 1000-Oaks
- Start date
More from practice on Saturday:
Pushing back up to the trail at sunset:
DAMN thats gota hurt
photo # 5 and 8 are soo intense. awsome shots.
#8 is on the MTBR forum, called it "one of his finer dismounts", lol.
From the SoCal gallery.
(Note to self, need to buy extra memory card for even more crash coverage)
Series of unfortunate events.
Many were not documented bec I ran out of disc space. Ugh!
Happy thanksgiving, y'all. We'll be riding in Phoenix and Sedona...woot woot!
(Note to self, need to buy extra memory card for even more crash coverage)
Series of unfortunate events.
Many were not documented bec I ran out of disc space. Ugh!
Happy thanksgiving, y'all. We'll be riding in Phoenix and Sedona...woot woot!
"dear Iron Horse warranty. I was just riding along, and..."
... a rock jumped in front of me when i just.....
Mmmmm, long stems on DH...
Man, that must be one nasty area
Brutal. Ouch. Wow. Some of those were so bad looking.
^^ wooord, whenever " i was just riding along" is said, basically should void a warrenty!
getting all of your travel
Most guys made it, but when you have 200+ racers there are going to be some crashes.
I paid the price the last 2 days for not wearing pads!I love to see guys with no gloves, no back plate, no elbow guards crashing. It's like seeing darwinism in real time.
P.S. I was #806F White, and navy blue on the Bighit.
I believe he was the rider who was taken to the hospital in an ambulance, with a pretty bad concussion. Hopefully, he is all healed up...
Before you judge on the internet maybe you should have a background of the Fontana races.I love to see guys with no gloves, no back plate, no elbow guards crashing. It's like seeing darwinism in real time.
There's a mellow top section (little to no rocks, at this race none), then a few hundred feet of rocks (what you saw in the pics), then a wall. A big, flat sprint. Then some little turns and the finish.
When it's 90 degrees and sunny, you're racing in the sand, and the course is mellow save for a few hundred feet, armor is just dumb. And pretty much every crash there ends in scrapes (or at least all mine have).
I think I saw two Foes FXR's, a few Giant AC's, and a guy on a hardtail that was a bolt of lightning...tough call on picking out a bike/amount of armor. The trailbikes probably gain a lot of time on the smooth sections.
how old are you? some of us don't bounce so easy any more so don't be so quick to say armor is dumb. regardless of where you're riding its always prudent to cover up.
Armor is never dumb.
im going to be quick to say that i think armor is dumb on some courses. from what i hear about fontana it is just a sign of weakness to wear that much armor on a course with just one small rock garden. armor is hot, restricting, and just gets in the way. now i understand that there are some older dhillers out there that are all about the stuff, but just because were 15-21 and dont see the need for armor on a section like that back off our case. there our bodies not yours. we want to wear it we will, we dont want to wear it then get over it.
ohh and ouch those crash pics are crazy. good timing and from what i hear the guy with the red tld broke his arm or shoulder or something along those lines. HEAL FAST MAN
Guys,
Armor is a preference, no one is the same. Is it a good idea? Yes, But on a course where the chance of it actually comming to use is very slim, then it probably isn't necessary.
We race downhill, your going to crash, you just have to calculate for yourself how much of your body you want to be protected.
Armor is a preference, no one is the same. Is it a good idea? Yes, But on a course where the chance of it actually comming to use is very slim, then it probably isn't necessary.
We race downhill, your going to crash, you just have to calculate for yourself how much of your body you want to be protected.
I said it was dumb at Fontana. Come time for Mammoth you wouldn't be able to tell if I was riding or trying out for football.
i still dont think armor can be dumb for racing dh, might not be the best call if the clock is all you are caring about, but lets face it, thats not the only thing many dhers are thinking of when they are in front of the starter.
Yeah, good point, but honestly I think if you saw the rest of the trail you'd understand.
riding, especially downhill, is about calculating risks i think. Some XC trails are pretty gnarly and XC'ers don't wear pads. Some world cup dh racers don't wear pads (and wear skinsuits), yet if they get hurt it could knock them out of contention to continue racing a series or for good. Would the benefit of racing every race outweigh saving 1-2 seconds on a course?
Number 16 in the first set is awesome. (fourth from the bottom)
I've seen the rest and I gotta agree, it only takes one fall to mess you up. The rest of the course was not to bad, but anything can happen at anytime.
Also that section with the rocks wasn't bad, but if you went down, you were going to go down huge at speed.
I wore full armor all weekend, yeah it was hot out there, but i would have been hot not matter what.
i have a mortgage and therefore a 9 to 5, armor is not an option.
racing DH is risky, on any coarse and if wearing armor doesn't have you riding with more confidence then you probably haven't fallen that hard.
racing DH is risky, on any coarse and if wearing armor doesn't have you riding with more confidence then you probably haven't fallen that hard.
I am just 37 and have been riding/racing bikes for 25 years as well as skating, snowboarding, surfing,etc, etc my whole life. I have gotten hurt many times that were easy to blow off when I was younger, but have added up to more that their individuial sums.
In less that a month I am going in for a spinal fusion surgery (my second spine surgery). I also have two other discs that are degenerating from 'over use'(will most likely fail) and somewhere along the line (without knowing it) fractured a vertebrae. I have a possibility of not being able to participate in 'active' things the rest of my life. (although I just built a trail bike and new wheels for the DH bike).
Armor is your choice! Just be aware of the consequences!!
rant off!
Great pics BTW!! Little different than our weather +:biggrin:
In less that a month I am going in for a spinal fusion surgery (my second spine surgery). I also have two other discs that are degenerating from 'over use'(will most likely fail) and somewhere along the line (without knowing it) fractured a vertebrae. I have a possibility of not being able to participate in 'active' things the rest of my life. (although I just built a trail bike and new wheels for the DH bike).
Armor is your choice! Just be aware of the consequences!!
rant off!
Great pics BTW!! Little different than our weather +:biggrin:
that's what I was thinking...sometimes I miss my younger days...D
I am one who almost never wears armor. I used to, when riding really rocky terrain, but I felt like I fell more because I was wearing it and it made it waaay harder to maneuver, it pretty much destroyed my riding style. It could have been because it didn't fit perfect (def. would have helped to have better fit), and was just too bulky for my tastes to begin with. I will be picking up some different armor this next year, but I still can't say I will wear it much, unless it fits like a glove and doesn't make me feel like a robot.
As to your ideaas about A-Line, I can see armor protecting road rash, but broken c-bones and elbows, etc? I really doubt it would save you from a broken collarbone as my friend has broken his 2 times while wearing some Dainese armor, I can't say on the elbow or arm, but I couldn't imagine it being really different?
My thoughts on it are if you don't want to wear armor, it is your choice. I don't like to wear it because it seems to restrict my movement, others have their own reasons. So who cares? Its not like the people seen crashing in this thread are asking for your sympathy.
Damn dude! That's sketchy. Would you describe more what was the reason of the "over-use"? Impact? Weight-lifting?
Thanks and good luck weith your surgery!