When you crash, you might as well do it right. `

There are some things that I always make sure that I do right. Crashing a mountain bike is one of those things.

I'll make you read a ride report before I get to the crash though....

Accotink and Wakefield were on the menu today. I got off work early and was on the trails by 3pm. I wanted to get a few hours in at Accotink. The trails were in PERFECT shape with a few small exceptions. The power lines section at the west of Accotink has been massacred by the power company. The trail is just gone. I rode it in hopes of making a line that people could follow. It wasn't muddy, but it wasn't much fun either. There is also a mud hole right below the rock garden by the gas pumping station.

My goal was to ride all of the trails at Accotink. With very few exceptions, I took every turn available. I looped back around and did things 2 and 3 times. I GPS tracked it for fun. I lost the track for somewhere between 3 and 4 miles. There are plenty of trails that didn't show up on my map. I thought it was worth looking at though. It isn't, however, particularly useful.

Wakefield Map

I finally rolled back into Wakefield about 6pm. Rick and JoeP were getting ready to ride. I grabbed my battery, changed jerseys and headed out to scout a loop in the bowl with them. We looped around and had fun till about 6:30. I needed to tighten my chain and pick up folks for the group ride. This is where the fun began. :D

We had a really good group. I think it was Gary's second ride on a mountain bike. He did great. I think he got a bit frustrated with his pedals, but that technique will come.

We did two clockwise loops on the new trails and one counter clockwise. At the end of the counter clockwise loop, I tried to ride UP the steep drop in. When you're going up, is it a drop out? I thought I guessed the speed right. I wasn't quite fast enough though. The climb is rooted and steep and about 7 feet up. I got the front wheel up and the back wheel to the edge.... when I spun on a root. No amount of brake could hold me up there either. I went back down all 7 feet backwards and slammed onto my side. It knocked the wind out of me and bruised the back of my ribs a little. I went on to ride for another 1:20 mins. It was a fun ride and I wish I could have gone longer. My arms and ribs were hurting.

So there it is!

The ride was truly fantstic. I'm gonna go and EAT!

XOXO

Pete