1engineer
Moderator
OK I'm in...almost 50 years old now. Used to ride BMX and played basketball when I was a kid in the mid to late '70's. Lots and lots of broken stuff then like arms, legs, ankles and wrist. In order: Got a car, job, wife, college, better job, daughter, better job, and then son and kept playing ball but quit riding. When my son was just a year old I broke my finger and ankle playing basketball (finger hit rim, i fell awkward and broke my ankle) and while I was rehabbing I could not play ball so I got a cheap bike and started to ride on the road around our neighborhood. I was hooked again. The cheap bike turned into a better bike and then better and the street turned into singletrack. So for the last 15 years or so I have been riding Specialized, both FS and hardtail on singletrack. I live in the mountains so I have many trails just a few minutes from my house. I have always been a big guy (6'4" 250lb) so picking a bike that was strong enough was a priority and saving weight, while important, was not the most important thing. I am currently riding a 2010 Specialized Stumpjumper Comp 29er hardtail. I rode over 1000 miles of singletrack last season and love every minute of it. Best thing? My 16 year old son rides with me a lot! He started riding when he was 12 (and I could crush him) until now and I can't even come close to keeping up with him lol. I will ride until I can't ride anymore. As far as recent wrecks go I have calmed down a lot as I get older but still mistakes happen, wrong lines get picked, etc and my best one last year was hitting a tree in a high speed downhill section of local trail. I somehow got into the wrong line around a curve (trying to catch my son) and upon exiting the curve I was faced with the immediate decision: Big rock or tree. I chose the tree, hit it, was flung off and laid on the ground for a few minutes for "personal evaluation" time. You know, the time when you do things like: Wiggle your fingers, move your legs, take a deep breath checking ribs, etc. The result? Tore up my knuckles and some deep gashes. Thank goodness I had my Fox reinforced gloves on or It would have been a lot worse. The bike did not fare as well and had to push out, needing new front rim and a Reba shock. I love riding and even though I am not as fast as I once was nor do I heal like I did when I was 16 I think mountain biking is a perfect sport where you can get exercise and a little adrenaline rush at the same time.
