Originally Posted by downtube42

My last bad crash the last thing I recall is hearing gravel under my tire under hard cornering, and recognizing this was going to be bad. There was a heck of a lot I did wrong that put me in that position. I woke up at the bottom of a ravine with what ended up being a broken neck and shredded thigh from the guardrail. I have no idea how I behaved in-between. Perhaps I crashed with great skill, allowing me to come away with no permanent injuries. Perhaps I crashed badly, resulting in a broken neck. I think I'm far better served learning and behaving differently to avoid putting myself in that situation, than practicing how to fly down a ravine without breaking my neck. I realize that's not a strictly either/or proposition, but I think avoidance is an order of magnitude easier to accomplish.