The newest episode of the Atherton Project brings up a good point that I have been meaning to write about for some time now. When to call it quits. When I say call it quits I am speaking about when to stop a riding session. In my educational pursuits here at ETSU, working with some incredibly smart sport scientists, I have come to a few realizations about the injuries I have encured over the last 4 years. Nearly every major injury, and even the little ones, were not due to lack of skill or experience, but in large part to dehydration and being tired. We have all had the experience when we say "Just one more time" at the end of a good day of riding and next thing we know we are on our back, side, head, etc in some kind of pain. At a recent BMX race, a good friend was taking "one last run" at the end of a very hot day down in South Carolina. We had been practice since about 1 p.m. and it was now almost 6 pm. He messed up in the pro section, wrecked into the lip of the next double, and broke his forearm. The point I'm getting at here is to really listen to your body and know when it's time to end a session. When you are tired and dehydrated from a long night or a long day of practice, training, or just sessioning, your ability to react and think clearly is severely impaired and thus making you more likely to make a stupid mistake. A few more runs are not worth being forced off the bike for weeks or even months. So my suggestion is to get a bit more sleep than you normally do, stay hydrated, and never say " just one more run".
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