Hi everybody - I haven't posted here in awhile - I've been too busy with summer activities. I hadn't been out to ride in awhile because my boyfriend's bike was in repair, and he has the truck (my dirtbike won't fit too well into the back of my Acura Integra). Anyway, I went riding both this past weekend and the weekend before that.
Two weekends ago I went to this "illegitimate" riding spot at a soot basin near a train track - yeah, pretty sketchy, but it was fun. It was me on the RT 180, Aaron on his RM 125, and our friend Scott on a Honda XR650 (BIG BIKE!). I quickly learned not to follow Scott because his bike is so much bigger and has SO much more ground clearance. He went over a vine, and I flew over it as it was still bouncing and it caught on my engine and the bike stopped and fell on me - whoops... :) Overall, the ride was fun, though - this spot isn't that technically difficult to ride in, and thankfully, when you fall, you land on mud usually.
Now, I don't know who remembers my post a few months ago about the HORRIBLE ride that I had at a place called TOWER CITY which is here in Pennslyvania (www.towercitytrailriders.org, I think). it is a ridiculously rocky, technical, quarry land that is open for riders of quads and dirtbikes. Two times ago when I went I got really hurt when I flew over my bike and landed on my head, and then I got in a huge fight with my boyfriend who had called me a wuss. Needless to say - NOT A GOOD DAY. I've been a little "afeared" of Tower City ever since, because I wasn't able to get back on my bike after that last crash b/c they had to drive me down the mountain on somebody else's bike. Yikes! So we headed up to TC this weekend, and I was nervous that I was going to get hurt again.... but I really tried to have a good and determined attitude.... and it worked!!! I really proved to myself that I am a decent rider, and that during that weekend, it was just a fluke and I was having a majorly "off" day. I had one crash, but I wear Dainese Body Armor now, so I didn't get hurt too badly - I came up over a small hill and, WHOOPS - a huge boulder on the other side that I couldn't avoid... I crashed right into it, flipped over the handle bars - dislocated my shoulder and landed on the ground. As I'm lying there, I put my shoulder back into place (I have very loose ligaments and a pathological shoulder problem, so it is easier than it should be for me to dislocate it!!), hop up, turn off my bike, pick it up - hop back on, and I rode for the rest of the day and it was fine... my boyfriend thought I was done for when he saw me crash, but I was psyched that I was OK (relatively speaking).
We rode through some REALLY tricky rocky sections and I did really well - that was exciting.... I just took my time and picked my own lines - I think I was in a bad habit of following other people and trying to follow their lines through the rocks, and I just can't rely on anybody else - ultimately, I know my bike best, and I need to pick lines that I want to go for.
One REALLY crazy thing happened - my boyfriend Aaron was trying these little high climbs, and through an optical illusion, it looked like there was flat land on the other side of the climb - WRONG... he went over it, and there was a 20ft. deep sinkhole !!! Luckily he wasn't going very fast, or else, he would have REALLY been hurt. But he fell down in the bottom of the hole and it took 4 of us and a rope to pull the bike out - it was terrible!!! We had a good laugh about it afterwards... but it is just a warning - LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP!!!
Anyway, I was excited to relclaim my self-confidence about riding...it was a big deal to proove to myself that I have good riding abilities, espescially considering that I am the least experienced of my riding group AND on the least capable bike for the type of riding that is at Tower City...
Hope all of you had a great Labor Day - ciao!
Stacy
Two weekends ago I went to this "illegitimate" riding spot at a soot basin near a train track - yeah, pretty sketchy, but it was fun. It was me on the RT 180, Aaron on his RM 125, and our friend Scott on a Honda XR650 (BIG BIKE!). I quickly learned not to follow Scott because his bike is so much bigger and has SO much more ground clearance. He went over a vine, and I flew over it as it was still bouncing and it caught on my engine and the bike stopped and fell on me - whoops... :) Overall, the ride was fun, though - this spot isn't that technically difficult to ride in, and thankfully, when you fall, you land on mud usually.
Now, I don't know who remembers my post a few months ago about the HORRIBLE ride that I had at a place called TOWER CITY which is here in Pennslyvania (www.towercitytrailriders.org, I think). it is a ridiculously rocky, technical, quarry land that is open for riders of quads and dirtbikes. Two times ago when I went I got really hurt when I flew over my bike and landed on my head, and then I got in a huge fight with my boyfriend who had called me a wuss. Needless to say - NOT A GOOD DAY. I've been a little "afeared" of Tower City ever since, because I wasn't able to get back on my bike after that last crash b/c they had to drive me down the mountain on somebody else's bike. Yikes! So we headed up to TC this weekend, and I was nervous that I was going to get hurt again.... but I really tried to have a good and determined attitude.... and it worked!!! I really proved to myself that I am a decent rider, and that during that weekend, it was just a fluke and I was having a majorly "off" day. I had one crash, but I wear Dainese Body Armor now, so I didn't get hurt too badly - I came up over a small hill and, WHOOPS - a huge boulder on the other side that I couldn't avoid... I crashed right into it, flipped over the handle bars - dislocated my shoulder and landed on the ground. As I'm lying there, I put my shoulder back into place (I have very loose ligaments and a pathological shoulder problem, so it is easier than it should be for me to dislocate it!!), hop up, turn off my bike, pick it up - hop back on, and I rode for the rest of the day and it was fine... my boyfriend thought I was done for when he saw me crash, but I was psyched that I was OK (relatively speaking).
We rode through some REALLY tricky rocky sections and I did really well - that was exciting.... I just took my time and picked my own lines - I think I was in a bad habit of following other people and trying to follow their lines through the rocks, and I just can't rely on anybody else - ultimately, I know my bike best, and I need to pick lines that I want to go for.
One REALLY crazy thing happened - my boyfriend Aaron was trying these little high climbs, and through an optical illusion, it looked like there was flat land on the other side of the climb - WRONG... he went over it, and there was a 20ft. deep sinkhole !!! Luckily he wasn't going very fast, or else, he would have REALLY been hurt. But he fell down in the bottom of the hole and it took 4 of us and a rope to pull the bike out - it was terrible!!! We had a good laugh about it afterwards... but it is just a warning - LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP!!!
Anyway, I was excited to relclaim my self-confidence about riding...it was a big deal to proove to myself that I have good riding abilities, espescially considering that I am the least experienced of my riding group AND on the least capable bike for the type of riding that is at Tower City...
Hope all of you had a great Labor Day - ciao!
Stacy
