Dying because you smacked into the ground while you have more important things to live for is not a risk worth taking.
Too many Americans die of heart failure and adult onset diabetes while watching the adventures of others on TV.
I’m a doer, not a watcher. I was able to give up TV in 1997 because I don’t watch sports. I DO sports. I’m 59 and STILL bike and mountain bike. Both involve risk.
To give you an example of how I DO recognise risk, I stopped bicycle commuting about 4 years ago because texting has made it “always 2:00 Saturday morning”. Being on the road during the commute on a bicycle on a daily bassis is no longer worth the risk for me. I see it as a form of russian roulette. It’s because I’ve seen WAY too many people randomly veer off the road right into where I would have been if fate had not been on my side.
The average mountain biking is not as risky as stupid things like bungee and sky dives and rock climbs. Sorry, the risk level and/or the costs are too great for something of no real worth.. How would you like to be the person who goes through life explaining his dad died when he smacked into the ground from a short cord and grew up without him? I’d feel just about resentful.