Heights

[kevfromcoro]

Well its the sort of thing ya dont want to talk about to much..

But i do a bit of adventure riding,, and iam shit scared of heights....
its becoming a bit of a problem.
roads with big drop offs make me swet and shake like f..k
i have to stop and take it easy,,,,

really pisses me off ...... its got worse as i have got older........

done a lot of enduro riding in my younger years...
mayebe i landed on my nut to much..

anybody else have this problem........................................

[madbikeboy]

No, I'm the opposite. No fear of stuff at all.

[YellowDog]

I ride for work and there are one or two roads I have to go down where there are hazzardous ditches fed by a steep camber. It is almost like it affects your balance to the degree that you cannot ride with your usual ability. And riding badly makes a minor hazzard into a dangerous one.

It's like when I play golf, if I can see water, I am almost always guaranteed to hit a bad shot.

[CookMySock]

Maybe it's one of those things you can get through? Just do it some more perhaps, or is that not working out?

Steve

[Jaxi]

I have to admit, I've noticed in the last few years that I've started feeling a bit dodgy when at height.... not scared, just feel a bit crook, and it's not right....

Swing bridges are the worst, I can't go over if someone else is on it... and can't help but look down....

Was in a shopping centre a few months ago, on the upper level there was a big glass floored bit, I didn't even notice it but my husband being the smartarse that he is yelled "watch out" just as I stepped on it...Damn near crapped myself, he was probably more embarassed by my reaction than I was!!! Serves him right!!!

Not sure about NZ, but have ridden some scary roads in India and Pakistan which are sheer drops and cliffs but you are usually just cruising so unless you make a big mistake it's all good.... The Karakoram Highway is fun!!!

[Ixion]

I am unaffected by heights myself, so long as whatever I am standing on is well secured (like, ground).

Mrs Ixion howver is terrified of them. Not of height as such, she can happily stand on top of a hill or mountain, but of *drops*. She cannot bear to look down from a height. We went out to Skipper's a few years ago, and she literally spent the whole journey out and back huddled on the 'non-drop' side of the vehicle whimpering. Which made me feel bad (though the trip was her idea - she didn't realise about the cliffs) , but I must confess I have never really understood it. You are in a vehicle on a road. So what if there is a 20000 foot cliff to the side, you ain't going over that.

I also inadvertantly gave her a very nasty fright in the Sydney tower some years ago, akin to Ms Jaxi's. They have a section of glass floor at the top of the tower. Neither of us noticed (busy looking out the window), until I looked down. The glass floor shows you the ground level way way below. Without thinking I blurted out "Hey, way cool. Look down" and pointed. She looked down and collapsed! Oh dear. My bad, I just blurted it out without thinking. But it *was* way cool, standing there apparently suspended in mid air.

[Headbanger]

Worked at heights for a number of years, seen the entire range of reactions to the places we end up and are expected to work.

Those that show no fear are the ones you have to be the most weary of, We should all have a little voice in our head that starts making noise when that part of our brain thinks we are putting ourselves at too much risk.

Some peoples little voice kicks in real early and very loudly, they will take immediate action to rectify the problem or ignore it and put up with the symptoms.

From what I have seen if you have a strong fear then you best not bother, Just about everyone else can work alongside it, Though it can rear up and cripple you. I don't think there is any cure apart from accepting it and if you want to carrying on.

I would say I have a healthy fear of heights, When we get into some spots I can feel it getting to me, which is probably why I'm in charge of most of our high risk and height work. People with no fear take stupid risks.

Having said that, I've ended up in some insane spots on trail rides, steep muddy tracks with mental drop-offs and can't say I have ever felt any fear in that situation. Too busy riding the bike.

[slofox]

...and iam shit scared of heights....
.....

Been scared of heights all my life...prefer to stay on the ground. I would never make a steeplejack...

[Motu]

I am very scared of heights....I feel pretty bad when all the family climb up something and I stay on the ground.But I worked on scafolding and 20 story constuction sites when a young fella....guess it's something I've grown into.

But I don't have any problem on bikes...unless it's a precipice type thing.We have to negociate some pretty steep stuff in trials - but the old look where you want to go takes care of it for me.Nothing is ever bottomless....and if I've got my bike with me,then I know I'm ok.

[boman]

Fell off too many things as a kid. Broken my arm many times. Don't like heights at all nowa days.

[sil3nt]

Nah im tough like these fellas http://photosthatchangedtheworld.com...omment-page-3/


Looking at those photos makes me feel a little uneasy!

[martybabe]

No particular fear of heights but I can relate.

As a skier of moderate ability I can ski around quite happily for hours without fuggin up but put me on a slope with a steep drop off at the side and I turn into a gibbering wreck. The confidence I normally have making turns, evaporates, Because I know if I fuck up here, I'm going over the edge.

Sounds similar don't it, I guess the answer is to concentrate on your bike control much more than you do on the drop. If you don't fall off anywhere then it doesn't really mater how high you are. If only life were that simple eh.

Good luck anyway, my mate has served 29 years as a Fireman and he's shit scared of heights, seriously, he reckons he gets nose bleeds at anything over six feet. Get 21 Firemen to run up a ladder and he'll be number 22 but when faced with no alternative he gets up there so I guess all these things are overcomeable (I know it's not a word but I like it).

[AD345]

Im my 4wding days we used to go to some quite rediculous places.

Zig-zagging tracks up the side of mountains that were so steep and tight you drove up the zig then reversed up the zag then drove up the next zig etc etc.

Just the same on the way down.

I have a big fear of drop offs but used to think I kept it under control.

One day we had gone up the side of a particularly steep mountain in canterbury - complete with the tight zig zags - and my mate and I got out of the wagon at the top, both of us were a bit shakey and glad to have got there. I noticed he was looking at me a bit oddly and asked what was up.

"I don't know how you do it" he says

"I just get on with it and...."

"No, no" he interrupted "I don't mean the driving"

"What then?"

"When it gets really tough..............do you realise that you actually stop breathing?"

"What?"

"You stop breathing"

"shit"


Not long after that a very good friend was killed when she fell off the side of one of those exact hills (stepped off the track in the dark).



So I ride bikes now

[kevfromcoro]

was doing a sutdown on a large power site...

hoped in the service lift and pushed floor 2 ..well it didnt stop... right up to the top it went..hopes out and all the floor was that mesh stuff..

could see the ground a gazilion meters down...

Took me ages to get back in the lift and get down....

Its a bit of a worry allright . this height thing...

Thanks for sharing peeps....

Glad to see iam not alone........

[Timber020]

Everyone remotely is scared of heights, those who say they arent havent come across the right kind of height yet.

I work at height nearly every day, I used to be an industrial abseiler, paraglider, have done multi pitch solo climbs, run hundreds of people through high ropes and rock climbing courses.

Getting around such fears is all about progression, start small and work your way up.