Originally Posted by markharf

Tire pressure. There's no reason to run pressures that low on the highway, and lots of reasons not to--including the heat buildup in tires and tubes which flexes and ages them, the possibility of snake bite or dented rims if you hit anything hard and, notably, the possibility of a tube rotating within your tire, tearing the valve stem, causing instant deflation and likely crash. If you want to run low pressure, use a rimlock or two.

I don't go below 20 psi without rimlocks--this might be overkill, but it works. I never trust pressure gauges either until I've got two which agree....and even then. This would be an example of why.

Lots of people suggest changing out tubes fairly often. I don't, but maybe it's not a bad idea. I definitely leave the nut on valve stems loose and I check for tube rotation (i.e., crooked valve stem) often, especially during hot spells or if I've been braking hard--again, it's either that or rimlocks.

As far as getting back on the horse, most people would agree that easing back into things will help the memory fade. What you're dealing with is standard post-trauma response, and a major part of the cure is gradual desensitization. The reason you want to do this now, rather than waiting a year or a lifetime, is that in reviewing your memories of the incident you can strengthen the memory itself, therefore the trauma, therefore the post-trauma response. That's not what you want. You want to provide yourself with alternate neural pathways--which is to say alternate memories and responses. Do it today.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark