Well, RAHRAH must be right with the Lord because his praying for rain worked! :)
Saturday at Turkey Bal, LBL was definately a humid one. The terrain there is not too bad when it rains though...as opposed to here where it would have been mud caked on everything, Turkey Bay is more of a sandy muddy water type thing.
First loop out I am riding with some really talented folks....Including Bundy who is one heck of a woods man and afraid of nothing, MikeB, and Mr Luckey who gets fater each time I see him. (Wait....thats "faster") (dang the misspells)
:)
ANywho.....
I was riding my new 444 for the first time in the woods. The suspension is fantastic when soaking up jump landings, but on wet rocks, roots, trees, etc....it was stiff as a board and would more reflect off of stuff than soak it up.
Things being totally wet didn't help much either.
I had only the goal of staying somewhat close to these veteran woods guys. And I was doing OK until I had just a slight get-off on a muddy turn. My thumper kept running so it was all good!
I managed to stay with the group...(well I could still see them anyway) until they decided to take a virgin route through the trees. The group got away from me and I decided to take the low route and look up to the ridges to see if I could spot the group.
Bundy had left the group to come look for me. He rode down to me to see if it was thumbs up, and at this point it was. Bundy took a well worn line back up the hill he came from and I was right behind him. At the top of the line was about a 3 foot wall of rocks...Bundy was headed right for them, and I knew there was no way I could manage to negotiate such an obstacle,,,so I tried to cross out of my rut and into the next one....mistake!
I ended up banging my right side bars into a big tree which threw me immediately and the bike did a loop and a half circle around the tree....bike still running! I picked up the bike, got it in nuetral and looked up to see that Bundy had a bit of trouble with the rock wall, as he was no longer seated. He immediately got back on his ride CRF and started back down the hill for a second try...I figured he would try another line but NO...he gives it full on hell right back up the same line and when he met the rock wall this time he was totally prepared and wheelie/bunnyhopped it like it was nothing! I was fully impressed with that move!
Well, at this point the rest of the group was on the top of the ridge, and I was still huffing a bit trying to regroup...I gave the go ahead sign to them and signaled that I would return to the main trail and back....go on guys, I'm fine.
Well, on the main loop back I met up with a couple of trail puddles that I had negotiated on a previous vist to Trukey Bay with no problems....although this time when I entered the puddle it got deeper and deeper to the point of being seat deep in muddy water....I gassed my thumper for all it was worth, knowing that I was in deep (literally) doo doo if I were to stall now.
POP! That was it, my poor thumper had just crapped out on me and I'm seat deep. I figured that I was gonna have to wait for a (gulp) quad to come by and tow me back. I managed to push the bike to dryer land. Well, luck was with me and no water was sucked up and two kicks got my beast going again! (happy happy happy)
Got back to camp and decided I better empty the water out of my boots and change into different gear, as I was a totally soaked duck.
That's when I saw it....my elbow...which has been crushed and then rebroken in years past, was looking quite different than any humans elbow should look.
I banged my elbow on the first little get-off I had, but I really didn't notice much pain at all. But the bone of my elbow was sticking up in a most sickening looking fashion and I knew it just wasn't right. I figured maybe I had really hurt myself bad but couldn't notice it yet due to adrenalin..(most of us have been there)
I decided at that point that I better not press my luck with another loop, as it was still raining, cold, I was hurt...probably worse than I felt, and the karma was just not there.
When the group returned from the first loop, I showed the guys my elbow and immediately Paddy turned his head in a sickening fashion and said "Ewww...don't let me see that again, Jay!" (he was right, it didn't look pretty)
Well, I made it home fine and the elbow hurts a little, but looks like heck.
I will probably have to get x-rays to see what sort of damage I've done to myself.
My only problem now is to think up of a story to tell the Doc,....no way I can tell the REAL story, insurance being what it is and all.
Great ride folks! Even though it was one of the nastiest days I've had in a while....
It's all good!
:)
Saturday at Turkey Bal, LBL was definately a humid one. The terrain there is not too bad when it rains though...as opposed to here where it would have been mud caked on everything, Turkey Bay is more of a sandy muddy water type thing.
First loop out I am riding with some really talented folks....Including Bundy who is one heck of a woods man and afraid of nothing, MikeB, and Mr Luckey who gets fater each time I see him. (Wait....thats "faster") (dang the misspells)
:)
ANywho.....
I was riding my new 444 for the first time in the woods. The suspension is fantastic when soaking up jump landings, but on wet rocks, roots, trees, etc....it was stiff as a board and would more reflect off of stuff than soak it up.
Things being totally wet didn't help much either.
I had only the goal of staying somewhat close to these veteran woods guys. And I was doing OK until I had just a slight get-off on a muddy turn. My thumper kept running so it was all good!
I managed to stay with the group...(well I could still see them anyway) until they decided to take a virgin route through the trees. The group got away from me and I decided to take the low route and look up to the ridges to see if I could spot the group.
Bundy had left the group to come look for me. He rode down to me to see if it was thumbs up, and at this point it was. Bundy took a well worn line back up the hill he came from and I was right behind him. At the top of the line was about a 3 foot wall of rocks...Bundy was headed right for them, and I knew there was no way I could manage to negotiate such an obstacle,,,so I tried to cross out of my rut and into the next one....mistake!
I ended up banging my right side bars into a big tree which threw me immediately and the bike did a loop and a half circle around the tree....bike still running! I picked up the bike, got it in nuetral and looked up to see that Bundy had a bit of trouble with the rock wall, as he was no longer seated. He immediately got back on his ride CRF and started back down the hill for a second try...I figured he would try another line but NO...he gives it full on hell right back up the same line and when he met the rock wall this time he was totally prepared and wheelie/bunnyhopped it like it was nothing! I was fully impressed with that move!
Well, at this point the rest of the group was on the top of the ridge, and I was still huffing a bit trying to regroup...I gave the go ahead sign to them and signaled that I would return to the main trail and back....go on guys, I'm fine.
Well, on the main loop back I met up with a couple of trail puddles that I had negotiated on a previous vist to Trukey Bay with no problems....although this time when I entered the puddle it got deeper and deeper to the point of being seat deep in muddy water....I gassed my thumper for all it was worth, knowing that I was in deep (literally) doo doo if I were to stall now.
POP! That was it, my poor thumper had just crapped out on me and I'm seat deep. I figured that I was gonna have to wait for a (gulp) quad to come by and tow me back. I managed to push the bike to dryer land. Well, luck was with me and no water was sucked up and two kicks got my beast going again! (happy happy happy)
Got back to camp and decided I better empty the water out of my boots and change into different gear, as I was a totally soaked duck.
That's when I saw it....my elbow...which has been crushed and then rebroken in years past, was looking quite different than any humans elbow should look.
I banged my elbow on the first little get-off I had, but I really didn't notice much pain at all. But the bone of my elbow was sticking up in a most sickening looking fashion and I knew it just wasn't right. I figured maybe I had really hurt myself bad but couldn't notice it yet due to adrenalin..(most of us have been there)
I decided at that point that I better not press my luck with another loop, as it was still raining, cold, I was hurt...probably worse than I felt, and the karma was just not there.
When the group returned from the first loop, I showed the guys my elbow and immediately Paddy turned his head in a sickening fashion and said "Ewww...don't let me see that again, Jay!" (he was right, it didn't look pretty)
Well, I made it home fine and the elbow hurts a little, but looks like heck.
I will probably have to get x-rays to see what sort of damage I've done to myself.
My only problem now is to think up of a story to tell the Doc,....no way I can tell the REAL story, insurance being what it is and all.
Great ride folks! Even though it was one of the nastiest days I've had in a while....
It's all good!
:)
