The last time I got to ride we did the last 2 mile section of 007 at Bass Lake. It is by far the most entertaining trail I’ve done; tons of technical challenges, huge ruts, couple rock gardens, and best of all, jumps. We hiked up from the road so I was able to see all the obstacles in detail before hand. The ruts were insane since the trail is shared with dirt bikes.

When we started, there were a few smaller ramps where I was able to get a whole whopping 6″ of air. Now, mind you, I’ve only been mountain biking for a little over 4 months, and jumps aren’t something I’ve really had an opportunity to try out or practice. Nonetheless, it got me excited… and maybe a little over confident. The next turn was a steep decline (about 20′ long) ending with a nice little ramp that continued downhill a ways. I remembered it from the hike up, making a mental note to be sure to slow down for it, but ripe with my 6″ flight through air victory, I told myself “F@$# it! Don’t touch the brakes, just see what happens!”…

What I remember

On the way down the slope I chose my launch point and hit it going relatively fast (17-20). While in the air I realized I forgot one key element in this whole adventure… where the hell I was going to land. My front tire caught the top of a rut and slid in, slamming the bike and myself to the ground, smashing the light and computer that were mounted on the handle bars in the process. My knee and elbow hit square with the ground and the force pushed my arm back up into my shoulder, tearing something in my back (where my shoulder blade is attached). I rolled and landed on my side, knocking the wind out of me. When I stood back up I noted my tire marks were about 6 feet from where I hit the ramp. Not too shabby.

Moving On

I wound up with quite a few cuts and bruises (my both my knees and calves were completely bruised) and still can’t sleep on my right side, but honest to God it was absolutely worth it! That was the most exhilarating thing I’ve done in a while and I can’t wait to give it another shot, though this time I’m going to be a bit more prepared. Look what the birthday fairy brought me…

It’s been 2 1/2 weeks since I’ve been able to ride a trail, and I’m seriously going through withdrawals. Saturdays are the only real chance I get to go do them and I’ve been busy (and maybe a little injured) the last two, but this Saturday I get to go again. Not sure what we’re planning on doing, but I don’t care, I just need something.

Yesterday I got to pick up my new 2-wheeled companion from Performance Bicycles (very nice guys over there, Pablo & Casey). The GT I-Drive 5 is a definite step up from my Jamis Durango hardtail. Having full suspension is going to be a nice breath of fresh air for the downhill. Perhaps screaming down the side of a loose rock mountain at 35 mph won’t be as terrifying without the backend feeling like it’s going to come apart at any moment.

I’m in the process of moving my gear over to my new bike, one big downer is that I lost a mounting point for an extra water bottle and/or air pump. The air pump I had to get has a horrible mount, we’ll see if it manages to hold on to the frame very long. As a bonus I now have a bike to loan out to anyone who would like to tag along on the trail some weekend.