tomsgr

MTB version of the Rabaconda. Even has some green accents :)

@jomacba: There are many ways to have a good time and live bold without smashing yourself into pieces as a teenager. What this girl has gone through in the last few years is brutal and for sure will impact her quality of life later down the line.

@Rockstarharley: My boy is 9 and also started riding Osets when he was 2.5 years old. Now he is on an 80cc Beta trials 2stroke. I agree with you. At 9 he has more skills than many grown-up enduro and trials moto riders. Having good skills obviously reduces the frequency of crashes, but there is no escaping that the speeds and heights of an activity like MX still come with significant risk, even for the very skilled riders. We are in this 2 wheel riding/racing bubble and sometimes get desensitised to the injuries and risks. For people who aren't in it, but who find out about the risk profile, many of our activities seem pretty crazy and reckless (especially when it comes to young kids). On one hand we enforce child seats in cars, helmets when riding bicycles in the city, etc, but at the same time kids are racing MX, BMX and doing other high risk activities that have a well document history of serious trauma.

@Rockstarharley: Fair enough. You probably don't fit the parent profile I was describing in my previous comment :) In any case, you must have different risk tolerance level to what I have when it comes to kids. E.g. my kid wants to race MX. My wife and I agreed that that's an unacceptable level of risk. We explained it to our kids as well as we could... end of the story. He is riding trials moto instead. One can still get hurt, but the risk profile is significantly different.

@trail-earnhardt: I grew up around BMX racing and later in life got involved with offroad moto. The number of parents that try to live their dreams through their kids is staggering. There were times when the whole racing scene grossed me out due to parents pushing their kids to take unreasonable risks. For what... a plastic trophy. People can't get their ego in check. The worst offenders are usually parents who don't ride themselves or ride at a beginner level. I rarely see expert/pro level parents exposing their kids to that levels of risk. They would push them to work on the basic skills and progress them slowly. I have a kid who rides pretty well and sometimes you do get some intrusive thoughts, but I always try to remember why I want my kids to ride - build confidence, learn discipline and enjoy nature. To achieve those outcomes a 6 year old doesn't need to do huge drops and gap jumps.

@kleinblake: yes, for sure you can get injured in a playground, but the likelihood of getting a serious injury from doing large drops and jumps, riding moto or doing backflips is significantly higher.

@justridingalong1: no worries! We all have our moments :)

@justridingalong1: Aren't you the same guy who told me to "butt out" when I commented that Casey Brown's injury shouldn't be taken as lightly, since it caries a potential complication risk (e.g. arthritis)? Based on your own logic, since you don't have the exact details of Emil's case, you shouldn't comment and speculate. btw I think you should be able to freely express your thoughts and concerns as did I. Let's hope that all injured athletes from this year's rampage will have a fairly smooth recovery (as smooth as it can be for their particular situation).

@SimbaandHiggins: Some years ago when I was really into hard enduro moto riding I was going back and forth between the brace and no brace. In the slow and technical riding it does restrict the mobility a bit, reduces ventilation around your neck and adds weight, which might sound silly, but over a 5+ hour hard enduro race you really feel it, that's why many experienced racers sometimes don't even wear a chest/back guard or elbow guards. When riding my rally bike or on an MX track, I did wear it and didn't find it restricting. I assume that the Rampage riders are also looking to minimise any kind of restriction, but the risk of crashing on a massive cliff drop is much greater vs wrestling your motorcycle up some rocky stream at 10km per hour. I did a lot of reading about braces and the most comprehensive real life data I found was from Action Sports EMS neck brace study (you can find it via Google) and the findings were significantly in favour of neck braces.

@cougar797: Hopefully she will be back, but it's a nasty injury. It's not just any bone break, since it involves cartilage damage of a major joint. There is a good chance of getting arthritis from this.