Fear ? ... never heard of her... that said, not enough money out there to get me to bungee jump or sky dive.
I'm trying to get my head right so I don't fall into the same habits as years past. Basically just learning to ride calm and at %80-90 so I don't destroy my body and bike more. Which this thread got me thinking if I would even enjoy racing if I wasn't a %110 all the time. Maybe there is just something inherilently wrong with how our minds react to fear. I've always gotten all giddy and kind of happy when I just escape major accidents.
that's what , not ruined, but taken the blast out of it for me a bit. i will give it another shot this year.
Phil, imo part of getting older is learning to enjoy these pleasures more responsibly. Not an easy thing to do when you've experienced the euphoria of a screaming engine and a close on track battle... Riding a tad slower and not constantly fighting at 100% (or above) of your capacities is an acquired taste. Personally, this year, with my new VFR build, my goal is to enjoy being on the track with a beautiful and kind of exclusive bike, exchanging a few passes with my fellow racers, and just being happy with that. I think being a "gentleman racer" will suit me just fine.
Picked up my new Atomic X9 race skis and headed to the mountain with a good (and fast) friend. After 2 runs to figure out how these new boards wanted to run, I took off. Got to the bottom about 30 seconds ahead of him (this is not usually the case). He's wondering what hell got into me....I dunno, just seemed to be the way to go. Speed is not an issue for most of us, just the opposite. Never crossed my mind that a yard sale would hurt.
It's more that the pain and frustration of crashing and getting hurt seems more appealing then loosing or getting off the bike thinking I could have tried harder. I too am getting older, not as much in like (I'm 30) but in racing. This will be my 6th season and I feel somewhat accomplished. I have some stories and some awards to share. The real goal is to be one of the guys running at %80 and still being up front I guess.
Technology is a wonderful thing, at times. My last/latest foray into snow put me on skis that were decades ahead of what I was used to. Funny how I found the fall-line without even tryin'...like consistently gettin' a knee down for the first time, or trailbraking without fear, or making line corrections in the heat of T1... It didn't make me a better skier, it allowed me to be the skier I'm capable of being.