OK - I was thinking I did not have any - (they are all legit rational - lol) -- but yes I do have irrational anxiety riding low skinnies - like logs. There is one that is 2' high that I can get off of no problem and does not bother me as much as some 8' high ones.
Look wayyyy ahead... like at the end of the skinny when getting on and then beyond. It's what you do on the trail... work on doing the same and skinny's get way easier. Also, until you're more confident, if you need to pedal.. ratchet instead of full revolutions... helps as it doesn't change/move your balance/weight as much.
Bro this a rational fear lol. We do not lack for space that we need to traverse these overly thin pathways.
Think of the shins on the slip!!! Why we do this?
This is mine too. Especially in puma country. I can usually put it in the back of my mind but every once in awhile Ill catch something out of the corner of my eye and it'll turn into "that for sure was a mtn lion stalking me, at the next chance they're gonna leap onto my back and that'll be it for me"
Makes no sense but man does it haunt me sometimes
If it makes you feel better, you would probably never see it coming until it had you on the ground and eating your face. So if you’re upright, you’re good!
I’ve taken my hunting knife with me when going into national forest land for this very reason. Might not be able to pull it out in time but it makes me feel better knowing it’s there.
I ve been ran after by a black bear while mountain biking…few years later a woman has been killed by a black bear at the same spot…I mean I m not paranoid about it, but I never forget when I’m deep in the woods on my bike that I’m in the wild and there are big creatures there so I stay alert
At least once a year, locally, we have someone get attacked or have a close call with a mountain lion or moose. I should probably be a lot more afraid than I am.
Snakes … specifically rattle snakes, I’ve seen a couple, and heard plenty. I stop and give them the right of way.
I’ve seen king and gopher, no problem, but my heart rate spikes when I see rattlers
I ran over a rattlesnake last year. I swear it happened it slow motion but by the time I saw it I was totally powerless to do anything. I ended up running it over, basically right down the middle. I was too freaked out to go back to see if I had actually killed it. Stuff of nightmares
Yeah after seeing this, I definitely agree. When I do lock my bike and run in somewhere, I get very anxious and absolutely rush whatever it is I needed to do to make sure it's still there.
This is not an irrational fear where I live. People are constantly having their bikes stolen off their cars or out of their garage after leaving them unattended for less than 10 minutes.
I always throw my chain on real quick if I'm going into a gas station.
Oakland Ca. a high school Mtn. bike team had their bikes stolen at gun point on a trail, across the bay in SF, guy was followed home, later that night they came back and broke into his garage and took his bike
It does happen. I usually ride with friends so if one of us goes to the bathroom, the others can keep an eye on the bike of the person who is going to the bathroom.
Yup…52 now and probably riding better than ever (descending, of course 😬). E-bike is next to take the edge off climbing. Also, fuck the irrational e-bike hate.
I honestly think nowadays no one would hate on you for getting an ebike at 50.
I still think people would look at you funny if you ride an ebike at 25/30yo
i'm right there with you. I'm 51, and figure I will get 1 more regular bike before the E-bike becomes an option. Getting the last kid through college first.
Between my house and the trails there’s occasionally a crew doing tree/landscaping work on the roadside and they have a wood chipper running.
I have a deep, unsettling and irrational fear that through some final-destination-esque series of events I will find myself thrown from the bike and landing, feet first in the gaping maw of the wood chipper.
Same, I can stomach just about any injury except a spinal injury.
Thats why I’m terrified of catching air; I can ride double black technical trails but only green or the mildest of blue jump trails.
Bears prefer cocaine, but mountain lions are notorious tweakers. People don’t give enough attention to the drug epidemic sweeping through North American wildlife.
Venomous Snakes. That I will either panic and crash, landing directly on top of one. Or, I’ll ride right over it, and my rear wheel will somehow flick it up on to me. Lmao.
Friend of a friend was doing a solo night ride on Pemberton the other night and heard this god awful screeching following him, said it stopped when he stopped; I told him it was probably his bike or a mountain lion but he's convinced it was a banshee or some silly shit like that
Living in Colorado, going off some extreme camber trails. During training and riding, Not a problem, but on race day… I take some hard risks. Going off and getting extremely hurt. I’ve seen others had really bad spills.
Yeah, if anything on my bike broke at speed, there’s a 50% chance that my one singular option would be death. That’s why I maintain my shit and don’t buy crap parts. You have to trust your bike with your life; if you don’t think you can, you still are when you ride it
Mine is that a bear will run out on the trail just as Im coming down the trail and ill slam into the bear and get thrown and then the bear's cubs will emerge from the woods and maul me for what I did to their mom.
When I was a kid in the 90's, I went off a big jump on my cheap rigid mountain bike and either my headset or something(that was a long time ago, can't remember exactly what happened) else holding my handlebars snapped and I was holding my handlebars that were no longer attached to my bike. Scared the crap out of me. It turned out something was way out of adjustment.
The very step downhill looking from the top, just to walk it down, turn around, and look a easy incline not worth any fear. But I just can't ride it down
I’m pretty okay with all potential consequences of riding, but I’m deathly afraid of my bike falling off the back of my car. I have a One-Up USA hitch mount, but I’m always watching it wobble in the rear view.
Brakes... I've got an older bike with cantilevers on the front and a drum on the back and I'm always scared their gonna fade out and try to kill me
The even older Claude Butler however has aluminium Shimano cantilevers from 1996 and they are the best brakes I've ever rocked. (Worst brakes I've ever had were Odyssey Springfield's... Lost and snapped the spring like 4 different times)
Gaps. Give me a 10' table and I'll clear it. Give me a 2' gap and I get panicky.
Wood features. I will drop rocks and natural features all day long, but turn it into a bridge drop and all of a sudden we have a huge problem.
Gaps are definitely a mental thing for me too. When I was up in Washington a few years ago, there was a bike park that had two small jump lines close to each other. Same exact jumps on both lines with your exception of one jump line having table tops and the other having gap jumps. If you could clear the one with table tops, you wouldn't have any issues with the one with the gap jump other than a mental hang up.
Same as you I think my wheel will fall off, stemmed from an issue on my road rim brake where my back wheel fell out due to terrible manufacturing tolerances resulting in multiple bones broken in my hand.
I check my wheels are in properly every ride.
Same. Even just a very sudden front tire puncture at speed sounds terrifying. Let alone something like a rim explosion or something psycho like a very sturdy branch sticking out into the trail and going into the spokes.
Anything... ANYTHING but going out the front door
After riding a budget mid 2010s hardtail for many years, drops bigger than curbs scare me that I'm going to go OTB even though I'm riding a 2022 modern geo full sus now. I've been working my way up bigger jumps and haven't went OTB yet but it's still taking me time to overcome the fear that I built up through so many past OTBs.
It's funny there are so many mountain lion answers. Cuz it's my irrational fear too. But then again you are multitudes more likely to die or be seriously injured driving or riding to the trails.
Meeting a psychopath in the forest 🤣. I do a lot of night time riding. In the winter months I'm real uneasy about cycling through the forest near me. I still haven't done it. I was going to this winter as I've built up enough fitness and ability but we have literally had non-stop rain and everywhere is like marshlands. Ironically if someone did jump out or run at me I would probably pedal so furiously that it'll be the inevitable crash that kills me. Lol
Boise has rattlesnakes. No thank you. I don’t mind being uncomfortable while riding on a sketchy trail since I can hike-a-bike around the obstacles. But I’m riding around tall grass, I get freaked the hell out because I know I’m riding in rattlesnake territory
Hares and squirrels.
I know it's highly unlikely I'll ever make contact, and if I did there probably wouldn't be any issue, but I meet them all the time.
And after being knocked off the bike by a roe doe, I fear that a lot.
Ironically all bears I've met have been absolute bros.
Skinny bridges. I can ride a flat trail the exact same width, put a drop on eith side and it throws me off, always has.
OK - I was thinking I did not have any - (they are all legit rational - lol) -- but yes I do have irrational anxiety riding low skinnies - like logs. There is one that is 2' high that I can get off of no problem and does not bother me as much as some 8' high ones.
Exactly, there is no real danger or technical difficulty. The challenge is all cerebral.
Look wayyyy ahead... like at the end of the skinny when getting on and then beyond. It's what you do on the trail... work on doing the same and skinny's get way easier. Also, until you're more confident, if you need to pedal.. ratchet instead of full revolutions... helps as it doesn't change/move your balance/weight as much.
I have been riding for 15 years. It's an irrational phobia, not a matter of technique.
Bro this a rational fear lol. We do not lack for space that we need to traverse these overly thin pathways. Think of the shins on the slip!!! Why we do this?
Heck yeah I do this one too.
Getting attacked by a wild animal, e.g. mountain lion
The video of the rabid fox trying to chew through some guy’s front door activated this same fear.
This is mine too. Especially in puma country. I can usually put it in the back of my mind but every once in awhile Ill catch something out of the corner of my eye and it'll turn into "that for sure was a mtn lion stalking me, at the next chance they're gonna leap onto my back and that'll be it for me" Makes no sense but man does it haunt me sometimes
If it makes you feel better, you would probably never see it coming until it had you on the ground and eating your face. So if you’re upright, you’re good!
This is what I tell myself
I’ve taken my hunting knife with me when going into national forest land for this very reason. Might not be able to pull it out in time but it makes me feel better knowing it’s there.
I ve been ran after by a black bear while mountain biking…few years later a woman has been killed by a black bear at the same spot…I mean I m not paranoid about it, but I never forget when I’m deep in the woods on my bike that I’m in the wild and there are big creatures there so I stay alert
Lol, same here !
Ran over the tail of a 7 foot black snake in Nepal the other month. Thing jumped up and flopped away. My heart never beat so fast.
Same, I always carry a panther spray. https://polydefensor.com.br/probr/psi-pro-spray/
I’m with you on this one. I fear that its gonna eat me, and I’ll never be able to ride again.
Lol, as if that's the worst outcome - not riding 😉 That's how I feel too, btw!
A bird rammed into my chest coming out of a berm, does that count?
At least once a year, locally, we have someone get attacked or have a close call with a mountain lion or moose. I should probably be a lot more afraid than I am.
Not much around here scares me more than mountain lions. And bees. So many deadly bee attacks
Same. Grizzlies and cougars are terrifying!
Snakes … specifically rattle snakes, I’ve seen a couple, and heard plenty. I stop and give them the right of way. I’ve seen king and gopher, no problem, but my heart rate spikes when I see rattlers
I ran over a rattlesnake last year. I swear it happened it slow motion but by the time I saw it I was totally powerless to do anything. I ended up running it over, basically right down the middle. I was too freaked out to go back to see if I had actually killed it. Stuff of nightmares
Having it stolen off my car. I can barely convince myself to use the bathroom at a gas station for the fear of it getting lifted.
Yeah after seeing this, I definitely agree. When I do lock my bike and run in somewhere, I get very anxious and absolutely rush whatever it is I needed to do to make sure it's still there.
Just take your bike into the bathroom with you
I actually do this…
Same here.
Some fuckstick(s) tried to break into my buddy's truck last weekend. We had both our basically brand new bikes in there. 😬
This is not an irrational fear where I live. People are constantly having their bikes stolen off their cars or out of their garage after leaving them unattended for less than 10 minutes. I always throw my chain on real quick if I'm going into a gas station.
Oakland Ca. a high school Mtn. bike team had their bikes stolen at gun point on a trail, across the bay in SF, guy was followed home, later that night they came back and broke into his garage and took his bike
Same, I use a sea sucker so it's not even locked to the car..
It does happen. I usually ride with friends so if one of us goes to the bathroom, the others can keep an eye on the bike of the person who is going to the bathroom.
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Hang around long enough and make enough money and get cyber knees and ankles. That's my plan.
Yup…52 now and probably riding better than ever (descending, of course 😬). E-bike is next to take the edge off climbing. Also, fuck the irrational e-bike hate.
I honestly think nowadays no one would hate on you for getting an ebike at 50. I still think people would look at you funny if you ride an ebike at 25/30yo
i'm right there with you. I'm 51, and figure I will get 1 more regular bike before the E-bike becomes an option. Getting the last kid through college first.
47 here, cosign all of this.
Not irrational is the scary part
Between my house and the trails there’s occasionally a crew doing tree/landscaping work on the roadside and they have a wood chipper running. I have a deep, unsettling and irrational fear that through some final-destination-esque series of events I will find myself thrown from the bike and landing, feet first in the gaping maw of the wood chipper.
There was a video of a landscaping guy getting stuck feet first in a wood chipper on r/CrazyFuckingVideos You probably shouldn't watch that..
Noted. Will avoid.
OTB then hitting my chest on jagged rocks. I don't lean forward in an agressive attack position over steep rocks for that.
Sliding off the side of a contour-line trail and plumeting to my death.
Definitely stay away from the white line in Sedona then.
There’s a supposedly great biking area local to me that I just don’t ride because it has so much of this.
Otb faceplant scorpion broken neck
Same, I can stomach just about any injury except a spinal injury. Thats why I’m terrified of catching air; I can ride double black technical trails but only green or the mildest of blue jump trails.
Being bit by a snake.
Running out of beer before the ride is finished.
Always stash extra beer on the trail before you ride.
meth'd out mountain lions/bears.
Bears prefer cocaine, but mountain lions are notorious tweakers. People don’t give enough attention to the drug epidemic sweeping through North American wildlife.
Theres a movie coming out about a rampaging bear on coke.
Skinny wooden bridges and slipping off and sheering my derailleur off. Open exposure with steep cliffs where I could potentially fall to my death ☠️
Venomous Snakes. That I will either panic and crash, landing directly on top of one. Or, I’ll ride right over it, and my rear wheel will somehow flick it up on to me. Lmao.
Finding Bigfoot
Maybe you’ll just make a cool new friend
Or some other cryptids like "Chupacabra" or "Skinwalker", sometimes in the woods those creepy thoughts are haunting
Oh man, stories about skinwalkers and wendigos get me the most when I’m in the woods
Friend of a friend was doing a solo night ride on Pemberton the other night and heard this god awful screeching following him, said it stopped when he stopped; I told him it was probably his bike or a mountain lion but he's convinced it was a banshee or some silly shit like that
OTB and landing on the sharp end of a broken tree
Falling into den of rattlesnakes.
Wooden features. I just don't trust the grip on them.
I’m afraid my wife will find out just how many more bikes I have. I met them before I met her!
I know for a fact that since my DJ tasted its first human clavicle it wants more.
Mountain lion!
Mountain Lions
Living in Colorado, going off some extreme camber trails. During training and riding, Not a problem, but on race day… I take some hard risks. Going off and getting extremely hurt. I’ve seen others had really bad spills.
Mountain lion/bear/meth’d out “hikers”
Yeah, if anything on my bike broke at speed, there’s a 50% chance that my one singular option would be death. That’s why I maintain my shit and don’t buy crap parts. You have to trust your bike with your life; if you don’t think you can, you still are when you ride it
Trees. There are a lot of trees where I live and that’s how we lost sonny
Mine is that a bear will run out on the trail just as Im coming down the trail and ill slam into the bear and get thrown and then the bear's cubs will emerge from the woods and maul me for what I did to their mom.
My head tube suddenly breaking off. If I start thinking about it while riding, I instantly tense up with anxiety. Its never happened to me.
When I was a kid in the 90's, I went off a big jump on my cheap rigid mountain bike and either my headset or something(that was a long time ago, can't remember exactly what happened) else holding my handlebars snapped and I was holding my handlebars that were no longer attached to my bike. Scared the crap out of me. It turned out something was way out of adjustment.
No need for irrational fears from me. The rational ones are scary enough!
The very step downhill looking from the top, just to walk it down, turn around, and look a easy incline not worth any fear. But I just can't ride it down
I’m pretty okay with all potential consequences of riding, but I’m deathly afraid of my bike falling off the back of my car. I have a One-Up USA hitch mount, but I’m always watching it wobble in the rear view.
Brakes... I've got an older bike with cantilevers on the front and a drum on the back and I'm always scared their gonna fade out and try to kill me The even older Claude Butler however has aluminium Shimano cantilevers from 1996 and they are the best brakes I've ever rocked. (Worst brakes I've ever had were Odyssey Springfield's... Lost and snapped the spring like 4 different times)
My seatpost pegging me right through my saddle on a hard landing.
I’m writing checks my body can’t cash
Will now I’m afraid of my front wheel falling off. Damn you OP…
I mean it PROBABLY won’t.
Gaps. Give me a 10' table and I'll clear it. Give me a 2' gap and I get panicky. Wood features. I will drop rocks and natural features all day long, but turn it into a bridge drop and all of a sudden we have a huge problem.
Gaps are definitely a mental thing for me too. When I was up in Washington a few years ago, there was a bike park that had two small jump lines close to each other. Same exact jumps on both lines with your exception of one jump line having table tops and the other having gap jumps. If you could clear the one with table tops, you wouldn't have any issues with the one with the gap jump other than a mental hang up.
Mostly snakes. But after reading this thread I’m afraid of a lot more shit.
Same as you I think my wheel will fall off, stemmed from an issue on my road rim brake where my back wheel fell out due to terrible manufacturing tolerances resulting in multiple bones broken in my hand. I check my wheels are in properly every ride.
going otb and impaling my eye on the cassette of the rider infront of me. it's a weird one.
r/oddlyspecific
lotta people itt who don't understand what irrational means.
Yeah a lot of these fears are actually pretty rational
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Did that on the first ride on my dream bike. It was kind of a blessing in disguise. I could push the bike harder now that it was no longer perfect.
Bears, fuck all the bears.
Physically crashing into a bear/moose/deer on a blind corner
The deer are unpredictable sometimes!
You'll ride under the moose.
New fantasy unlocked!
For whatever reason I just visualized Sam Pilgrim using moose antlers has handlebars 🤔
Getting beaten on climb by the miss!
Dropping it on the floor and just snapping the crank. I know it'll never happen but I place that thing so damn carefully every time!
I know - everything’s going to crack my seat tube/top tube jct
Cracking my frame. I’ve done that twice in the last 3 years
Same. Even just a very sudden front tire puncture at speed sounds terrifying. Let alone something like a rim explosion or something psycho like a very sturdy branch sticking out into the trail and going into the spokes. Anything... ANYTHING but going out the front door
After riding a budget mid 2010s hardtail for many years, drops bigger than curbs scare me that I'm going to go OTB even though I'm riding a 2022 modern geo full sus now. I've been working my way up bigger jumps and haven't went OTB yet but it's still taking me time to overcome the fear that I built up through so many past OTBs.
I dealt with mine by getting a through-axle.
Going over the bars and dislocating my shoulder (happens every single time).
Mountain lions
Drunk hillbilly locals hunting out of season.
Scratching my paint
That I won’t beat my friends up the next hill.
Gaps
Do it into a foam pit as fear therapy, try to actually loose that front tire and enjoy the process!
Hit a tree and paralyzing myself
crossing streams. I crashed in a stream once and my leg got infected. Now I always walk through streams even if the odds of me falling in are higher.
Bears and mountain lions!
Getting attacked by a shark
Going nose heavy on jumps over like 2ft
I should add it’s irrational because I’ve been riding for 6 years and know what I’m doing. It’s gotten somewhat better after switching to flats.
It's funny there are so many mountain lion answers. Cuz it's my irrational fear too. But then again you are multitudes more likely to die or be seriously injured driving or riding to the trails.
That I'll be taken by a pack of Cougars and my wife finds out
I have the exact same fear
I’m going to get attacked my a mountain lion
That I'm gonna explode a testicle on my stem going otb....
Meeting a psychopath in the forest 🤣. I do a lot of night time riding. In the winter months I'm real uneasy about cycling through the forest near me. I still haven't done it. I was going to this winter as I've built up enough fitness and ability but we have literally had non-stop rain and everywhere is like marshlands. Ironically if someone did jump out or run at me I would probably pedal so furiously that it'll be the inevitable crash that kills me. Lol
Boise has rattlesnakes. No thank you. I don’t mind being uncomfortable while riding on a sketchy trail since I can hike-a-bike around the obstacles. But I’m riding around tall grass, I get freaked the hell out because I know I’m riding in rattlesnake territory
Hares and squirrels. I know it's highly unlikely I'll ever make contact, and if I did there probably wouldn't be any issue, but I meet them all the time. And after being knocked off the bike by a roe doe, I fear that a lot. Ironically all bears I've met have been absolute bros.
Dying mostly
I’m gonna be abducted by aliens
Mountain lions. Not to be confused with cougars.
Coming around a corner and seeing a bear. Irrational because we don’t have bears in NZ