Afan wrote on 07/01/13 at 21:34:02:... I dropped the bike. Tiny rocks on the pavement, speed 5-10 mph, panic break and block of the front wheel, front wheel wasn't strait... And I was down. But, don't worry, I was fully geared...
What would happen if I didn't have any protection?!? ....
You were fully geared, fell, no pain, you have learned that you can ride and crash without pain. You do not need to ride safer. You know that you can ride faster. So you will, and eventually you will go faster and crash and will still enjoy the pain. The *reason* for "gear" is to enjoy riding faster --
Risk CompensationSo what happens if you ride without the protection? I was about six years of age when I went speeding into a turn in a dirty alley -- slide into the gravel. Lots of pain. I learned to watch and not slide and crash. Yeah, I do still fall, maybe once in every two or three years, at a stop. I ride without protection, free, enjoying the smells and sights and the sounds. A thousand hours on the bike is a small cost for a *bump* that is less painful than stumbling in the house in the morning before your coffee.