Chez,I skated outside as a kid in Detroit and Buffalo, but when we moved to Seattle, there is rarely any snow, much less ice. Occasionally I'd go to an ice rink, the one out on Aurora Ave - - what a small, crappy, depressing, stupid ice rink! But a couple of years ago, I went to the ice rink in Bremerton (WA), which is, I have to say, a GORGEOUS ice rink. And then I fell on my back. I lay there for a few minutes, to be sure I was actually OK, and I realized that in one second I could've paralyzed myself for the rest of my life. That was not how I wanted to spend my last 40 years. And I know there will be plenty of die-hard, "live to the max" people who will claim they aren't going to be limited by what what could befall them, but we are not young anymore, we don't bounce like we used to, we don't recover like we used to. And it just isn't worth it to me.
Now ebiking IS worth it to me, however. Better exercise too.
Love your story! Something similar happened to me last Feb. Fell hard cross country skiing. Really hard!! Hit my head and cracked my left wrist.
Could have been WAY worse: broken back, shattered joint, anything. And I was completely alone. By the time I had walked backed to the car I knew the wrist was seriously damaged. Had to wear a cast but fortunately no surgery.
Luckily it was healed enough by Spring for ebike cycling.
So I am in complete agreement with you. Some of these risks are just not worth it.
Ride safe and cycle on!