Going Fast Is . . .

You tell me. I've done a few of these spill tactics in my younger years and pulled off a couple of them last winter on the WR in deep sand. This summer, I had a thirty-something guy in one of my ERC's explain how he'd quit off-roading a few years back because of his kids. I thought he meant the usual "now that I'm a dad I have to be responsible and play it safe" thing, but he explained his decision came from watching his kids. He described his toddlers as being "made of rubber and magic" and realized that if he took any one of the sorts of falls they experienced dozens of times a day he'd be in crutches and casts for months. Once he assessed his own deteriorating "rubber and magic" quotient, he decided going fast off-road was for younger guys.

Survival after some of the spills on this video can only be explained by "rubber and magic." At 66, my rubber components have oxidized into brittle cheap plastic and the magic has gone away. Regardless, I miss having the confidence, durability, and gumption to go fast off-road and envy these guys; even the ones who got hurt going balls out where smarter people would fear to fire up the bike.