gsteinb

33 + 1 = there is no I in team.

Grumpy McTrumpy

wut

gsteinb

I don't have any idea either. I just figure 34 is close to 33, and this being the 33…

if someone asked me about rule 5 I'd check the mountain bike section (section 5) of the USAC rulebook.

Grumpy McTrumpy

I am theatrically shrugging and also doing a very passable blank stare. It's not been easy but I took some Stanislavski

shovelhd

Does not compute

grolby

And me. TWO broken collarbones on a cyclocross bike. Broken bone record on the road is still zero.

Uh, for VeloCross: there is definitely some risk of injury involved in both riding and racing a bike. And some people like to emphasize this, in a macho "look how tough I am for being brave enough to do this super dangerous sport." But honestly, it's not BASE jumping or cave diving. I prefer to emphasize how many times I've stayed up. Most people stay up most of the time. Not to minimize the risk or anything, of course. But I'm only an averagely brave person, and I don't feel like I'm putting myself in a lot of excess danger by racing my bike. Still, it's up to you. If you feel intimidated, that's something to take seriously. Throwing yourself in the deep end when you're really afraid of what you're doing can be a lot more dangerous than doing the same thing when you feel confident and safe.

TheKillerPenguin

I mean, I have a friend that doesn't race at all and hit a deer while descending at 40mph and broke his leg. Stuff just happens.

aaronmcd

Like Grolby, I'd say I'm also only averagely brave (maybe just dumb) and I've crashed in a race, in a training race, a couple times cornering too fast on wet roads, once cornering too fast on a descent, once by dropping a chain in a small ring sprint, once by pulling off the pedals in a sprint, and 3 times by a collision with a turning car. Lost skin, broke a bone, sprained a foot, broke a frame. Still not too scared to commute, descend or race.

gsteinb

considering the catastrophic ways one can get hurt in life, and in particular simply riding a bike, racing really isn't too terribly insane.

Ygduf

no kidding. My first real gf cheated on me! Talk about getting hit by a truck.


















hard to handle that stuff when you're only 27!

globecanvas

I would like to think that you are an outlier.

echappist

that's certainly one type of trauma, and I'm sorry that you had to go through that experience.

to make this a little bit more relevant, i was starting at possible bankruptcy at 25 after a crash. I was a broke ass grad student who just lost 4 front upper teeth and 1 front lower teeth in a race. From all that i've read, my insurance covers only bridgework, which is fine for the lower but not for the upper. Market rate for replacing the upper is well north of 30k. My dad was more than willing to help out financially, but i know what this meant as providing financial support has always meant an additional form of control. A few years earlier he had lent me 3k for tuition and I could not hear the end of it until i repaid the amount. There was never a doubt in my mind that i'd get back on the bike and compete again, but taking money from my dad most likely would mean that I need to give up cycling altogether.

What would you do when your annual after tax income is 24k, and half of that has to go to rent? Credit card debt? Medical debt? Declare bankruptcy? The first two months after the accident, I seriously thought about defaulting on credit card debt after having the procedure done. Fortunately I found out that i could have the procedure done at a teaching hospital, but the total sum would still be over 9k. This made it within the realm of possibility for me not to accept money from my dad, but I still need to figure out a way to pay for things. I really went after my insurance company, hoping to demonstrate that getting dental implants is a necessity when so many teeth need to be replaced, and after some protracted arguing and waiting, my insurance company agreed to pay for the procedure. In the end, things ended as well as I could have imagined, but it could have easily been a lot worse.

That said, the type of injury I had is rare, and i know of only one other person here who went through it. But you have to ask yourself if you can take the financial hit should something untoward happens. Setting aside the concern of whether your insurance is adequate (i'd consider a high deductible plan to be woefully inadequate for cycling), there are people who could not go to work for weeks after an accident. Again, I have to reiterate that the likelihood of the really serious injuries are quite low, but they do occur just frequent enough that you should be at least consider the ramifications.

furiousferret

There are no white trucks in races so I feel fairly safe. I'm not sure what it is with white trucks, but at least half of my close calls are with them.

mattm

I concur.

caloso

I have crashed at 30mph in a crit and at 3mph in a CX race. The 3mph crash was more painful. Crashes happen and there's a certain randomness to them, but truthfully I accept the risk.

SalsaShark

Still safer than driving, right?

wens

I'll take the contrary position, I think high deductible makes lots of sense for cycling. Tax advantaged hsa to sock away money in, and if you spend a night in the hospital or take an ambulance ride you'll max out the individual deductible, free healthcare the rest of that year.

Also, I would have paid less for my collarbone with the high deductible plans I've been on than the 80/20 split plan I was on then.

shovelhd

I wish my high deductible plan was free after the deductible. There is still a significant participant split.

jsutkeepspining

Considering how much training i've been doing over the past couple of weeks, this is really ironic.

merlinextraligh

We've been doing high deductible with an HSA for 6-7 years now.

Its a great way to save tax free for retirement.

Fully fund the HSA (which is not that difficult given that you're paying a lower premium;many employers make a matching contribution, and you're getting an offsetting tax break). Then leave the money invested, paying any deductibles out of pocket.

By doing this, your money grows tax deferred (tax free if you eventually spend it on health care.)

Over a period of about 6 years (IIRC) we've accumulated over $50,000 in HSA accounts. 10 more years, and decent investment returns, and I should never have to pay anything else for health care for the rest of my life.

Given that health care is one of the highest expense items you'll face in retirement, having money saved in an HSA substantially enhances your retirement planning.

globecanvas

HSAs are great for retirement, but alternatively, have a bunch of kids who can't stop breaking bones and needing braces, then all the medical costs are pre-tax but you don't get to retire so much.

echappist

well aren't you burying the lede. That just coincidentally happen to overlap with the six strongest years that the S&P 500 has seen.

merlinextraligh

Only a portion of it is in stocks. Good portion is in pass book savings (because that's what the particular account allows)

Even with zero return from stocks, you're getting a 25 to 40% return from the tax advantage, about a 33% return from the cheaper premium, and a 20% return from the employer match.

If you're in a high tax bracket, max out your 401k already, and are in good health, there is an extremely compelling case for high deductible/HSA.

grolby

Gotta make money to save money.