Originally Posted by
shiz702
I started out the year as a cat 5 and moved up to a 4 after 10 races (including 3 skills clinics). I've raced 12 races so far and out of all 12 I've only seen 2 races go clean with no crashes. I've been involved in 2 crashes, both times I got caught behind other people doing stupid sh*t.
I took a break in May due to an intense summer class. I was afraid to crash again and miss classes. Now that this class is almost over I really want to get a couple more races in before the season ends but I'm having a hard time justifying the risks. My first crash kept me off the bike for almost 3 weeks with a sprained wrist and bruised hip (plus all the road rash just plain sucks).
So my question is, how do YOU justify the risks to yourself? I know, I know, just HTFU right? I really enjoy racing but thinking about crashing again makes me question the point.
here's a suggestion: take a class on the psychology of economics. the reward of bike racing is great enough that we are willing to take the risk (not to mention the thousands of dollars we sink into equipment, race fees, etc), obviously, it seems that you are risk-averse in this regard, and there's nothing wrong with that. you know, there are always triathlons and duathlons in which you can participate