Of bruised ribs and concussions

Mountain biking is probably one of my favorite things to do! Even when I end up injuring myself in the process, which seems to be happening at quite a high rate.

I've been biking with my buddy Rob from work. (Seen in the blue top) The guy can ride. As much as I can kick his ass in a 2 mile run, or with push ups, Rob can make me look like a child on the singletrack.

So the other weekend, I was doing a bit of track known as "Chicken Soup" at Lynn Woods. This bit of trail involves some really big boulders that are extremely scary to look down from. Some aren;t so bad, unless you do like I did and go over your handlebars right into some large rocks, bruising your ribs and banging your helmet on one of the previously mentioned large rocks. Ouch. Not too bad except that it hurts to sneeze, cough, laugh, and sometimes breathe. Still, I'm ready for another ride!

Like the ride we did this weekend at Carlise State Park. It was a nice easy ride, with nothing too technical. Of course, that doesn't stop me from taking what should have been a simple bunny-hop over a small rock, on the widest, flattest bit of trail we rode that day, and turning it into a horrendous high speed crash into the ground. I landed quite hard on my hip, landed on my ribs... again... same spot... and hit my head extremely hard on the ground. Sand can feel very hard if you hit it fast and hard enough. But I think I'm all right... My bike! Amazingly enough, I didn't break anything on it... this time. So far, I had managed to break something on the first two major rides I've owned this bike!

I did, however, find myself with a minor concussion complete with partial vision loss. That makes the third time in my life that I've had a concussion with vision loss. Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as previous, and the partial vision loss lasted only a short time.

I'm ready for another ride! (Maybe I'll wear some chest protection next time...)

By the way, World... Meet Ivy, my new GT Force 2.0! :D