I went for a mountain bike ride today. It was lovely to get out in the woods by myself for a bit. This ride though was different than most.

I am nursing a shoulder injury that popped up this week. I wish I could tell you what I did, but the truth is I woke up on Monday and immediately knew I had done something in my sleep.

Before the ride I wasn’t sure if I should or not. I wasn’t sure how it would hold up, and shoulders are pretty important for riding. Leaving the parking lot my plan was to ride safe, and ride smart. Easy trails, nothing too hard and on that front mission accomplished.

One thing I noticed while going slower along the trails was that the ride was more bumpy than I remembered the trails being. I was also riding very stiffly.

These combine to make a bad combination when riding. Some trails smooth out the faster you go, sometimes due to skipping over holes, and sometimes due to the suspension soaking up the bumps. Riding stiffly meant my body was not in the proper riding position, and I wasn’t properly moving the bike underneath me. My mind, in its self preservation mode, was making the ride more dangerous. Lovely.