frogman

Makes sense !

What doesn't make sense is the earlier comparison to riding a motorcycle. Comparing apples to oranges.

wphamilton

The extra caution is your adaptation to the whole traumatic experience. It's not necessarily something that we have to get over, but if there is an level of confidence that you want to push through I suggest repetition, with gradually getting accustomed to slightly higher speeds.

RiceAWay

That is normal. Just continue your previous rides and slowly your courage (or rather it may be your stupidity) will return. I can't count the number of crashes I've had. But I used to race motorcycles and learned how to fall with the minimum of injuries. That doesn't mean you can't get hurt but you're less likely to.

RiceAWay

That is normal. Just continue your previous rides and slowly your courage (or rather it may be your stupidity) will return. I can't count the number of crashes I've had. But I used to race motorcycles and learned how to fall with the minimum of injuries. That doesn't mean you can't get hurt but you're less likely to.

RiceAWay

I'm 75 and have stopped going all out around those blind turns because I know the proper line. There's always the chance that some dumb driver will be cutting the turn and hit you. Also the roads are getting so bad around here that you can lose control from the potholes and if I'm losing control I would just as soon it was at a speed where I could regain it before leaving the roadway.

RiceAWay

That photo should be entitled how to break your hands into a million pieces in one easy lesson. Mind you, that is an instinctive thing to do leftover from learning to walk. But you should only use that like Yatesy did to roll over on your shoulder and put at much of your body as possible on the road to slow you up and put the least amount of pressure on any point

Clyde1820

Best recipe I've ever found for getting "comfortable" again with a sport that has inherent risks: keep doing it, though with added precautions. In the "practice makes perfect" sense.

Have fallen only a couple times on a bike, "pushing" things (either in inclement weather, or on hills, or when lots of road impediments existed (ie, on trails). Chalked it up to being a fluke, and just backed off for awhile until I felt okay with it again.

Have done surfing, kayaking and snow skiing, as well, each at a fairy "pushy" level of difficulty and situations. Each of those is much like cycling, in the sense that a "crash" can be a fairly dangerous thing. Almost drowned kayaking, once. Fell about 20ft off a cliff skiing, one one occasion. And had countless "oops" moments surfing, when the weight of water that dropped on my head (and back) was incalculable. In each case, I've followed much the same recipe (above). Eventually, the basic precautions and increased experience equates to wisdom and improved skills ... a good combination, often yielding improved performance along with a reduction in frequency of bad "spills."

I wish there were an iron-clad way to address the psychological aspect. Time, I'd say. Time enough to learn from the mistakes, to learn about those conditions and what led to the crash, to get better sufficiently to avoid such situations in future. Sort of backing into the psychology, once proofs abound that it's safer.