Good news for the old schoolers

[mr.magoo]

Before i come under pressure and have my decision made for me, I have decided that i will put all my efforts into cruisers, and from now have retired from Old school...shame, especially being that I was keeping it quiet that i've got the Bays first straight dialled in on my Hyper and can take both jumps at full racing speed without even covering my brake lever!, manualling, jumping was a project for winter, but thats a no go too. Was gonna unleash that at the southern champs, but thats not gonna be, so hey-ho.

Not  a decision i took lightly, but family and mortgage have to come first in the adult world, is a real shame, cos i've had a really good laugh this season.

But once i can ride again, will be doing the same on my cruiser, but just gonna have to take some sensible pills.

[THIRSTYKIRSTY]

 

SO I could have GOT YA HYPER OFF YA AFTER ALL NEIL

R

[RATTY]

I have twice now pondered at giving up


But not a chance, Im coming back, and as soon as possible.

Dont make a hasty decision, despite whats happened

[mr.magoo]

Russ..your right, benefit of hind sight eh?

Tony,Appreciate what yer sayin, still gonna do 24" and tbh was probably gonna go cruiser only next season, so just brought the decision forward, as getting it in the neck for the amount of stacks i've had, and luckily none have kept me off work so far.
But don't wanna wait till its too late, can't see mortgage company being too supportive in this climate.

Realistically stack was nothing more than a racing incident and had i not have had the misfortune to have had leg run over, wouldn't have had a second thought and wouldn't have been any injury, but there was, and missus not happy about prospect of broken bones etc.

And unfortunately work is my second hobby, and couldn't stand to be in a position where work suffered because of injury.

Shame really, cos personally i see old school as the high-light of every race meeting

[moomin]

Neil,

If you want to race and give it your all then you and the Mrs need to sit down and talk about it.........

The day before starting a job Tony broke ribs......................, the day before starting his now job  he broke his thumb................. all through BMX, not a days work missed.  In June he got a brain tumour through no fault of his own and looking back he's glad that he gave O/S his all when he came back 1st time, i'm sure he'll get fit again but he gave it his best when he was fit .

Life is far too short to live life wondering what if.  You have a very real talent on a bike, one that i think deserves to be harnesed and you have MUCH more to come, i'm very confident titles will follow.

Maybe look down the route of income protection, we are, will cover you if you are injured

[spillers#1]

Neil mate look into combined insurance of america  i've been covered by them for 3 years now on a basic policy and it works,i pay less than £20 a month and have had 2 claims since getting back into bmx 

The last one being 2 months ago when i broke my arm at hernebay,i got a cheque for £1100 within a couple of weeks and £500 last year when i busted my hand racing old skool  my policy just pays out a fixed amount depending on what you injure.It covers you for everyday life and work.

I thought about packing it all in after breaking my arm and go back to racing motorbikes as its safer  but some words of encouragement from some of the 40+ boys made me realise that racing bmx is where i wanna be now  :daumenhoch:i just accepted that injury is part of the game and that i would be more miserable without it as bmx has made me feel young again and competitive and keeps the gut down to a reasonable size 

[billstup]

Rad are looking into an insurance for extream sports at the moment, so watch this space 

[lazychubs]

Rad are looking into an insurance for extream sports at the moment, so watch this space 

will they insure roonga lol
sorry paul lol

[superbikedan]

Rad are looking into an insurance for extream sports at the moment, so watch this space 

would love to know if you can bill, no one would touch my billy went he went to berlin this year,

phoned everyone and the minute i said bmx they said there underwriters wouldnt cover him

[sonic-1]

  well thats shit news but kinda guessed it might be like that !!!!!! im gettin agro after yer stack to as she said if someone who can actualy ride can mess them selfs up like that then im prob goin to end up a cabbage !!!!!! nice to have so much faith ehh
 just hopein it dies down or im likely to be out of racin to 

[spillers#1]

Se marks brother shane gave up bmx because he said it was to dangerous and didn't want to hurt himself,he went back to playing football and f**kin broke he's leg in a bad way and was told he would have to give up playing 

You have choices in life but my thoughts are why should you give something up when your heart says you should do it'my fear is regret,i hate looking back thinking "i wish i had have done this or that "lifes to short man.

I've been into motorbikes all my life but didn't actually start riding properley till i was about 26,reason was my parents,especially my mum hated them with a passion,so i never had one out of feeling guilty but it mad me unhappy and the yerning to have one was to strong.Ended up with loadsa bikes and then racing powerbikes for a while and she began to realise thats what i'm all about  still fookin hates em though 

[Zippy]

well thats shit news but kinda guessed it might be like that !!!!!! im gettin agro after yer stack to as she said if someone who can actualy ride can mess them selfs up like that then im prob goin to end up a cabbage !!!!!! nice to have so much faith ehh
 just hopein it dies down or im likely to be out of racin to 

Have you lot not learnt the golden rule of BMX racing. DON'T BRING THE WIFE   

No matter how much you want them to, they're never going to think your great when racing little kids bikes from the 80's. 

You should point out that you never ride fast enough Russ. 

[Zippy]

Good news for Hersden because it means that the two fastest old schoolers aren't going to be racing next year so ther will be a new old school champion for the first time in two seasons.

Even better news for me though because it means I can beat you all over again in 30-39 cruisers next year. 

When I fell off in 2006 at Hersden and shattered my wrist I did have thoughts of giving it up but I actually came back a lot stronger and started to ride a lot more controlled as well and therefore safer on the bike. To the extent that my first crash was this year at the Bay in one of my moto's. Having said that I have crashed another 3 times since then.  Must be something to do with the added competition this year. 

Anyway here's a pic of my wrist which is loads worse than your knee.

[se]

If you get a nice fatboy desk job like me then you don't really need arms or legs  

[mr.magoo]

Thanks for all the encouragment guys, i'm not dropping out of the game, just movin' on up to 24", which i had some major fun on at Hersden, although my roots and heart will always be in 20", something about the twichiness makes it more fun.

The decision regarding Old School wasn't just about injury, have been thinking about the next couple of seasons and where i want to be, Old School is so expensive, luckily i built up my Hyper for around 300, but i'd like some RL Flites and araya areos with suzue sealed hubs etc etc, not gonna increase my performance dramatically, but gives more confidence, and in old school with the prices its just not gonna happen.

Old School has been a great stepping stone to ease me back in, but i want to push myself to my full ability. A few races ago somebody said to me "theres no point racing if your here" whilst that may have been a bit of banter, i took it as a compliment, but by the same account I don't want to end up being labelled as a "sandbagger" staying in old school to try to achieve titles.

payment protection of some sort may be the way forward, but everyone i've had in the past has never covered extreme sports. So will look into that aspect.

With regards to talking to my wife...deaf ears...stupid really, cos she knows what ever i do i want to give it 110%, result is immaterial as long as i've given it everything. I Think all she sees is possibility of being out of work with injuries and repossesion coming. Which is fair enough, after all what is life about, looking after  and providing for family.

Sorry i've rambled way too much, just finished a 13hr night shift.

At the end of the day it'll always bounce back to the three promises i made in order for her to let me race in the first place
Hersden only, for fun not competitive, and don't let it take over my life.....broken all three in less than six months.

[dialledbikes]

Fair play to you Neil.

I think you'll find that cruiser is just as competitive/challenging as old school (maybe more so), but the bikes are nicer and more stable to ride.

[Zippy]

I don't know if Quad Paul is racing old school full time next year but if he isn't then the old school titles are wide open with 4 or 5 riders capable of winning the season.

I'm still going to b an avid spectator of the class even if I'm not racing in it anymore. 

[mr.magoo]

Yes Mike, thats kinda been the plan, wife thinks cruisers are slower, and less likely to hurt myself, but for me its a challenge.
Because old "old schoolers" have moved up, so different competition but also its almost like something brand new for me to try and master, so keeps enthusiasm going. Ask the guys that helped me on Sunday, the only thing i was worried about mainly was not being able to finish the days racing off on my cruiser, wasn't really worried about my old school.

[dialledbikes]

Well, if it's any comfort Neil, my previous 2 comebacks were on 20" and resulted in smashed mouth and broken collarbone.  My third and most recent comeback (3 seasons ago) was on cruiser and so far (touch wood) worst injury has been a torn calf muscle from badly landing a double.  Had a fair few crashes, but luckily nothing broken, just a few cuts and bruises.

Out of interest, what do you do for a living.  You seem to work every hour that God sends!

[mr.magoo]

Thats cos before BMX it was what kept me alive, getting the best results in all areas of the business out of the whole company.
So now its my second hobby, but still work plenty of hours, as don't want my results to slip.

I am a "Value Supermarket" general manager, I am not embarased by them, i work for Netto Foodstores, and yes it is hard work, and if you are committed then long working hours, but salary is better than i got as  a senior manager for ASDA, and Tesco wont touch me, even though i have passed thier interview processes three times, cos they wont match the salary.

But hey pulling all those pallets of stock around all day (damn i forgot, i dont do that anymore) builds up yer leg muscles

[thecrooch]

Blimey Neil that is the shortest come back i've known - hardly feels like you've got going but totally respect your decision as have been seriously questioning whether i could handle another year after this recent injury to my hand.

But sitting here knowing that i havent been able to ride a bike without pain for the last 3 weeks seriously makes me realise that i cant give it up - I miss the speed, I miss the control, I miss the Forest that I ride through on the way to work, i miss ebing covered in mud, tearing through the city annoying all the bankers as i rip through the patio areas of the Gherkin building in the city - I miss walking the final 10 mins to the shower building and having everyone stare at you cos you are covered head to foot in gloop from the forest - I MISS BIKES FULL STOP. god if it goes on like this much more ill start missing Zippy!

ive been back riding bikes properly for the last 10 years whether MTB, Road or BMX and this has been the worst year for injuries for most of my mates, im just putting it down to 'a bad year'

Bring on Next Year I say and hopefully an Expert Level OS Champion.... 

[Zippy]

I missed you at Hersden on Sunday Si 

[thecrooch]

I missed you at Hersden on Sunday Si 

I missed you all....   

[mr.magoo]

Si, this is not the end of a comeback, just a move up to a cruiser, got the bug too bad to give it all up, at the end of the day put me on a bike and all reason goes out the window, bit of an adrenaline junkie for bikes.

Am relishing getting back on my bke, but at the moment taking all my concentration just to get through a full shift and still be able to walk back to the car at the end of the night.

And the only thing i'm looking forward to at the moment is saturday morning so i can spend the whole day resting my leg.

I feel exactly like you about riding, in fact part of the reason i wanted a cruiser was so that i can start to ride to work, maybe? instead of driving, to help with fitness and stamina.

I'll be back, as soon as i can ride, but just on a cruiser

[DONNY R]

Best of luck to ya magoo 
What a RADSTER