zio
Mr. Atlas
- Jul 28, 2000
- 2,284
- 0
I decided that instead of a full day of racing 2 hours away from home with the DRN'ers at the Wild Piglet, it'd be better to go for a half day just up the road at my local hangout (see p.4 of the Wild Piglet thread in the Enduro/Harescramble forum). My friends Kelly & Angryjim came into town to sample the Yosemite soil & promised plenty of riding in my short afternoon.
Those two are fast. Really fast. I did my best to keep up, and started out in good form. I felt great, despite not having my braces on "just right". They kept sliding down a little, which hampered the ability to bend my knees at key moments. Regardless, I was having a blast. Having been hitting the gym hard for the last 5 weeks really helped out. But soon enough, the combination of overconfidence in my skills, pushing harder than I should, and the slipping braces (maybe just an excuse) lead to several spills. And once I started falling, I just couldn't seem to get my rhythm going.
The terrain consisted of mostly medium to tight single-track, almost all of it on rutted up & downhills. And I kept stalling on the uphills that normally don't give me that much trouble. That's when my energy started to fade a bit, and I started making mistakes. Once, we headed down a little rabbit trail with Kelly & Jim right behind me, and I just sort of jacknifed going about 5mph. When I did, both the bike & I fell to the right, I tried to clear it, but it caught my right foot under the swingarm. My foot stayed pointing downhill with the bike, while my body twisted horizontally across the hill. Instantly, I felt the brace lock my leg in place, and all the twisting was limited to my hips, waist & upper torso. I am 100% positive that the Asterisk Cells saved my knee on my first outing with them. :thumb:
Soon after that minor get off, I had a doozy. We were on a new trail I had never been on before. It started out with a rutted downhill, then leveled off into some tight single-track through trees, then soon opened up a little & I picked up the pace to try & catch Kelly & Jim. All of a sudden, after rounding a blind right-hander, I saw their tire tracks veer right sharply in the 20 ft wide trail- to avoid a huge fallen log. I followed, but somehow didn't clear the log completely. The opening between the log & side of the trail was about 2 ft wide, but looked more like 3 ft from a distance as it was obscured somewhat by small plants & brush. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I remember seeing blue sky. My hip felt pretty banged up. I think I landed on another big log, but again, it was a blur. I thought it was going to be much worse, but by the end of the day all was well & the only reminder I have is a teeny bruise on my hip.
I called it quits after only about 35 miles or so. For some reason, it just wasn't my day. I was sort of let down, because I was feeling so good physically, and Kelly & Jim are ironmen & I was looking forward to keeping up with them for one of their epic trailrides. Oh well, next time maybe!!!
Those two are fast. Really fast. I did my best to keep up, and started out in good form. I felt great, despite not having my braces on "just right". They kept sliding down a little, which hampered the ability to bend my knees at key moments. Regardless, I was having a blast. Having been hitting the gym hard for the last 5 weeks really helped out. But soon enough, the combination of overconfidence in my skills, pushing harder than I should, and the slipping braces (maybe just an excuse) lead to several spills. And once I started falling, I just couldn't seem to get my rhythm going.
The terrain consisted of mostly medium to tight single-track, almost all of it on rutted up & downhills. And I kept stalling on the uphills that normally don't give me that much trouble. That's when my energy started to fade a bit, and I started making mistakes. Once, we headed down a little rabbit trail with Kelly & Jim right behind me, and I just sort of jacknifed going about 5mph. When I did, both the bike & I fell to the right, I tried to clear it, but it caught my right foot under the swingarm. My foot stayed pointing downhill with the bike, while my body twisted horizontally across the hill. Instantly, I felt the brace lock my leg in place, and all the twisting was limited to my hips, waist & upper torso. I am 100% positive that the Asterisk Cells saved my knee on my first outing with them. :thumb:
Soon after that minor get off, I had a doozy. We were on a new trail I had never been on before. It started out with a rutted downhill, then leveled off into some tight single-track through trees, then soon opened up a little & I picked up the pace to try & catch Kelly & Jim. All of a sudden, after rounding a blind right-hander, I saw their tire tracks veer right sharply in the 20 ft wide trail- to avoid a huge fallen log. I followed, but somehow didn't clear the log completely. The opening between the log & side of the trail was about 2 ft wide, but looked more like 3 ft from a distance as it was obscured somewhat by small plants & brush. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I remember seeing blue sky. My hip felt pretty banged up. I think I landed on another big log, but again, it was a blur. I thought it was going to be much worse, but by the end of the day all was well & the only reminder I have is a teeny bruise on my hip.
I called it quits after only about 35 miles or so. For some reason, it just wasn't my day. I was sort of let down, because I was feeling so good physically, and Kelly & Jim are ironmen & I was looking forward to keeping up with them for one of their epic trailrides. Oh well, next time maybe!!!