I don't wear protectors when mountain biking. There are no knee pads, elbow pads, back armor or crash pants in my wardrobe. I only wear gloves so that my fingers don't freeze. My decision not to wear protective equipment is not the result of stupid negligence, but rather a conscious and rational decision.

Protectors contradict my fundamental understanding of the sport. Mountain biking involves conscious risk management. Dealing with dangers and assessing your own abilities are central elements of the sport. I don't have to test my limits on the bike, I have to know them exactly. If a section seems too dangerous, I get off and walk it. I fall extremely rarely on a mountain bike because I know exactly what I'm capable of. For me, alpine terrain is not there to seek out risk, but to deal with it. The exception to my personal rejection of protectors is my helmet and goggles. My skull and eyes are too sensitive for me not to protect them. This is also part of my personal approach to risk.

However, my decision not to wear protectors also has a social dimension. We now live in a safety culture and always want to protect ourselves against all eventualities. On the bike with protectors, in other areas of life with insurance. And if there is no such insurance, the state should step in. We no longer deal with risks, but reduce or delegate them.

We are currently taking this attitude to the extreme. With the measures against the Covid pandemic, we are trying to avoid risk at all costs - whatever the cost. The reason for this is a lack of willingness to face and deal with risk rationally. But if we as a society want to protect ourselves against everything and prevent all risks, no one will set up a company. Christopher Columbus would never have discovered America, and Neil Armstrong would never have left a footprint on the moon. Neither of them were mindless daredevils. They were people who consciously dealt with risk management.

For me, this risk management starts on a small scale: with the protectors on my mountain bike. I don't wear them because they contradict my view of the world. But for me, not wearing protectors is also a form of freedom. And the price of freedom is responsibility. I am prepared to bear it and deal with it. On the mountain bike as in "normal" life.

More blog posts by Thomas Giger

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