You fell? I will not One of my current resolutions is to stop falling. From a 'full stand' (is that a phrase?), on the Mexican terrain it HURTS.
Truth is, I am a bit afraid. My balance is pretty good, strength is pretty good, but my left eye continues to deteriorate. Don't know if it is 'eye', optical nerve, or my brain, but I am too often surprised/startled by stuff on my left that I don't 'see'. Being surprised on the bike could be bad.
Also, we lost 4 of the geezers in the motorcycle group this year. One had a heart attack while riding along, one is recovering from major heart surgery, one made a serious error in perception or attention or ? and after spending 6 months recovering is afraid to ride here (the traffic here is interesting...), one just 'no excuse' fall that has lessened his desire to ride.
That was 25% of the group. We have a couple good older riders (over 75) who raced well at some point and who think they are still young, so they are dangerous sometimes -- folks just let them go. There is too much livestock, dirt/sand, old men pushing wheelbarrows and slow vehicles around the rural corners to enjoy pushing. But, we gained some fresh 'blood' this year too. I was going somewhere with this, but can't remember where
Discretion is the better part of valor. I think that's the phrase I've heard Brits use quite a bit. Glad Terri was there to be the good angel on your shoulder.
As with many slips, close calls, trips, and stumbles, and falls, I got careless. In fact, thus far, it has always been carelessness that inflicted damages on me, since in every case, were I to have exercised discretion, I would have avoided any issues. This is because I know full well that I am not as agile as I once was, and, my balance is not as good as well, and I can't see as well either. So, prudence calls for a more deliberate approach to even simple things like walking.
In the case of the fall at the dam, I was sitting on the curb and I asked my brother, who is a large individual, to give me a hand up, as I see the NBA players doing all the time. This was a fine idea, but, somehow, my grip failed just before I was standing, and I crashed back onto the ground and curb, as this was preferable to impaling myself on Brakelate's KTM, which was right there in the way. No extreme damage was done, other than giving me a sore spot on my hip, which has gone away, but, it was a tad embarrassing and also, my brother felt as if it were his fault. But, in fact, it was all on me as I was once again betrayed by my nerve damaged right hand, which sometimes acts on its own and loses grip. And, since the curb was quite low, I also should have remembered how difficult it is these days for me to get up off the ground without anything to use as support.
So, as Juan noted, discretion is indeed a wise policy, but, the catch is that one has to have a sense of when discretion is indicated, and, further, one needs to be able to understand and apply appropriate discretion at the appropriate time. I fear that this is a daunting task for some people, as to some extent, ignoring discretion has defined their lives, both in terms of success and failure. Sort of comes down to can a tiger change its stripes, and, also, to the value of life. Because, when the going gets rough, old instincts often kick in automatically and without thought. And, this includes indulging impulses, such as, one little ride about can't hurt, so, I'lll just jump on the scrambler and go for it before I give it any conscious thought, and, before Terri, can save me...... Yes, the impulse devil still lurks, whispering in the ears, calling for action, craving a rush, longing for risk, and denying on an instinctive level any dangers that discretion might reveal, were discretion to be a consideration.
I know about this, because, the voices are whispering the words i my ears as I type. Now, where is that chain saw? I need to climb a tall extension ladder and do some tree trimming because, what could possibly go wrong with that?
It continues to rain here. My rain water cisterna continues to overflow.
Our grass/weeds have grown so much that I asked Javier to bring in 3rd person to trim. The fires in LA have made me less comfortable with the height of the growth near the casa. With each rain the weeds jump seemingly overnight.
One of my current resolutions is to stop falling. From a 'full stand' (is that a phrase?), on the Mexican terrain it HURTS. 
Crank that chainsaw!!!