Trying to get your fitness back?
Giving yourself a heart-attack?
Harbins is my evening racetrack...
I've been struggling to get a decent ride in for quite some time... with school, working odd jobs, and breaking my bike frame (again) it seems like the universe is standing in the way of a good hard bike ride sometimes. Then there is occasionally that feeling of complete exhaustion which can leave you craving more sleep for the day, and to top it off, when you finally get on the bike something breaks or goes wrong. Yesterday I decided I had enough of this whole process of trying to overcome immeasurable odds and just went for it. I know there are more technical trails in the area, but I settled on Harbins Park for my trail-slaughtering comeback to begin.
In the parking lot I began to "suit up"... reset the trusty bike computer, started STRAVA on my Android phone, filled bottles, took a deep breath and then set out. For a warm up I hit the right side trails first. I knocked out the short loop in a little over 8 minutes. Crushing it from there on, I next went down MB5, which is sort of a lollipop trail with two different loops in the back section. Coming back to the finish of that loop is more uphill, and I love hammering up it on the singlespeed. I raced back to the car and stopped the STRAVA only to find out that it lost GPS reception and quit on me after only .7 miles. My bike computer said I averaged 11.6 mph for 9 miles, and did the whole right-side of the park in 44 minutes flat. Not bad for a warm up....
Quickly I refilled my water bottles and set out for the other half of the park. Sunlight is fading quickly now that September is here, so I strapped my Niterider light to the handlebars and started thinking that riding without gloves wasn't so bad. Yes, that's right. I forgot my gloves. And now that I was all warmed up I started sweating. If I could knock out 9 miles in 44 minutes with no gloves I should be fine to finish the other 9 or so miles without crashing... right?
Racing across the granite stream (slippery sometimes) I completed all the trails on the MB4 section with the "Rim Bender" downhill and some berms and jumps thrown in the mix. Light was fading faster now... need to push it! Faster! I am starting to get used to the 34x20 gearing again, so I am spinning out on flat sections and slight downhills. It's about time to swap back to the 34x18. Once back to the other side of the creek it was a race to the parking lot. There are a lot of roots in this section though, and I was sweating bullets by this time. I almost slipped off the grips a couple times and barely escaped smashing into trees.
About 2 miles left and I switched my light on. I could still see, but I thought if any other riders were headed my direction it would be safer for them. Just then the thought crossed my mind "I'm riding surprisingly well for not having gloves". Moments later, flying through the air time seemed to pause and I found myself asking what happened... then I remembered all too quickly about the sweaty palms and the slick (worn) Ergon grips. Don't people usually think about what happened AFTER they crash-land? This is not going to be good....
CRASH!
My right hand slipped forward off the grip, just as I hit the 2nd or 3rd large root in a row. With the support of my body weight thrown off significantly already, I started to kick out of my Eggbeater on the right side, but my body momentum was just going forward too quickly. The bike and I separated, and we smashed into two trees at the same time, maybe a foot apart. I ended up on my back, staring up into the canopy of the tree I just became acquainted with. Lots of leaves were falling on my face... I actually hit the tree sideways. With my face. My chin took the bulk of the momentum out of my entire body with the side of the tree. I have to admit though, my first thought was about the bike's safety.
I picked it up quickly and inspected for damage. No cracks anywhere, some scratches on the carbon fork, which I wiped and they were gone... and some frame-protector tape had been hit directly on my headtube, so hard that the tree actually split the tape into two halves. The frame was protected though, so it did it's job. :) The Niner Carbon fork actually dented the tree it smacked into. That stuff is HARD. Noticed a crack in my helmet later, but that is always better than a crack in the head.
I ended up riding around 18 miles at 11.3mph with a wreck. The comeback has begun! More miles on the bike, blogs, and hopefully some more races soon! This new hydro-formed aluminum Niner One9 frame is stiff, and it turns on a dime. Thanks for reading everyone! Ride safely and always remember your gloves!!!
