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(This is cross-posted at BlogHer.)

I tend to stay away from activities that have a higher-than-normal risk of injury. I don’t know what it’s like to be fearless. Even though there’s always a possibility of getting hurt when you’re doing a fitness-related activity — just think about kickboxing, spinning, training for and entering marathons and triathlons — at least in those situations you can usually see the injuries approaching and try to head them off. If you over-train, for instance, your body is bound to protest in some way.

But there are other activities (sometimes referred to as “extreme sports”) where you have less control over the outcome. Look at skiing. Whenever I think of skiing, I picture twisted limbs. It’s not that I’d be opposed to trying skiing, but my attempts would never reach the competitive level where people catapult themselves off ramps and do backflips in the air or whatever. Uh, no. If I were to ever ski off a ramp, I’d flail around a little and finish with a big splat on the ground. And then you’d see my broken, twisted limbs arranged artfully against the snow.

I’ve rollerskated in the past, but does that mean I’d ever join a roller derby team? I have to admit it looks kind of fun — you can dress up in a fun costume, and adopt a bad-ass moniker (see: What’s in a roller derby name). Women who participate in roller derby seem so confident, and tough, and self-assured. But does that mean I’d ever want to spin wildly around an oval track, dodging a mass of bodies, when there’s a possibility of flipping head-first over a barrier like I’ve seen on TV? Once again…no.

Mountain biking down a steep, rocky trail is another sport that’s hard to imagine doing. If we’re talking about biking along a flat surface, or a nice, tame trail — that’s great. I would do that. But careening down a hill where you could hit a stray rock, skid, and fly right over the handlebars? Eek.

I know I’m probably exaggerating the risks a little, and I’m sure there wouldn’t be as many participants in these sports if there were a lot of people out there getting hurt. As I said with the roller derby example, I really admire these women who have the fearlessness to put themselves in these situations, not knowing what’s going to happen. And even if it isn’t exactly fearlessness on their part — if the activity scares them but they have enough perseverance and adrenaline to make it through — there must be something about their personality that keeps them going back for more, time after time. Is it simply a love for what they do?

But it’s not just about having a love for something — normal, everyday people go out and try new things, too. For instance, I’d never thought about going rock-climbing until my weak-armed roommate (this is how she describes herself) went to a rock-climbing gym for the first time, and enjoyed it. When you’re able to see firsthand how people with various fitness levels go out and try things they’ve never done before, even if they’re not in top shape, it can really inspire you to try something new yourself.

If Kelly from Fitness Fixation calls herself a wussy, I don’t want to think about what I am.

I have been thinking about fear alot lately. A few days ago me and some other folks climbed up the small climbing wall and scrambled down a rope ladder-bridge thing by essentially climbing it upside down. Now, I’m real terrified of heights, so you’d better believe I had the nice stink of fear on me (Really. It makes you smell different, ask dogs.) But I did it anyway, even though I seriously contemplated flat-out refusing more than once. While I suppose I could act all proud of it, I know the awful truth: I’m actually a total wussy.

Cuz the only thing that scares me more than doing things that scare me is the self-loathing that comes with not doing those things.

I love that last line. Facing our fears is all about challenging ourselves so we don’t have regrets later.

Here’s someone else who isn’t afraid to face her fears — Carmen just signed up for a new class that, in her words, “scares me silly.” But she’s doing it anyway, and I love that.

2007 was a banner year for me. [...] There is so much more to do, though — more to help me live a healthier lifestyle, more to challenge me and stretch me and really make a difference in my life. That’s why I’ve decided to challenge myself by adding in a Total Defense class two or three days a week. Total Defense combines sparring, Thai boxing, stretching, cardio, heavy boxing bag and pad work. This class will be more difficult than anything I’ve ever tried. It scares me silly.

But scaring myself is part of living a more healthy lifestyle. Being a fat person was safe. Being lazy and hanging around on the sofa meant I didn’t have to work hard. Living a healthier lifestyle means constantly looking for ways to pry myself out of the dark hole where I was hiding and get out there. Total Defense will force me to work harder than I ever have in my life, to stretch myself, and really, that’s what it’s all about.

Roller Derby Disorder of the Boston Derby Dames wrote about a match she saw between the “Wicked Pissahs” and the “Cosmonaughties.”

The scariest moment occurred towards the end when Evilicious ran into the bleachers and didn’t get up. I didn’t see it happen but I heard the thud, which happened right in front of us, but below our field of vision. So we couldn’t see her at all, but we could very clearly see the looks on everyone’s faces as they came running to help, and they scared the crap out of me. The word on the street [...] is that she’s “at home sipping martinis through a straw while recovering from having broken her nose in four places and getting more than 30 stitches in her face. Broken and bruised, but more evil than ever.” No doubt she will be back kickin’ ass soon.

Crabby McSlacker describes parkour and freerunning. Even though she thinks it looks fun, she’s not about to go out and try it herself.

Parkour and FreeRunning are sort of like skateboarding without a skateboard. From what I understand, parkour places more importance on speed; freerunning is more about the acrobatics. But basically, people run around, usually in urban environments, and gratuitously jump over and off of things. They climb up things that don’t look climbable and do flips and fly around in ways that defy gravity. A lot of them seem willing to risk life and limb and incarceration and looking like asses (when they fall) and I didn’t see a lot in the way of helmets or pads.

Tania went white-water rafting and described some of the things she saw.

At one point we came across an indigenous family playing in the river. The mother was sitting on the rocks watching by the 2 boys had logs that had been flatten on top & a handle attached near one end. They would lie on top of the log holding the handle & ride the rapids down & then drag the log back up. It looked like a lot of fun!

This was not my first time white water rafting & I was pleased to find that I am getting better at it. I really found that I have found my balance to be much better & it’s easier to sit in the awkward, twisted paddling position. I was kind of disappointed that every time we hit the class IV rapids he would ask us all to assume the down position. I felt rather ridiculous each time but I am assuming he felt someone in the boat could not handle them.

Even though I was thinking that “mountain biking = scary,” Cloe describes a biking trip with her father in Utah that sounds pretty nice.

All day today, we saw nobody except for our guide within a one hundred fifty mile radius.

On mountain bikes designed by ingenious engineers, we cruised up ledges, down copper dirt, through wet sand.

Patches of snow speckled the eroded sandstone.

Rock salt stains formed plastic shapes in fissures.

A waterfall froze into an ice armchair; my wheels glided over.

I sprung onto Potash and glided on fossils.

Sunlight guided us up, then west.

Sonya Looney is a mountain biker, and describes some of the challenges of training in the cold.

Call me a glutton for punishment, but going uphill (my friend Liz would laugh at me and say mountains are not “hills”) is my favorite thing to do. I can’t tell you how many times this winter I have frozen my limbs off. Climbing up to 8 or 9000 ft in the winter is beautiful and lots of fun, but there is a price to pay — the descent. It’s already somewhere between 15 and 35 [degrees] on a typical day. Couple that with zero degree wind blowing in your face as you descend on a bike at about 20 to 30 mph with wet hair (from sweating on the way up). If you dress too warm, you are guaranteed to be soaking wet with sweat on the downhill. Don’t dress warm enough, and you’ll still freeze on the downhill. There really is limited space in your pockets to bring extra warm clothes…so you’re stuck. The Catch 22 of frostbite. That would be my biggest complaint about winter riding. In fact, I have gotten hope and taken out my braid where literally thin sheets of ice fell out. Sometimes I worry that I am actually going to get “frostbike” and am erratically pulling off the road, ripping off my gloves and trying to put my hands on my back to warm up…or if my feet get cold, it’s bad because there’s nothing I can do.

Becky was skiing in a remote place when she had a bad fall. A friend had to ski to a spot where she could get a cell signal so they could call a rescue helicopter — it turns out Becky had broken her ankle.

I finally was able to push myself upright [after I fell], but when I tried to continue skiing down I realized I couldn’t put any pressure on my left leg without loads of pain shooting thru it. So, with my friend Howard’s help, I proceeded to push myself backwards until I could traverse and ski down on my one good leg to meet up with Kate at the bottom of the gully.

Once I made it to her I knew there was no way I could ski all the way down to the car. There’s no ski patrol or other help around since we weren’t at any ski resort, but luckily there is a helicopter rescue service called Rega, that is ready for situations just like this. I just never thought I’d actually need to use it – But it looked like this time I would! The really amazing thing is that I had just joined Rega the previous day, which includes insurance to cover the expenses for rescues like this. Is that lucky timing or what!

I liked the idea that the blogger at Low Percentage Shot had about the term “Extreme Sports.”

I feel like Extreme Sports should always be followed with an exclamation point, kind of like the E! network.

Do you, or have you, participated in any risky sports? If not, what would you be willing to try?

Related reading:

May Contain Nuts is a social network for people who love extreme sports

Top 10 Female Athletes You Might Not Know

Bike Radar: So You Want to Be a Mountain Biker?

YourMTB.com: The 15 Greatest Mountain Biking Crashes

Ask Patty: Women in Motorsports Blog Carnival

Surfer’s Village: Roxy Pro Gold Coast psychs up for world’s top 17 women (taking place in Australia, 2/23-3/6)

That’s Fit: The World’s Most Dangerous Sports

Helicopter skiing: The Ultimate Adventure Sport

Cyclo-cross: What is it?