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Curse of the Last Run?

3K views 28 replies 27 participants last post by  l3vi501 
#1 ·
For some reason, it's happened to me the last three consecutive trips to N*. This last one yesterday was exceptionally odd, because I even swore I'd take it easy after having a clean day.

It was 4:30PM... me and my buddy knew he had one good run up Boondocks. So we head up, and the agreement was that it was a cool-down run. At the boulder drop section, I stayed left instead of center and landed on the junk on the left side, right on top of a log. Thank God I was fully armored or I wasn't riding down that trail. Just crushed my pinkie finger and some scratches, but nothing broken. I hiked up and rode down the drop again because my season wasn't going to end like that. Crashed one more time on the rocky section so I throttled down after that.

Anyway, I understand why the likelihood of eating it increases by the end of the day. I'm just curious to see if a lot of you guys actually do end up crashing or having the most severe crashes on your last run.
 
#8 ·
It's really real!

It's the end of the day, you're tired, you're probably hungry, you're probably thinking about something else than the line down the trail.

It used to be a rule at my Uni club that the older guys decided when it was the last run, not when it will be the last run. Since they had the cars nobody could ever argue.
 
#18 ·
It's really real!

It used to be a rule at my Uni club that the older guys decided when it was the last run, not when it will be the last run. Since they had the cars nobody could ever argue.
That may be a problem. I happen to be the oldest (@44), newest (one year of DH) and least fit guy and I'm the one who initiated the run. :D

I get the cause and effect thing... I really do. Thing is I only get to do this once a month during the season, so I guess despite the fact that I was tired, cramping, hungry, etc... I rolled the dice hoping to get a clean run. Well, as usual, the house won. But not by much.

I do get it, though. I'll have to either pick up my N* fitness for next year OR just stop earlier.
 
#10 ·
At the end of the day you're a little tired, riding faster each run so by the end of the day you're pushing it a little too far. Happened to me three weeks ago, last run down slayer at mountaincreek. Over the bars in the big rocks, landed upside down on my head up against a tree, googles knocked off my face, cracked helmet. Nothing broken but it's taken three weeks for my back and neck to recover, but I'm ready to get in the last weekends at mtcreek and plattekill before the season ends.
 
#13 ·
I've had it happen while snowboarding - but not biking. Not yet, anyway. Everyone I DH bike with also skis so we all know not to take "the last run". I was close the last time I went out. I was on my last run and about 1/3 of the way through I realized how tired I was so I just nursed it down.
 
#14 ·
Any medic at Whistler can tell you that their services are in high demand near the end of the day.

It's pure fatigue.

When you think to yourself that you have enough energy for one or two more runs, you should know better - that now is the time to take off your pads, kick your feet up, and call it a day.
 
#16 ·
Any medic at Whistler can tell you that their services are in high demand near the end of the day.

It's pure fatigue.

When you think to yourself that you have enough energy for one or two more runs, you should know better - that now is the time to take off your pads, kick your feet up, and call it a day.
Exactly. That, and it's a self-fulfilling-prophecy sort of thing. If you break your bones on a run, it was likely the last run. Every run that ends with a severe crash is the last run.
 
#19 ·
Sitting now with my right hand in cast - fifth metacarpal fracture, though it looks non-displaced on X-Ray and hopefully qualifies for "just a pinkie".
Last run of the last day of the Trestle season, mellow trail, unexplainable crash. I self-evacuated by service road - but yeah, the curse is real :)
 
#22 ·
I never call it, but if someone does I always say "you mean another run, not 'last run' right?"
I've had a few bad last runs before, not looking to have any more.
Silly superstition but.... It's one of the few.
 
#23 ·
Have you considered that when you said you were going to "take it easy" you lost your focus because you thought you were going to take it easy? I think that when Dhing you have to be "on" at all times and if you are not, bad things can happen. i personally think mental lapses are far more dangerous than being tired but both can be dangerous.

We never call last run either, we just decide to be done at some point..
 
#25 ·
I also like to decide the last run was not is - for both dirt and snow.

Last day at Stevens (this Sunday) I flatted inexplicably right at the bottom 50 yards from the loading station. I had the spare and tools, but decided that this is a sign for me to call it a day.

Could have enjoyed another run or two but I had had a good day and didn't want to push my luck.

I have also suffered injuries on the 1st and 2nd runs though :mad:
 
#26 ·
Not only do not not say "last run" I don't even think it. I have been hit with the curse in snowboarding and mountain biking.
I understand people are more fatigued at the end of the day etc.. I also think saying it or thinking it, clicks a mental switch and turns me off. Not thinking it I feel stops me switching off. Maybe its a bit extreme but its working for me so far.
 
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