Here comes the broken ribs!... Almost

I went mountain biking for the first time in a long, long time with my coworker Rob this past Saturday. I mean for real mountain biking. Not the tame trail biking that my out of shape tech buddies can barely manage, but the good, foot plus drops from boulders, trails so narrow you're getting scratched up by branches on both sides, ruts and rocks grabbing at your tires at every turn and straight away kind of riding! The kind of stuff that totally kicks your ass, and all you can say is "That... huff... was... huff... totally... huff... rad! *pass out*"

We went to Lynn Woods, and went up the main fire road for a little bit and stopped off to take care of a little business. That was when I looked down and noticed the swarm of 50 billion mosquitoes around my lower legs. Fun. its a good thing I was there, otherwise Rob would have gotten bitten by a couple!

After escaping that swarm, we went off and found us a nice trail to go down. Did I mention that this was the first time I've ever ridden with clipless pedals? When trying out clipless pedals (which is an odd name because your feet are freakin' clipped to the pedal!), you should always get some practice clipping and unclipping in a nice soft field. Much emphasis is put on "soft". But I'm not like that. Nope. I am a firm believer, when it comes to myself, in learning the hard way, apparently. I slapped those bad boys on my bike and said "Lets do this!"

Everything was great until about 50 feet in, my front tire hit a rock and not quite the velocity needed to go over it. Instead, I cam to a sudden and immediate stop. This is where time came to an abrupt standstill. After my instinct kicked in and found that I couldn't slide my foot off the pedal toe first (clipless pedals require a heal first twist), it promptly shut off the reasoning part of the brain that would have gotten the heal motion correctly, and told the brain "Sorry, dude. You're screwed." With the brain now dumbfounded, it had enough cells to notice, "I'm tottering slightly to the left. I think I'm going to fall to the left. Turn head left. Oh look at the sharp triangular rock down there. I'm about to have me some broken ribs!" Fortunately for me, after what seemed quite some time of hanging there, I landed with the rock between my ribs and arm, with only my elbow making contact with the rock. Unfortunately, my elbow made contact with the rock, but at least it wasn't too banged up.

The best news of the outing, was this was actually my only big fall over of the trip! After that, and a pedal in the shin and then the knee, every fall I almost made was done when trees where close enough to catch onto. :P

Lynn Woods is a neat place to ride. There are some great boulder areas that remind me of the glacier areas of the California mountains. There are all sorts of small trails to find. Ever see a mountain lion pit? Neither have I until Saturday. There is a great stone tower up on one of the hill peaks. And then there's the spooky dungeon stair well, built into some huge boulders and going down into the dank misty darkness below.... Spoooooooky! Too bad neither of us had a flashlight!

All in all, it was one of the best times I've had getting my ass kicked.  If you ever want to experience the rush of adrenaline and the feeling of coming near death, go mountain biking where the trails make the logical part of your brain say "Oh no, that aint right!  This can only end in my death or dismemberment!" :P