Sean looks like I felt in this picture. I awoke rather late, and had to rush a little to get ready for the ride. I was late picking up Sean, and that kind of set the tone for my ride. I was beat, had little energy, and was a little hungover. Not a good combo when going mountain biking. Oh well, I made the most of it.
The group consisted of myself and Yoshi, Sean, and Darryll. We got warmed up and headed into the trails. We took a leisurely ride up the hills, and stopped lots to rest. We never really had a destination in mind, so we chose to head up to Snake and Ladders. It is always a fun trail to head to.
Nearing C-Section we ran into Mike, so we stopped and talked for a little bit, then continued on our way. At the bottom of the switchbacks we took a nice lenghty rest, and Yoshi played with sticks, and jumped through the ferns.
We played on the log ride at the top of the Switchbacks. I like the log ride a lot. It is fun, gives a great feeling when you ride the entire length, but is safe since it is only a few inches off the ground. That is also the problem with it. With it so close tothe ground, it is too easy to just give up on an attempt, and jump off the side. I rode the entire length a couple times, so I started trying to ride it from the skinny end to the fatter end. I managed to do that, so I stopped while I was ahead!
On the way up to Snakes and Ladders my chain shiffted off the top cog, and into the spokes, so we had to take a few minutes to fix that (thanks Darryll). Once headed down though, the trail rocked! Instead of taking Shars choice we decided to go a different route. I was in the lead, and taking this once downhill right hander with some speed.
All too quickly, my front tire washed out, and my bars spun to the right. The tire was perpendicular to the direction I was travelling. That is never a good thing. I am not sure what happened next (I think the tire caught solid ground again), but I was pitched up and over my bike, and fell a few feet to the rocks below. I landed sort of on my back, and on my side. Armour is a great thing, ESPECIALLY when you are falling, and realize your bike is going to land on your head! I got my arm up in time to protect my face, but my bike slammed into my helmet putting a couple dents in the styrofoam, and cracking the visor. No worse for wear I took a couple minutes to gather myself, realign my bars, shifter, and brake lever, then we continued on our ride. It happened quite quickly, but I can remember it all.
Anywho, we got back to the vehicles, got ungeared, loaded the bikes, and came home. I still feel the hangover a little, but I am certainly glad I got out for a ride, and Yoshi really appreciated being out in the woods! He has slept all afternoon.