[surftheiop]

Cliff notes: People freak out about adding a very small amount of risk to an already very risky activity then try to use statistics to defend the point.

Im a member of my university's Outting Club and I got a list serv email telling us not to go moutainbiking in the woods because its hunting season and we might get shot.

(The email said not to ride in any forest, even if it was labeled "No hunting" because its not worth taking the risk of a stupid person shooting you)
This was good to know as i had no idea it was hunting season.

Someone replied that its not that big of deal and you should just wear orange to be safe.

The original emailer sent out and email saying "If you go mountain bike in woods your stupid, is it really worth taking a risk of killing yourself????"

This although not completly rational doesnt bother me much, but the next part did-

to "prove" the point the emailer quoted a stat saying "There were 35 hunting injuries reported last year, 16 of them where self inflicted"

I almost laughed at this statistic. I assume >50% of non- self inflicted injuries would be inflicted on a member of the hunting party (Dick Cheney style). Furthermore i would assume >80% of the injuries are inflicted on other hunters.

This probaly leaves about 2 or 3 "innocent bystander" injuries from hunting in the forest each year. Hunters are in general taught not to shoot at a quickly moving target so that makes mountain biker probaly the least likely of any innocent human to be shot.

(I know my logic isnt perfect here, obviously the amount of innocent bystanders injured each year is lower because people tend to stay off hunting land but the essence of what im saying is definately true)

So this wouldnt bother me too much, you know better to be safe than sorry except for how dangerous mountain biking inherently is.

I know for a fact its not unheard of for a biker to die during a given race.
I know its very uncommon not to have someone knocked unconsious or suffer a serious bone break in a race.
Mountainbiking has to be one of the most dangerous sports there is.

If your comfortable enough assuming the risks normally associated with mountainbiking then the extra .00000001 risk of being shot in a no hunting designated forest should have nothing to do with your decision to mountain bike.

/rant off