Well, I went mountain bike riding with my dad yesterday.  Problem is, he drags his digital camera along with him everywhere he goes.  This is an area that I ride in a lot, called Kuhns Wildlife Management Area.  If you connected all the trails end to end, it'd be about 60 miles.  Its got it all from gated logging roads to bad ass single tracks.  This area has like 5-6 high mountain lakes within a 15 square mile area.  Great bikin' in and fly fishin area... This first pic is Bowser lake (about 11 miles in)  

[img]http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1189797&a=8764361&p=49705199&Sequence=0&res=high[/img]

Now for the meat of this post...  This is where a really fast moving technical single track opens up to a logging road.  This was the first time I'd ever rode down this bit of trail, I knew it was steep....  (its steeper than it looks, theres no way in hell you'd ride up it)

[img]http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1189797&a=8764361&p=49705200&Sequence=0&res=high[/img]

In the photo before, I still had one foot on a pedal, although I should have been off the back of the bike........

Moral of the story.....  Loose gravel, steep downhills, beer, mountain bikes, and testicals just don't mix [:(]

[img]http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1189797&a=8764361&p=49705203&Sequence=0&res=high[/img]

So kiddies, just don't try this at home....  BTW, this is me..  In the flesh, smackin' the twollies on the frame [:(] [:(]

There, that only took 15 minutes to get it right [:D]

Just a bunch of red x's

But then, I know all too well not to bike and drink... I usually end up puking.

Ok, now I see the pics.  Beautiful lake.

All I can say now is..... Damned... that's gotta hurt.

Been in too many wrecks to count... all part of the fun... limping back home bleeding from various parts.  Think I'd be on the pedals and behind the seat for the downhill though.  I'll stick to climbing mountains.... less blood, and if you fall, you don't have to worry about the pain for very long.

Yeah...  They must've changed the way that photo's are posted...  I guess, I'll try and search the archives for the right way to do it...  This is a classis spill. [:D]

John[:)]

nice red x's



Anyhow, I know the feeling.

When I was around 14-15 I did a heck of a lot of mountain biking and would go through the trouble of riding my bike 10-12 miles just to get to the good spots.   Problem was I did a lot of wrecking too and then I still had to ride home afterwards.




A good one was on a old rain worn dirt road off in the hills leading to my grandfather's ranch.   Being young and dumb I wasn't wearing a helmet or any other protective gear.   I was however hauling ass down the trails at anywhere from 25-35mph(52tooth chain ring on downhill slopes and a very well tuned bike computer).   I came around a turn and just as it opened up for me to see down the road I saw where the rains had eaten away the road so that there were very long ruts in the hard dirt that were traveling length wise with my direction of travel instead of across my path of travel.   I tried to slow down, I tried to bunny hop over them to get in the clear, and no matter what I did I managed to land my tires right in one of the deepest ruts where within the next split second I was tossed face first right onto the dirt and gravel that was basically as hard as concrete.

It managed to give me one helluva road rash on the right side of my face, from my chin to my cheek and even my ear was rubbed away pretty good.  My right arm also got nailed pretty good.
I also had ONE HELL OF A HEAD ACHE well into the next day.   I'm lucky I didn't brain my damage.

Spent about the next month looking like a complete ass and having to explain to everyone about my stupidity.   All I have left over from that accident though is a scar on my right ear from where I mangled it enough that not only the skin was screwed up but so was the cartilage.



That wasn't too bad though considering the relatively low speeds involved.  Up till then I'd been running without a helmet on some really steep hills and hitting as high as 45-48mph on roads where cars were moving slower than I was.

This story just gets better...  My dad and I met up like two ridge tops before this all happened, I told him that we'd meet up at the logging road down at the bottom of the trail and to have his camera ready, that I promised to give him something to photograph...  Well, the hill before this one, I carried all the momentum up it that I could, and flew down the other side.  I didn't even have the back of this bike (my Specialized hardtail) on dirt for the first 10 feet down this hill.  If I were on my old double boinger, I might have pulled this whole stunt off (maybe.)  I really had no idea that this hill was going to be THAT steep.  Of course my dad had no problems with it, becuase it was all new trail to him and he took it EASY on the downhill.  That and he thinks my personal self destructive nature is mildly amusing...  I really wouldn't have worried about anything, except, on the other side of this road (this is the trail coming down to the road, in the last pic) theres a drop off thats about 15 feet straight down.  So I was in a hurry to stop [:D]  I guess it was better to thwack the twins that to break the rest of my body...

If you're wondering why our trails are like this, just remember that they're all meant for HORSES...  Thats also why you see guys (like me) wearing plain old jeans over the lycra.  If you didn't, your legs would look like hamburger after a 20 mile ride...  I've got more pics of any of the other lakes if anybody is interested.  But for now, its late, and I'm beered up, and I didn't find any chicks to bring home from the bars...  Probably because my balls are still a little tender [:(]

Well, that's still open to some debate. [:D]

And they say GUNS are dangerous. Next the UN will have a bike burning day.

Back in the day when I went to Auburn U there was a cool area called "Planet X." Great place to mountain bike, 4x4, motocross, etc... Well there is a powerline cut through the middle of it with some ass breaking uphills and therefore some ass puckering downs, all with erosion berms.

Well, a bunch of us, including several little chickies had been shredding our mountain bikes all day when on the way out we were screaming down a long one and I was of course trying to keep up with my more skilled friends and ahead of the pack of girls :) when I kinda took this one berm wrong... Ended up over the handlebars and slamming the noggin and my shoulder something fierce. I thought I was OK and stoot up about the time the girls cought up. I started dusting myself off when I went dizzy and had to sit down then hurled like  crazy. My right shoulder area was killing me and blood was running down my face. A bud went and got my Land Criser and trucked me out (which hurt like a SOB cause that Land Cruiser was no smooth riding hunk of steel lemme tell ya) and took me to the ER.

Concussion, 45 stiches, dislocated shoulder, torn rotator cuff and a spiral fracture of the joint of the humerous (sp?). In a word, SUCKED. I was in a airplane splint for like 3 months. The only good that came out of it was a blossoming relationship with one of the girls who had a real caretaker streak in her... In many ways, let me tell ya! God lover her!

Anyway, be careful! Hehehe! I still love mountain biking, and sorority girls who wanna be nurses!

Beautiful area by the way!

No pain, no gain, right?

Where in the h-ll is your helmet?

QCMGR, Helmet?????  What for?  Thats the other head taking a pounding in the last pic [:D]  Besides, you land on your head mountain biking, your more likely to damage your neck.  I do wear a helmet when I plan on doing stupid things, but this was supposed to be a nice little cruise in the woods.  Not a try out for the summer X-games.  Too much liquid courage on the trail was the result of this incedent.  I'm also highly trained in the arts of falling down, and had LOTS of practice.  I bet I and Elcope have fallen down more times than 95% of the population [:D]

Five-O...  OUCH!!!!  Thats not cool, not even a little funny.  I had an AC (acromion process, clavicle) seperation some years ago doing a different hobby of mine (not mountain biking.)  That shoulder will never be 100% again.  Like ya'all say, no pain no gain.  And I before E, except in Budweiser [:)]

You still should have a skull sack, bro.  The first time you have to get stitches in your noggin' will prove that to you.  I taco'd my front wheel on a nasty downhill in AZ (sans helmet) on my Caloi hardtail, trying to look cool for some other tail, & awoke with an ice pack on my head on the way to a local doc.  Awesome scenery, though.  Be safe.

Well, heres some pics of two other lakes in the area.  The first one is looking NNW down Cliff lake.  Looks like it should be planted with bass, huh???

[img]http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1189797&a=8764361&p=49705195&Sequence=0&res=high[/img]

This next one is looking SSE down Baney lake...  

[img]http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1189797&a=8764361&p=49705191&Sequence=0&res=high[/img]

These lakes don't get a whole lot of pressure, since you can't drive to anyone of them.  But lots of guys ride in on mountain bikes and horses.  Every time I ride into these lakes, I never see any fish jumpin'.  Which is too bad, because I really like to fly fish remote high mountain lakes.  One of these days I'll go talk to the FWP fish guy and see if these are stocked with anything fun (like rainbows of cut-throats.)  I'm just afraid that these lakes have been "bucket biologied" by the locals and the FW&P.  

Good Lord, I meant 4-5 stiches... 45 sounded mor hard corp though, eh?

No, I think it was this part...



Dislocated shoulder, etc...  Thats pretty hard corp... Or stupid [:D]

Anyone else notice how expensive of a hobby mountain biking is??  I've been toying with the idea of building a semi-custom bike on an Airborne Corsair frame after riding one that a guy I know has.  VERY SWEEEEET!!!  But like 2K+ once your all done, and then there's only about 5-6 months a year up here you can ride a bike.  For now, I guess I'll just buy a new front fork and be content with life (now I'm only in the 4-500 dollar area)

Bushmaster, you want to know why you should wear a helmet?  Here's a reason:

I went biking (on a mountain bike, but not on single track) on some of the dirt roads on the Army post to which I was assigned one Saturday morning a few years ago.  Figured I'd have a good time and get a good workout at the same time.  I never wore a helmet before--it looked too dorky.  However, post regulations stated that if you were on a bicycle, you wore a helmet, so I did.  Long story short, near the end of my ride I started down a part of the road coming off a hill; it was probably 1/3 as steep as the one in your picture.  Half way down I hit a small chuckhole with my front tire that I couldn't see due to shadows from the morning sun.  My tire immediately turned, stopping the bike, while I continued over the handlebars.  My air time could probably be measured in fractions of a second, but in that period of time I first landed on the top/back of my head, then rolled into the fall on my back, which broke between the 10th and 11th thoracic vertebrae, crushing my spinal cord.  Result?  I went from barrel-chested, ass-kicking, freedom fighting Special Forces trooper to lifelong paraplegic in an instant.  The helmet moral is that if I had not been wearing the helmet, I would have gone from barrel-chested, ass-kicking, freedom fighting Special Forces trooper to corpse in the same amount of time.  I still have the helmet--the plastic shell is only scuffed, but the styrofoam under it where I hit is compressed over an inch.  Want to guess what that kind of force would do to a thin, flat portion of bone?  You never, never know when you'll get into an accident, so you can't say, "Well, I wasn't doing anything dangerous, so I didn't need protection."  Do you only wear a seatbelt when you're doing 125mph on a sinuous, wet stretch of road?  I was out for a simple bike ride on established dirt roads, nothing nearly as dangerous as what your pictures show, and look at me in my wheelchair now.  Some may say they'd rather not wear the helmet and be dead than be stuck in a chair, but my wife and two boys are pretty happy I had the brain bucket on that day.

Mountain bike injuries aren't always to the neck.  The rehab hospital where I recovered had spinal cord injuries on the third floor, and brain injuries on the second floor.  Whenever I felt sad about being a para, I took a trip down the 2d floor halls and saw the poor folks with TBIs, unable to care for themselves, communicate, remember, walk, use a bathroom, etc.  I lost everything from the waist down, but they lost their very being, who they were before the accident, their ability to think and reason.  Which would you prefer?

I'm not trying to crusade a movement to require helmets--people have to play by big boy rules and make their own decisions.  However, I think people should have all the information before they make that decision.  If you want to continue to go without a helmet, no skin off my nose.  I just hope that someone out there reading this says, "Wow, the consequences aren't worth me looking cool," and when they have a wreck, that helmet saves their life.

The locations in those pics look like paramilitary training grounds.

I'll second that emotion...

Apparently you don't think much of your brains.

WEAR A HELMET.

You guys are way off-base, he should sue the bicycle manufacturer.  Those mountain bikes are DANGEROUS!lol.
Actually, I hope you recover, that looks painful!

I was a Bike Messenger for 6 years in San Francisco and never wore a helmet, and I got hit several times! Just an occupational hazard to me The only thing worse than a head concussion is looking like a dork.

OUCHHHH! But you stil smiled while in pain so you get the nod.

Bushmaster Dan,
If you would have been usung clipless pedals/shoes  your feet, most likely, would have stayed connected to the pedals.   That slope does look fun though!

look for "crazy Jim"  at http://www.dorba.org/

Jeez...  I kinda lost track of this thread.  Maybe it was selective memory [:D]  Well, its been over a week now, and I'm proud to say that my testicles have made a full recovery.  Whats important is that I was able to keep on riding...  I just had to reach down and grab my set (even though a little sore) and get right back on that thing...

Goose9269.  Dude, what can I say..  Now I'll even wear my helmet on the slow rides with my old man.  I always wear my helmet when I'm on the trails with my friends.  I have had bad things happen then.  You're out tearin' ass all around the country side, getting dehydrated, and fatigued, and then it happens....  You do something REALLY REALLY STUPID, fall down and get hurt a little.  The bikers that are really nuckin' futz are those dudes you see riding bikes on STREETS with CARS, and SOCCER MOMS driving around 20 MPH over the speed limits.

Imbroglio...  Shhhhh!!!  And don't look for my buddy in the ghillie suit in that 4th pic I posted.  Its a game we like to call "Where's Waldo the Sniper"

Ex GI...  I had more bad spills on that Specialized FSR I had with clipless pedals than I ever did on my Hardrock.  Whenever I needed to get out of one to put a foot down, I'd stack up.  I found out real quick that I was better off wearing a pair of hiking boots or plain biking shoes than using the clipless system. I got rid of that FSR for other reasons though (I don't think full suspended will ever be my gig.) Most of the single tracking that we do up here is on horse trails, usually you aren't moving any faster than the small front gear and the inside half of the rear gears can carry you.  Lots of steep (almost faster to walk) uphills too.  I've paid just as much to repair/replace bent wheels as I have on my bike since I bought it.    

Have you been over on http://www.mountainbike.com ??  They just started a DF with UBB software.  Not a lot of traffic over there yet, but I bet in a year it'll be nuts...  E-mail me if you've got any other links to MB websites.