Kindaslow

When I was in my 20's and thirties, this log would have looked 2-3 feet wide to me. It is about 12 inches wide and about 8 feet off the ground in the middle. My guess is that it is 50-70 feet across. Nowadays, it looks 3-6 inches wide to me, and I just do not have any desire to find out what that water would feel like.

Kindaslow

Off to the left of that log is this huge log with the boards nailed to it. These boards are about 3 feet wide, but look about 12 inches to me nowadays. I am still willing to ride this log.

Funny how things look different with age.....

albireo13

yup ... plus things shrink and sag as well.

Go with the flow!

Biker395 

Sorry ... couldn't resist.

MarioT

Huge difference between young adulthood and older adulthood is that you go from asking yourself, "Why would anything go wrong?" to "What happens if it goes wrong?"
I ride mountain bike trails near hear and the boards there, even if they are only about 2 feet off the ground, go from about 18" wide then they narrow to about 12" wide to finally get to about 8" wide. I got off at 8" width, then watched a young father and his 10-ish year old son zoom past me.

I'm going to ride that 8" bridge this Summer!! lol

Kindaslow

Your inner child is proud of you! 😀

Tony G

For me 18 inches wide now looks like 48. Not sure if it is due to blurred vision or good scotch or both.

McBTC

I've lived long enough to appreciate the fact that I've gone off more than one cliff that I now wish I hadn't...

79pmooney

Now I find that perspective gets more difficult to judge properly as my astigmatism gets worse as I age. (Straight lines in architechure are no longer straight to my eyes.)

A little more seriously - I find myself being a lot less adventuresome even road riding. Now that "what if" seems very real. For one thing, I may well have done it already. For another, I will almost certainly be stacking this new injury on top of an old one and that is getting less fun.

Ben

downtube42

It seems backwards, blatant risk-taking when six or seven decades of living are on the line, then shying away from risk when one or two decades are at stake.

79pmooney

If you required all countries to fill their armies from only those 60 or over, there would a lot fewer wars, despite so many fewer man-years being lost.

Ben

Kindaslow

Let's not forget nap time!

B. Carfree

It's not just that I now consider what happens if something goes wrong. It's also that I'm not nearly as strong and quick as I was three or four decades ago so something is much, much more likely to go wrong.

70sSanO

I had a discussion like this with my older brother many years ago. Basically his take on it was that you get to a certain age where you have something to lose, before that age you just don't think about the consequences.

As someone who started mountain biking in my 60's it was a real eye opener and I have nothing but respect for those that can really ride. After more than a few tumbles and a surgery and a couple if torn ligaments, I have lost my desire to try and prove to the world that I can get up to speed of an experienced rider at an older age in a short period of time. Discretion is the better part if being able to continue to be active in my retirement years.

John

Piratebike

I am sure I am missing out not taking chances, but chances are I am not going to take any more chances.

bikemig 

Nothing wrong with walking that bridge; there someone had to say it.

Kindaslow

That is not a walking bridge.

That just happens to be the easier way to ride over the swamp.

stardognine

Actually, I think I ride a little better, as I get older. I can't see what used to scare me as well now. No fear!!!

Steve B.

After 25 years of mt. biking, my wife is tired of taking me to the emergency room, thus I don't take chances by riding over stuff as seen in the photos.

As well, a riding buddy slipped on a bridge like that, broke 2 neck vertebrae, lay awaiting EMS for 40 minutes on a cold day.

Kindaslow

I think the big log is pretty safe on a dry day. Most of the trails are only 2 feet wide, and I don't ride into the bushes continuously. So, no reason to believe one cannot ride it safely, given it is about 3 feet wide. The little log, though is only about 12" wide, and you have to ride up onto it at the beginning. Just not my cup of tea anymore!

Daniel4

This logic would apply to a lot of things:

1) War, as in another post.

2) The first income for young people should be $100K and gradually reduce until your retirement where it should be $20K or the living wage. Young people need the high income to purchase homes, start families, raise children, daycare, education, saving for retirement. By the time you retire, your mortgage would have been paid long ago, the kids would have all been through school and you would have built up a good nest egg on low income. Too many older people don't have any of these because they couldn't get their head start.

Carbonfiberboy 

C'mon. As we get older, we have more to lose because we learn the value of what we have, meaning what we have built. The young have little, and so little to lose. It's not losing the future so much which worries us, it's losing the present.

Anyway, that's the reason I don't even own an MTB: injuries are really bad at our age.

Piratebike

My mountain bike is just for slow trail riding and hunting off of. No serious fast trail riding for me.

JanMM

Hell no, I won't go!

Would interfere with bicycling.

doctor j

Age and perspective... experience and wisdom