- Mar 28, 2003
- 2,561
- 0
Wow what a ride this weekend! I was really looking forward to riding so I could try out my new Asterisk knee braces. It was a little chilly (low to mid 40’s) when we met up with our group at 8 a.m. Saturday morning and didn’t get much warmer throughout the day. Plus the wind wouldn’t quit. It probably would have been fairly warm if it weren’t for the wind!
So after a two-hour drive we finally get to Bluff Creek. I get out of the truck and immediately unload my bike, then start to gear up. It takes a little longer than usual since I’m not used to putting on the Asterisks. So now I’m ready to go. I warm the bike up, take it on a small warm up loop and meet back up with Rooster at the staging area.
We start off as usual, riding the Perimeter Trail which is a wide (at least 2 quads can fit side by side down this trail) trail that goes around the entire perimeter of the park. I’m following Rooster, as is always the case since he knows the trails better than I do. As I’m following him I’m trying to get a feel for the knee braces. I can move and flex as I normally do, but I can tell there’s more protection because my knees feel like they’re gripping the bike, even though I’m not trying to. Well, we make our way around the trail, and come across a small down hill with a rut right in the middle of it. You HAVE to stay to the right or you’ll end up in the rut. Naturally I’m staring at the rut and I go right into it. I tip the bike over, no big deal, pick it back up and down the hill I go. Now I’m not a downhill kind of girl, so that probably increased my fear of the rut in the middle of that hill, since it wasn’t even a big hill! We then make our way over to the practice track for a couple of laps. Well about ¾ of the way through my first lap, I was in too high of a gear, and the bike sputtered and died on me. I pull off the track and drop the bike. I pick it up and try to find a place I can put the kickstand down so I can kick it over. In that process I dropped the bike again. I’m beginning to get frustrated now. I pick the bike back up, found a place I could start it and got it running. Rooster takes it out on the track to make sure it’s running properly. It is, so off we go again. Back to camp this time to get something to drink.
After our little break we make our way back out to the Perimeter Trail (this trail pretty much leads to everywhere you want to go at Bluff Creek). We go up and around some of the easier hills and then into the woods. Now the only other time I’ve ever ridden the WR in the woods is at Cooperland, so I don’t know what to expect. Rooster has told me time and time again that there are some difficult sections in the woods at Bluff Creek, so I’m a little nervous about it. Well, the woods aren’t too technical (so far) so I start to feel pretty good and I pick up the pace a bit. There were a couple of close calls where I almost went down, but no tipping over or crashing. Well we come out of the woods and back onto the part of the Perimeter Trail that has some cool hill climbs and some not so cool down hills (IMO). We get to the top of one of the hill climbs and there’s probably four or five ways down. I’ve been down one of the ways down before since it seemed the safest. I was always scared of the others. Well, Rooster goes down one that you have to turn left (not a sharp left) at the bottom or you’ll go over the edge. He goes up and down four or five times while I sit and stare at the hill. I’m real nervous, I HATE downhills. “What if I don’t turn left in time and go over the edge?” I think to myself…then Rooster comes back to the top and stops. “Just go” he says and I say to him what I was thinking earlier “What if I don’t turn left in time?” “You’ll turn in time.” He assures me. So down he goes, I stare for a couple more seconds and down I go. Wow, that was a pretty fun hill. I went down it at least one, if not two more times that day, without hesitation. So I’m finally overcoming my downhill fear. After that hill we come across another one and Rooster reassures me that it’s really easy. And down I go. Well that wasn’t so bad I think to myself! I’m pretty proud of myself. So we head back to camp for another break.
After this break we head into the woods again. I’m feeling pretty confident so I pick up the pace. I’m catching up to Rooster at this point. Come to find out he was riding faster than his normal “Sam’s pace”, which is the speed he usually goes so I can keep up with him. I’m pushing myself real hard now. Second and third gear through everything, really hitting the corners good and keeping up with Rooster. I feel real good about when I’m doing when suddenly there’s a corner with a hidden rut (covered with leaves) and BOOM down I go. I hit the rut and since I let off the gas in the corner I caused myself to crash. I banged my hipbone on something (I’m still not sure what) and hit the ground pretty hard. About the only part of my body that didn’t hurt was my knees (thanks to my Asterisks!). I was pretty shook up and couldn’t get up right away. Rooster comes back down, gets my bike off the ground, we check to make sure I’m not bleeding and back to camp we go. I sat for a few minutes and started to feel kinda dizzy so we decided to call it a day.
It was a pretty successful day overall, we got 25 miles in over 3 hours or so. I had a great time and a great trial ride with my new braces. I love the braces, they’re not too bulky or uncomfortable and I will never ride without them. I did scratch the right one up a bit, since that’s the side I landed on, but it’s nothing serious! All in all it was a great day and I really felt like my riding has been stepped up another notch. :ride:
So after a two-hour drive we finally get to Bluff Creek. I get out of the truck and immediately unload my bike, then start to gear up. It takes a little longer than usual since I’m not used to putting on the Asterisks. So now I’m ready to go. I warm the bike up, take it on a small warm up loop and meet back up with Rooster at the staging area.
We start off as usual, riding the Perimeter Trail which is a wide (at least 2 quads can fit side by side down this trail) trail that goes around the entire perimeter of the park. I’m following Rooster, as is always the case since he knows the trails better than I do. As I’m following him I’m trying to get a feel for the knee braces. I can move and flex as I normally do, but I can tell there’s more protection because my knees feel like they’re gripping the bike, even though I’m not trying to. Well, we make our way around the trail, and come across a small down hill with a rut right in the middle of it. You HAVE to stay to the right or you’ll end up in the rut. Naturally I’m staring at the rut and I go right into it. I tip the bike over, no big deal, pick it back up and down the hill I go. Now I’m not a downhill kind of girl, so that probably increased my fear of the rut in the middle of that hill, since it wasn’t even a big hill! We then make our way over to the practice track for a couple of laps. Well about ¾ of the way through my first lap, I was in too high of a gear, and the bike sputtered and died on me. I pull off the track and drop the bike. I pick it up and try to find a place I can put the kickstand down so I can kick it over. In that process I dropped the bike again. I’m beginning to get frustrated now. I pick the bike back up, found a place I could start it and got it running. Rooster takes it out on the track to make sure it’s running properly. It is, so off we go again. Back to camp this time to get something to drink.
After our little break we make our way back out to the Perimeter Trail (this trail pretty much leads to everywhere you want to go at Bluff Creek). We go up and around some of the easier hills and then into the woods. Now the only other time I’ve ever ridden the WR in the woods is at Cooperland, so I don’t know what to expect. Rooster has told me time and time again that there are some difficult sections in the woods at Bluff Creek, so I’m a little nervous about it. Well, the woods aren’t too technical (so far) so I start to feel pretty good and I pick up the pace a bit. There were a couple of close calls where I almost went down, but no tipping over or crashing. Well we come out of the woods and back onto the part of the Perimeter Trail that has some cool hill climbs and some not so cool down hills (IMO). We get to the top of one of the hill climbs and there’s probably four or five ways down. I’ve been down one of the ways down before since it seemed the safest. I was always scared of the others. Well, Rooster goes down one that you have to turn left (not a sharp left) at the bottom or you’ll go over the edge. He goes up and down four or five times while I sit and stare at the hill. I’m real nervous, I HATE downhills. “What if I don’t turn left in time and go over the edge?” I think to myself…then Rooster comes back to the top and stops. “Just go” he says and I say to him what I was thinking earlier “What if I don’t turn left in time?” “You’ll turn in time.” He assures me. So down he goes, I stare for a couple more seconds and down I go. Wow, that was a pretty fun hill. I went down it at least one, if not two more times that day, without hesitation. So I’m finally overcoming my downhill fear. After that hill we come across another one and Rooster reassures me that it’s really easy. And down I go. Well that wasn’t so bad I think to myself! I’m pretty proud of myself. So we head back to camp for another break.
After this break we head into the woods again. I’m feeling pretty confident so I pick up the pace. I’m catching up to Rooster at this point. Come to find out he was riding faster than his normal “Sam’s pace”, which is the speed he usually goes so I can keep up with him. I’m pushing myself real hard now. Second and third gear through everything, really hitting the corners good and keeping up with Rooster. I feel real good about when I’m doing when suddenly there’s a corner with a hidden rut (covered with leaves) and BOOM down I go. I hit the rut and since I let off the gas in the corner I caused myself to crash. I banged my hipbone on something (I’m still not sure what) and hit the ground pretty hard. About the only part of my body that didn’t hurt was my knees (thanks to my Asterisks!). I was pretty shook up and couldn’t get up right away. Rooster comes back down, gets my bike off the ground, we check to make sure I’m not bleeding and back to camp we go. I sat for a few minutes and started to feel kinda dizzy so we decided to call it a day.
It was a pretty successful day overall, we got 25 miles in over 3 hours or so. I had a great time and a great trial ride with my new braces. I love the braces, they’re not too bulky or uncomfortable and I will never ride without them. I did scratch the right one up a bit, since that’s the side I landed on, but it’s nothing serious! All in all it was a great day and I really felt like my riding has been stepped up another notch. :ride:
