Is Mountain Biking Dangerous? (And does it matter?)

Author's note: I wrote this in Jan 2024 and updated it in Jun 2025.

Is mountain biking dangerous? That is the big question. 

The easy answer is YES, but it's worth it. The longer answer can depend...

My first jump

How common is it?

The term mountain biking refers to a broad set of activities, some with more inherent risk than others, but all with some risk.

As this study's summary states, it is difficult to get true data and there is lack of cross-sectional surveys. The study from National Library of Medicine, authored by Michael Carmont said: “the incidence of injuries in mountain biking is comparable to that in other outdoor sports, the majority of injuries being minor. Mountain biking athletes were found to have an overall injury risk rate of 0.6% per year and 1 injury per 1000 h of biking.” (I'm guessing this doesn't apply to professional downhillers).

Anecdotally, if you are a mountain biker on the internet following mtb content you are inundated with stories and images of injury. A practice of mountain bikers that I found bizarre at first but now get it is how much we love to watch ourselves crash.

Pinkbike’s popular “Friday Fails” and endless posts of pro and peer athletes in hospital beds outfitted with careful screws and wires take up a lot of our mtb scrolling on social media. Many are giving a thumbs up from their hospital beds among tubes, black eyes and casts.

Comments abound with healing vibes. I now see the voyeurism as a form of desire to understand what went wrong so it doesn't happen to us, and also commiserate with our own experiences.

For example, and this is not scientific, just my observations from experience and stating the obvious-- downhill mountain biking can seem more risky than pedaling the local crushed granite trail around the lake, and of course there's a wide spectrum of cycling in between those extremes. If you are riding downhill, you are more likely to be carrying higher speeds, and leaving the ground. Even if the terrain is the same level of difficulty, technically speaking, the speed combined with the "gnar" creates an environment ripe for injury. Freeride and slopestyle are also obvious risk-laden action sports. (Learn more about types of mountain biking here.)

However, I'll say a few things here. One of the reasons I revisited this post is that my husband is going through a recovery of a shoulder separation (AC Type 5) from crashing at a bike park. We were watching GoPro footage of his crash, and despite riding advanced terrain all day, his crash was on a loose but flat transition trail between other trails that was beginner friendly. In watching the footage, there's no obvious environmental cause for the crash (rock, hole, etc) and as an advanced rider he was doing nothing that would obviously cause him to get an injury that required full surgery to repair.

Watching the footage was actually somewhat disturbing, because there was no takeaway -- nothing to avoid, or practice until he nailed the technique. He wasn't riding over his head. He just crashed.

Risk mitigation approach: Avoid or Accept

As a matter of degrees, there are ways to avoid the rate of injury.

Bicycling magazine has published injury prevention methods such as strength workouts and other techniques, and you can find these in other resources. A valuable body of knowledge!

As a beginner mountain biker, in my naive exuberance I was scratched, bruised and thrown on the ground many times. I limped in and out of doctor’s offices with swollen wrists, whiplash, torn fascia or a busted lip.

In my riding, I have toned down the impatient risk-taking into a more steady experience of fun with a bit of thrill. Clinics and coaching, practicing the basics and not riding over my head help. I realized that riding is less fun and more dangerous when I’m trying to be anyone or anywhere else than the present.

But it's not the full answer. Even with the above, I've come to the unsettling conclusion that injury is not avoidable on a bike at all, road or mountain or any other. We have to accept the risk of injury to some degree, even if small, if we are going to do anything in life. Life itself is risky.

In fact, crash related injuries are not the only type. Last year I earned some lovely, debilitating sciatica from excessive time on a stationary bike.

Stock photo of a leg injury so that I don't post my actual injuries and gross out fair readers

So yeah... running, road cycling, mountain biking, swimming, skiing, etc are all sports that have this downside.

Risk and reward

Ok, so injuries are a natural part of the process of learning how to be dynamic on the bike, increasing one’s ability to adapt to constantly changing terrain.

Why are we doing this then? Because it's incredible rewarding. In fact, most of the injured athletes I know, including my husband before his recent shoulder surgery, ask one question. When can I get back on the bike?

This is true for most sports. After tearing my ACL skiing in 2009 and going through reconstructive surgery, I spent months to years working back to run, ski and do other sports. I never got back to my full abilities.

This could be said for many situations in life, and not just sports.

All in all, while there are ways we can mitigate risk, we also have to embrace the chaos, and in doing so earn its rich rewards. Life just beats you up. Choose your weapon!