I bailed but rode anyway

GeeDubb said:

I was supposed to do an epic ride with MattB and a group of
Gunnyriders but I managed to strain my back helping a friend move his
[censored] off my property. See what being nice does?????

So I showed up anyway hoping my back would losen up but as luck would
have it I could hardly roll out of my truck. It was quite obvious to
Matt and I think he was thanking his lucky stars I opted not to go (I
would have been a boat anchor). I got directions to Hartman's Rocks
and proceeded to ride there. I can see why Matt rides these trails
because they seem to just keep going. It was funny that several
people I spoke with trying to find a trail map of the area kept
telling me it'd be hot???? 62F at 8:30 when I started and 3 hours
later it was only 84F. Come on down to Phoenix if you want to know
what hot is.....

So luck is not my friend this week and I was unable to find a trail
map so I headed out blind (but GPS strapped to handlebar). I headed
up T2. If Matt rides his ss up this then I quit! I barely made the
easy parts (I refuse to blame my aching back...ok, it was my back)
but I'm not much of a technical rider and climbing granite faces
isn't my forte'.

On to T7 then T9 out to T17 into T14, T12, T? (rage course?) and so
on. I made only one mistake and that was taking T5. The climb up was
ok but the downhill section was loose, rocky and had my butt puckering
even walking down........

I ended up putting in about 16 miles and some 3000+' of climbing. I
can hardly walk but somehow being on the bike wasn't so bad. I had
trouble standing on the bike so maneuvering was difficult. The
downhill bumps sent a sharp pain through my back but I was determined
to ride since I'd driven 2.5 hours to get to Gunnison.

I'm glad I didn't go on the epic with Matt and company as I would have
ruined the ride for them. Somehow the thought of 4500' of downhill,
some described as really technical, makes me hurt just sitting here.

Thanks goes out to Matt for inviting me and then directing me to a
wonderful riding area when I bailed.

Gary (wondering if the lazy Texans who drove to the top of the Hartman
area ever found there way back to there car.....they didn't have a map
either <(;0}) Pix to follow when I get back to Phoenix next weekend.

Wow that's spooky. I have almost the /exact same/ condition, except that my
back felt OK STARTING the ride yesterday, but then tweaked on me bigtime.
(I had also moved some furniture a few days before.) It feels pretty decent
while I'm on the bike, but hard hits and foot-downs hurt like [censored].

It's a bit better today so I'm hopeful for a group ride out at Noble next
Saturday. Hope yours improves quickly, Gary!

Old Crippled Bill

GeeDubb said:

I was supposed to do an epic ride with MattB and a group of Gunnyriders
but I managed to strain my back helping a friend move his [censored] off my
property. See what being nice does?????

Too bad you couldn't make it but I think it was the right decision. Next
time. I think it would have been pretty hard on you.

Quoted message said:

So I showed up anyway hoping my back would losen up but as luck would
have it I could hardly roll out of my truck. It was quite obvious to
Matt and I think he was thanking his lucky stars I opted not to go (I
would have been a boat anchor). I got directions to Hartman's Rocks
and proceeded to ride there. I can see why Matt rides these trails
because they seem to just keep going. It was funny that several people
I spoke with trying to find a trail map of the area kept telling me
it'd be hot???? 62F at 8:30 when I started and 3 hours later it was
only 84F. Come on down to Phoenix if you want to know what hot is.....

It was cooler than it's been lately (90's). But I'd still call that a
little hot. I'm a heat wuss, but I can take cold.

Quoted message said:

So luck is not my friend this week and I was unable to find a trail map
so I headed out blind (but GPS strapped to handlebar). I headed up T2.
If Matt rides his ss up this then I quit!

Jack's trail? Well don't quit on my account 😉.

Quoted message said:

I barely made the easy
parts (I refuse to blame my aching back...ok, it was my back) but I'm
not much of a technical rider and climbing granite faces isn't my
forte'.

On to T7 then T9 out to T17 into T14, T12, T? (rage course?) and so on.
I made only one mistake and that was taking T5. The climb up was ok
but the downhill section was loose, rocky and had my butt puckering
even walking down........

I'll have to look. I'm old school and use their names from before there
were numbers. Sounds like a good one!

Quoted message said:

I ended up putting in about 16 miles and some 3000+' of climbing. I
can hardly walk but somehow being on the bike wasn't so bad. I had
trouble standing on the bike so maneuvering was difficult. The
downhill bumps sent a sharp pain through my back but I was determined
to ride since I'd driven 2.5 hours to get to Gunnison.

Nice. Sounds like a good Hartman's outing.

Matt

"GeeDubb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I was supposed to do an epic ride with MattB and a group of Gunnyriders
but I managed to strain my back helping a friend move his [censored] off my
property. See what being nice does?????

So I showed up anyway hoping my back would losen up but as luck would
have it I could hardly roll out of my truck. It was quite obvious to
Matt and I think he was thanking his lucky stars I opted not to go (I
would have been a boat anchor). I got directions to Hartman's Rocks

Hartman's is definitely a blast. I've only had one ride there but I'll
always remember it.

Quoted message said:

and proceeded to ride there. I can see why Matt rides these trails
because they seem to just keep going. It was funny that several people
I spoke with trying to find a trail map of the area kept telling me
it'd be hot???? 62F at 8:30 when I started and 3 hours later it was
only 84F. Come on down to Phoenix if you want to know what hot is.....

Hahaha, it is all relative. I usually don't have a problem with heat but
this year anything above 82 or so and I feel like it is 100 out.

Quoted message said:

So luck is not my friend this week and I was unable to find a trail map
so I headed out blind (but GPS strapped to handlebar). I headed up T2.
If Matt rides his ss up this then I quit! I barely made the easy
parts (I refuse to blame my aching back...ok, it was my back) but I'm
not much of a technical rider and climbing granite faces isn't my
forte'.

Those SSers are all insane.

Take care of that back.

Greg

Those G-Spotters don't know hot. Then again, when it's consistently
the coldest place in CO in Winter, whoda thunk?

JD

I know it was the right decision not to go on the epic. Today we drove
over to Durango to property search and I was in so much pain I had to
quit driving. Riding in the passenger seat was even worse. It took
forever to get out of the car each time we stopped. I even got to see
the D&SNG hit a car on 9th. Some kid stopped too close to the track
and the train caught the front quarter panel. I bet the kid crapped
his pants. I think every law enforcement officer showed up to see what
had happened. I felt bad for the people on the train that got their
trip screwed up by a moron as the impact severed the front air brake
hose on the engine.

I didn't ride up Jack's trail. Trail 2 is to the South of Jacks and
has a lot of rock faces to climb. I did come down Jack's which was a
lot of fun since at that point my back was slightly more loose.

All in all it was great riding there and I'll be back.

Gary (so how was your ride? Pictures?)

OK, I'm not liking the google interface......

I stopped by our Dr. friends on the way back through Ridgway and got
some Vicoden, kind of a reverse house call......I've never experienced
this much pain with my back though I've had problems for some 15 years
now. I'm really [censored] because I have a bunch of work to do on the
place here in CO and can't now. Not to mention a solid week up here
and I can't ride.....

I guess if I have to rest this is the place to do it. Got a great view
of the North side of the Sneffels Range.

Gary

GeeDubb said:

I know it was the right decision not to go on the epic. Today we drove
over to Durango to property search and I was in so much pain I had to
quit driving. Riding in the passenger seat was even worse. It took
forever to get out of the car each time we stopped. I even got to see
the D&SNG hit a car on 9th. Some kid stopped too close to the track
and the train caught the front quarter panel. I bet the kid crapped
his pants. I think every law enforcement officer showed up to see what
had happened. I felt bad for the people on the train that got their
trip screwed up by a moron as the impact severed the front air brake
hose on the engine.

Damn that sucks about your back. Hope you can get it fixed up quickly!

And wow. Crazy you witnessed that train collision. Glad it wasn't worse.

Quoted message said:

I didn't ride up Jack's trail. Trail 2 is to the South of Jacks and
has a lot of rock faces to climb. I did come down Jack's which was a
lot of fun since at that point my back was slightly more loose.

Oh, that's The Notch. OK, I wouldn't ride the SS up that (very far
anyway). I have ridden the geared up it and seen other SSers do it, but
I think it makes a much better downhill trail.

On the other hand, Jack's is not a bad climb at all on the SS and I
don't care for it much going downhill. As a DH it's not technical but
you can't go fast. Not a winning combo IMO.

Quoted message said:

All in all it was great riding there and I'll be back.

It goes on and on. Plenty more to see and lots that isn't on that map.
I like spring and fall there the most. It's also fun XC skiing if
there's enough snow.

Quoted message said:

Gary (so how was your ride? Pictures?)

I'm keeping them secret. Sorry.

Matt

GeeDubb said:

OK, I'm not liking the google interface......

I stopped by our Dr. friends on the way back through Ridgway and got
some Vicoden, kind of a reverse house call......I've never experienced
this much pain with my back though I've had problems for some 15 years
now. I'm really [censored] because I have a bunch of work to do on the
place here in CO and can't now. Not to mention a solid week up here
and I can't ride.....

Boy, I wish I could give you what I found, Gary -- my back is almost all
better after being JACKED just two days ago! In addition to Tylenol and
lots of Ibuprofen and Naproxen -- and the hot tub and Biofreeze -- I do a
variation of a yoga pose that REALLY releases my spine. (You can actually
hear it -- sounds like a toneless xylophone: drrp, drrp.) Pretty simple,
really: lie on back and swing one bent leg over the other extended one, and
then just sort of "bicycle" the top leg slowly until you get some pops in
the hip and/or spine. (It can take a while to find the right position; it's
all in the hips.)

Also, Mark Hickey was kind enough to describe his "self adjustment"
method -- very similar but with a /press in/ of the bent knee instead of the
circular motion. I couldn't quite get it to pop my vertebra (helps to have
someone else push the leg), but it's a good stretch anyway.

I'm amazed because I first threw out my LEFT lower back over a year ago, and
nothing helped for months until I stumbled upon the yoga relief thing -- and
even then it still hurt pretty much all the time. On Saturday when I threw
out my RIGHT lower back, the pain was worse and I was sure would last a LONG
time. Other than some soreness and stiffness, the pain is gone!

Give these a try (or get cracked at a chiro if you can find one you trust);
hope you find relief soon...

Quoted message said:

I guess if I have to rest this is the place to do it. Got a great
view of the North side of the Sneffels Range.

Well, at least there's that 🙂

Bill "stiff 'n Sorni" S.

GeeDubb said:

I know it was the right decision not to go on the epic. Today we drove
over to Durango to property search and I was in so much pain I had to
quit driving. Riding in the passenger seat was even worse. It took
forever to get out of the car each time we stopped. I even got to see
the D&SNG hit a car on 9th. Some kid stopped too close to the track
and the train caught the front quarter panel. I bet the kid crapped
his pants. I think every law enforcement officer showed up to see what
had happened. I felt bad for the people on the train that got their
trip screwed up by a moron as the impact severed the front air brake
hose on the engine.
Gary (so how was your ride? Pictures?)

Sorry to hear about your back, not the time you want to be traveling.
I don't know how one can be hit by that train in town, I can easily hear
the whistle miles away, and it hardly moves faster the 10mph in town.

--
Craig Brossman, Durango Colorado

"Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation."
Edward R. Murrow

Craig Brossman said:

GeeDubb said:

I know it was the right decision not to go on the epic. Today we drove
over to Durango to property search and I was in so much pain I had to
quit driving. Riding in the passenger seat was even worse. It took
forever to get out of the car each time we stopped. I even got to see
the D&SNG hit a car on 9th. Some kid stopped too close to the track
and the train caught the front quarter panel. I bet the kid crapped
his pants. I think every law enforcement officer showed up to see what
had happened. I felt bad for the people on the train that got their
trip screwed up by a moron as the impact severed the front air brake
hose on the engine.
Gary (so how was your ride? Pictures?)

Sorry to hear about your back, not the time you want to be traveling.
I don't know how one can be hit by that train in town, I can easily hear
the whistle miles away, and it hardly moves faster the 10mph in town.

--
Craig Brossman, Durango Colorado

"Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation."
Edward R. Murrow

The train engineer is on the right hand side of the engine. The kid
was in the eastbound lane of 9th so the engineer wouldn't have seen
that the front of the car was hanging over the track. I wasn't
watching the interior of the engine but I thought there were two people
in it. If that's the case then the guy on the left wasn't paying
attention to the crossing, not that he is really supposed to but had he
been hanging out the left side of the engine I think they could have
stopped in time (jmo)since the train stopped in less than 15 feet and
that was with the hesitation of the engineer in stopping since I think
it surprised the [censored] out of him. (talk about your run on sentance..)

Back is feeling much better today. I'm actually working on paneling
the kids bedroom ceiling to hide the water damage. Still not up for a
ride but I figure the movement will help stretch things out.

Gary

"GeeDubb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I know it was the right decision not to go on the epic. Today we drove
over to Durango to property search and I was in so much pain I had to
quit driving. Riding in the passenger seat was even worse. It took
forever to get out of the car each time we stopped.

Man yer a NUT! Beware back pain like that, and riding with it - last thing
your back needs when it's like that is spinal compression, which it gets
[censored]-loads of when riding. you really don't wanna have it lasting...

Shaun aRe