It's good to hear from the someone who was in a similar situation. Do you regret giving it up and if you could go back in time would you have stuck with it?


To everyone else:
I didn't make this thread to debate if I'm a good rider or not. Like with anything, it's a lot easier to just assume that someone isn't good, but unless you've done the sport yourself or seen the person do it how can you judge. I am very confident in my ability to ride, I will never claim to be a pro or one of the best, but I can hold my own. Downhill/freeride/dirt jumping is an extremely difficult and dangerous sport where every rider will fall and will get hurt. How hard you push yourself and how big you are willing to go will dictate the severity of injuries you can face.


I have been stuck thinking about whether to give it up or not for almost a week now, I just don't know what to do. There is no middle ground with this one, I know wth my personality that I can't go back to it and "take it easy." It would be like letting a recovering gambling addict have a thousand dollars, letting them into a casino unsupervised and telling them only to play penny slot machines. It may work for a while, but eventually they'll end up at a table game. If I decide to go back to the sport the temptation would be to great to hit the bigger features and eventually I would go for it.

So my dilemma is to give up the one sport I love doing at the request of my parents (who I respect greatly) or to continue to ride while I'm young, independent, and have very few responsibilities holding me back. Again thanks for all the answers so far.

 

only you know the answer to that one. I don't know what you're looking for here.....

 

can't read through all the posts, but if you enjoy it and you do it safely in a park then no you aren't being selfish.

Invite your dad out to watch, eventaully you'll pick up something else or slow down.

i just turned 40 and am fianlly slowing down. ...a bit.

 

Regret? nah but I do miss it alot! I still frequent the mtn bike sites like nsmb.com just as much as I did when I did ride. I don't regret quitting because I can go and rip it up anytime I would like. for me to regret something would mean that I failed or didn't achieve my goals..(i don't know if that makes any sence.) I simply road before because I loved it, and when I felt that it was time for me to slow down I did. ( manly due to quite a few injuries and some that hindered my ability to ride at the level I was at)
I was competitive back in the day but I knew there was no money in riding and to have become a pro freerider simply meant injuries after injuries. Back when Darren became one of the top riders in the freeride world he was not making nearly enough to off set his injuries. One season he crushed his pelvic bone amongst many other injuries. When i was about 12 one of my closest riding buddies broke his back filming in Kamloops and is now permanently in a wheel chair. I don't know if you know who Matt Hunter is but he just recently also broke his back, but will make a full recovery. I have endless injury stories but non of them kept me off my bike until I just slowly grew away from it. I think no one will be able to tell you to quit riding, because when I did ride my parents and friends told me to stop but the rush is unmatched by any other sport, no one could have kept me away from my bike. I don't know if any of that makes any sense but I tried to explain the whole aspect of freeriding and why I quit.

heres a little vid that shows the kind of biking that we are talking about and why there is danger.[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCItQblcmAY [/media]&feature=related

 

last year I rode for about 3 days. here are a couple pics. I do miss it alot maybe I will go for a ride tmr, lol DAMN IT! lol








cool pic of me from when I was about 13 or 14