|   Thursday afternoon ride/wreck recap | phil
Aug 9, 2002 9:30 AM | | With the high pressure and cool temperature moving into my area, me and my riding partner decide to hit our favorite private trail (We're not poaching, we know the owner). We both had to work until 6:00 so we end up getting a late start.
My oh my, I can't believe the weather, it is absolutely perfect riding weather. I forgot my elec. pump, my tires are a little low on air, oh well, I've ridden at this air pressure before, maybe I'll have better luck on the loose climbs w/ more traction. We ride down the dirt road 100 yards and take a right onto singletrack. The first section of the trail is nice and smooth, running along side a stream and then alongside the owners fence. We twist and turn our bikes through several log barricades to prevent 4-wheelers, up and over a log pile, and then the trial points up. The climb is nicknamed "heart rate hill" by the owner. I've never made it up, it has a couple spots with 10"-14" rocks that you have to get your front wheel up and over without completely losing momentum or spinning the rear tire out the rock. Stepup #1 is midway up the climb, I'm feeling good, think to self that my rear tire is really staying hooked up, make my approach and........wedge my rear tire in-between two rocks........I think to myself "well that's the closest I have made it before, maybe I can get stepup #2"....hop back on the bike. I'm in climbing mode, butt perched on the front of the seat, using body english to keep both wheels hooked up w/ the dirt. I'm approaching stepup#2, never made this one either; up and over I go w/ ease. "WooooHoooo" I yell back towards my riding bud, I stop and wait for him at the top.
This next section of trail can be ridden fairly fast, but you have to watch out for the 1-1.5ft drops caused by the rock shelves. I usually like to launch off these but considering my rear tire is low I play it safe and roll my front tire off each rock drop and put my rear tire down w/ ease. 1 mile or so down the trail after the trail starts to take a quick up I'm "just riding along" and my bike stops I go forward, I'm starting to fall, unclip, and manage to wedge my right leg in-between the handle bar and frame. Pinch flat, riding bud catches me, I have no tube, he does, but it's about 7:20 and I decide to patch it since if we have another flat it might be too dark to patch easily. I patch up to two holes, C02 it back up and we are off again. Now my riding bud is in front, it's his turn to catch all the spiders w/ his face/helmet/body. Another climb w/ a step up that I've never made, he's in front and doesn't make it (never has either), he gets out of the way and I go up and over again. Wow I'm doing great on the climbs tonight.
So now I'm still in the lead w/ 1 mile to go. Ahead on the trail is something that the owner calls "endo rock", The trail drops about 5ft in height in about 3ft by going down 4 rocks. The first 2-3 times I rode the trail I didn't ride this. My 4th time out on the trail I rode it a total of three times to make sure it wasn't a fluke. I've ridden it probably 6 times since that first day, no problems. My riding bud doesn't ride this section.
I approached it wrong and with too little speed apparently last night. I'm behind my seat, front tire goes off the first step onto the second, rear tire drops onto the first step, front tire at the lip of step 2 and starts turning towards the right. I think to myself this feels really awkward.......uh oh........front end goes 90 deg, back tire lifts I'm trying to eject onto the trail, the right side of trail is steep and would roll me down about 20ft into trees, rocks on the left side.....oh $h*t.......I get ejected, manage to unclip in the process (I'm still amazed at that, it's become completely instinctive to get out)....here I am, flying in the air, my bike going towards the right, I spot my landing zone (yeah right).......left hand/arm reach out to try and lessen the impact.......I didn't notice my arm hitting the ground...........SLAM.......my left shoulder hits w/ force.......not sure what the rest of my body did in the process. I roll to a sitting position, right arm holding left arm.......mental body check.......head, check, feels fine.....face, fine.....look at my legs......my left leg is shaking from the adrenaline rush.....cuts on leg, feels okay.........let go of my left arm.....feel w/ my right hand, shirts ripped at the shoulder from the wreck, little bit of blood.......relief, my shoulder feels fine........inhale deeply a couple of times, no pain.......(this took probably 3secs).......yell back to my bud that I'm okay.
He's amazed/shocked, he saw the entire thing, I pull my bike from the side of the trail. He asks if the front wheel survived (2nd ride on it), I spin it, wow, it's still true. We stand there for another minute and then I tell him to lead, off he goes, I hope on my bike.....tacoed rear wheel, push my bike out 1/2 mile remaining of trail.
I felt okay getting out of bed, nothing too bad, bent over to get something at work and....ouch.......sharp pains on left side of body like....maybe a broken rib? Not too sure what I need to do about that, nothing a doc can do for a broken rib right? Takes about 4-6wks to heal? Stay off the bike? I'll go talk to the nurse after my lunch break ends.
1-2yr lurker/occasional post Q's/hoping to get a digi.cam and start posting on passion more.
All in all it was a great ride, my riding buddy is moving off next week back to school, while I'll remain here doing a Co-op until December.
phil |
| nice story phil, we've all been there!! | namaSSte
Aug 9, 2002 9:44 AM | | seem slike the better you are riding, the more confident you get. sometimes, its a good thing, sometimes you wind up rolling to a sitting position........have fun, heal fast! |
| re: Thursday afternoon ride/wreck recap | Yeti_Rider
Aug 9, 2002 9:45 AM | | Nice re-cap, the trail sounds like a lot of fun.
If the pain persists, go to a doctor. No, there's nothing they can really do for a broken rib, but if it's proken and protruding inward it could puncture a lung.
Michael |
| Broken rib test | moneyman
Aug 9, 2002 9:56 AM | | Sneeze. If you end up in tears, its broken. If you just wince, its bruised. Takes what seems like forever to heal. Hope you get better soon.
$$ |
| |
