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

I think the logical conclusion must be to stop mountainbiking.

I think you mistake an "outing" with a "race." If mountain bike riding was as dangerous as you think universities would not be allowing it because it would screw up their insurance.

It would interesting to see a break down of number of injuries per hour played of sport at the professional level to see which sport really is the most dangerous, maybe even the average number of hours missed per injury as well. I wouldn't imagine any type of cycling; road, mountain or cyclocross, would make it much higher than baseball.

I was refering to races with no prize money, i have no idea what happens on the professional level.

Lol.

Well I guess his email had value to you. No need to nit his motivations.

the first email was fine, it was the reply to the person who said "wear orange, be alert and dont really worry about it" where he tried to use statistics to prove the point is what got to me

The cowboys were mathlete's ?

Sundance Kid: I can't swim.
Butch Cassidy: Are you crazy? The fall will probably kill you.

"Well i think a little bit of DS rubbed off on me "

thats what she said

Now this is just being an easy target.

Did you add the spelling mistakes in the quotes to make the guy look more ******ed?

nah i just cant spell