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Hi there,
I recently entered my first enduro at Hamsterley. The course used some of the easier DH courses. these were outside of my comfort zone and I performed amazingly badly.
I have decided to remedy this by getting a bit of coaching and hitting the DH tracks till I feel more comfortable.
This leads on to the subject of protection. I am considering getting a full face lid for when I am pushing my limits. Is there any advice for buying one? Also if you wear a ff,should you also wear a,neck brace?
I have knee and elbow pads which I will probably wear too.
Any advice appreciated,
Si
It's up to you really. Wear what you feel is necessary.
I wear full face lid, neck brace and knee pads regardless of whether I'm riding Fort Bill, the Alps or my local DH track.
Buy a lid that is comfortable from a reputable brand. More expensive ones tend to be lighter. If you are planning/anticipating falling off a lot buy one you don't mind scratching.
You don't need to wear a neck brace. I rode and raced DH without one for over 15 years. Got a Leatt now. Expensive but i don't notice I'm wearing it.
Aye, totally personal choice. Unfortunately it's really hard to make an educated decision on this sort of thing but the truth is, it's still pretty safe, this stuff- serious injuries are rare even if you ride naked. So it's always about weighing up all the factors- perceived risk and safety, cost, impact on your riding (I'll only wear body armour on a full uplift, and even then often not), all that. And no 2 people'll come to the same answer.
So for me, if I'm doing a full day at fort william I'll usually have the body armour on, partly because there's not that much downside but mostly because after 12 or 13 runs I'll be a brilliant mix of overconfident and tired 😆 For innerleithen, generally just pads and open face. For alps uplift, pads and whatever helmet I can be bothered with. Honestly it's hard to justify some of these decisions, so I don't bother.
Neck brace is a personel choice with a full face and you may want to add some sort of spine board to what you've already got.
When I first started riding DH I had a full Dianese suit but now I just use a full face, knee pads and a spine board and just pretend I'll not crash anymore!!
FF and knee pads for me. No gloves unless im expecting to crash.