now, how did that happen?

"Monique Y. Mudama" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Riding a fairly easy, fun trail this evening ... somehow ended up on the
wrong line for a short, rocky climb and found myself waay to the
outside, riding in soft dirt (still on the trail, though; the dropoff
ensured that). Tried to pedal through it and --

Bam! Went from vertical to horizontal without even realizing it
was happening. I guess that dirt at the edge of the trail was looser
than I thought. My shin's a bit achy; I think it got tweaked when my
leg freed itself from the pedal.

Despite my novice nature, I don't fall terribly often. Dabs, sure,
but almost never do I or my bike hit the ground. This one took me
completely by surprise.

Oh, and this was a landmark ride! It's the first time I've ever been
stuck behind a male rider going slower than me on a descent.

--
monique

"Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live."
-- Mark Twain

I know exactly what you mean about being on the ground wondering how it
happened. I hit the ground more often than I would like.

Glad you are back riding again, I have enjoyed your posts.

Good job. Its part of the unwritten law of MTB'ing that you have to
fill your annual crash quota, if you do not you are due a really big
stack.
Steve.

"spademan o---[) *" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Good job. Its part of the unwritten law of MTB'ing that you have to
fill your annual crash quota, if you do not you are due a really big
stack.
Steve.

[censored], I'd better get some riding in then before it's too late!

',;~}~

Shaun aRe - 3rd Osteopath appt. tonight - looking forward to more spinal
crunching!

"Monique Y. Mudama" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Riding a fairly easy, fun trail this evening ... somehow ended up on the
wrong line for a short, rocky climb and found myself waay to the
outside, riding in soft dirt (still on the trail, though; the dropoff
ensured that). Tried to pedal through it and --

Bam! Went from vertical to horizontal without even realizing it
was happening. I guess that dirt at the edge of the trail was looser
than I thought. My shin's a bit achy; I think it got tweaked when my
leg freed itself from the pedal.

Despite my novice nature, I don't fall terribly often. Dabs, sure,
but almost never do I or my bike hit the ground. This one took me
completely by surprise.

Oh, and this was a landmark ride! It's the first time I've ever been
stuck behind a male rider going slower than me on a descent.

--
monique

"Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live."
-- Mark Twain

First, glad to hear your back, second, that you're riding again. Third, the
torque your bike is under on climbs can make it behave kinda squirrely if
you all of a sudden lose traction under power or something else crazy sneaks
up on you such as your rear wheel rolling up onto a rock that gets
dislodged, shoots west fast, as you careen(sp?) east, going over.

And shins take a terrible beating. I've got a new riding buddy, who's
really pretty good, but the doof almost always wears his shin pads. Can't
say I really blame him, ya know.

CDB

On 2005-06-22, Paladin penned:

Quoted message said:

First, glad to hear your back, second, that you're riding again.
Third, the torque your bike is under on climbs can make it behave
kinda squirrely if you all of a sudden lose traction under power or
something else crazy sneaks up on you such as your rear wheel
rolling up onto a rock that gets dislodged, shoots west fast, as you
careen(sp?) east, going over.

Yep, yep. Climbing can definitely be tricky, even without the steps I
don't yet even attempt. This was going from solid traction to loose
dirt several inches deep. If I'd realized how loose it was, well, I'm
sure I'd have tried harder to get back to a central line. Not quite
sure what I could have done to actually ride through it.

Quoted message said:

And shins take a terrible beating. I've got a new riding buddy,
who's really pretty good, but the doof almost always wears his shin
pads. Can't say I really blame him, ya know.

My shins haven't been too much of a problem; my calves seem to take
the beating. In this case, though, my shin never hit anything ...
somehow, though, the muscle got wrenched. I think it had something to
do with an involuntary release from the pedal, but I'm not exactly
sure. I took Aleve last night, and now it feels fine.

--
monique

"Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live."
-- Mark Twain

"Monique Y. Mudama" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Riding a fairly easy, fun trail this evening ... somehow ended up on the
wrong line for a short, rocky climb and found myself waay to the
outside, riding in soft dirt (still on the trail, though; the dropoff
ensured that). Tried to pedal through it and --

Bam! Went from vertical to horizontal without even realizing it
was happening. I guess that dirt at the edge of the trail was looser
than I thought. My shin's a bit achy; I think it got tweaked when my
leg freed itself from the pedal.

Despite my novice nature, I don't fall terribly often. Dabs, sure,
but almost never do I or my bike hit the ground. This one took me
completely by surprise.

Oh, and this was a landmark ride! It's the first time I've ever been
stuck behind a male rider going slower than me on a descent.

Though I guess that would explain why he going slower, wouldn't it?

;-)

I've had an interesting trial section this year. It is graded 1 black
diamond - whateverthehell that means.

Anyways the section in question cuts diagonally across a slope of long
grass/small bush. I've taken the trail in years past without too much
trouble. First time this year though I seemed to brake inappropriately on a
steeper and rougher spot and complete a... ummmmm... sudden unintentional
dismount.

It was probably the best SUD I've ever made. I saw it coming and pretty
much decided how to and where I wanted on the soft grass with out so much as
a scratch, bruise, or even a sore spot. I thought at the time that maybe I
was just not up to the challenge that day.

Fast forward to the next time I ride the trail and I am cautious
remembering my last time. I get to that section and I have to go feet down
to avoid doing another dismount. I am really surprised as this trail never
gave me these conniptions in past years. I speculate the trail must have
eroded somewhat changing its' characteristics.

Writing about it I'm thinking I give it another run.

--
'The wisest of the wise may err.'
-aeschylus

On 2005-06-22, Dean A. Stepper penned:

Quoted message said:

I know exactly what you mean about being on the ground wondering how
it happened. I hit the ground more often than I would like.

I'm actually surprised at how little I've fallen. Of course, hitting
the ground even once is more often than I'd like =P

Quoted message said:

Glad you are back riding again, I have enjoyed your posts.

Thanks!

--
monique

"Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live."
-- Mark Twain

On 2005-06-22, lowkey penned:

Quoted message said:

"Monique Y. Mudama" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Despite my novice nature, I don't fall terribly often. Dabs, sure,
but almost never do I or my bike hit the ground. This one took me
completely by surprise.

Oh, and this was a landmark ride! It's the first time I've ever
been stuck behind a male rider going slower than me on a descent.

Though I guess that would explain why he going slower, wouldn't it?

;-)

Hrrm? The fall was on a completely different section of the trail.
This guy hadn't even seen me at that point.

Quoted message said:

Fast forward to the next time I ride the trail and I am cautious
remembering my last time. I get to that section and I have to go
feet down to avoid doing another dismount. I am really surprised as
this trail never gave me these conniptions in past years. I
speculate the trail must have eroded somewhat changing its'
characteristics.

Possibly. If you're being cautious because of that one mishap,
though, you are probably riding it more slowly than you used to, and
it's just easier for things to go wrong when you're going slow.

Quoted message said:

Writing about it I'm thinking I give it another run.

Definitely do so! I'm a big believer in keeping at a tough section
until I get it right; if I don't do that, then the next time I'm at
that section, I freak out even worse.

--
monique

"Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live."
-- Mark Twain

On 2005-06-22, spademan o---[) * penned:

Quoted message said:

Good job. Its part of the unwritten law of MTB'ing that you have to
fill your annual crash quota, if you do not you are due a really big
stack.
Steve.

I didn't know that, but now I'll attempt to engineer a minor
prophylactic fall every so often.

--
monique

"Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live."
-- Mark Twain

On 2005-06-22, Shaun aRe penned:

Quoted message said:

Shaun aRe - 3rd Osteopath appt. tonight - looking forward to more
spinal crunching!

*crunchcrunchcrunch*

Here's a crazy question -- have you tried yoga?

My aunt does some yoga every morning, so while I was visiting I joined
her. I can honestly say that after less than a week of daily yoga
practice -- we're talking 15-30 minutes here -- my entire body
functions much better. I'm absolutely amazed at the fluidity of my
joints in martial arts practice. My chiro also heartily endorses the
yoga, saying I'll be amazed at the results.

--
monique

"Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live."
-- Mark Twain

"Monique Y. Mudama" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On 2005-06-22, Shaun aRe penned:

Quoted message said:

Shaun aRe - 3rd Osteopath appt. tonight - looking forward to more
spinal crunching!

*crunchcrunchcrunch*

YUP! And again, worked wonders. In fact, if my lower back gets any looser
and more swingy, I'll be walking like a woman soon enough, heheheh...

Quoted message said:

Here's a crazy question -- have you tried yoga?

Nope, but I do plenty of stretching.

Quoted message said:

My aunt does some yoga every morning, so while I was visiting I joined
her. I can honestly say that after less than a week of daily yoga
practice -- we're talking 15-30 minutes here -- my entire body
functions much better. I'm absolutely amazed at the fluidity of my
joints in martial arts practice. My chiro also heartily endorses the
yoga, saying I'll be amazed at the results.

Glad to hear it!

Seems my problems stem from several quite bad physical traumas, one being a
nasty MC accident, another being beaten around the head severely causing
upper spine/neck problems, which were likely further exacerbated when I
tried to pull a wheelie drop of about 2 1/2 feet but the back wheel hit a
lump, got kicked up, seeing me face plant with the bike and my body weighing
down on said face when I landed - busted my nose wide open, got concussion,
smashed the front of my helmet, and nearly broke my damned neck (in fact
that was just after I first started posting here).

There's no permanent damage - I've been told I'm lucky, heheheh... but yeah,
once it's all freed up again, and the rotated vertebrae settle back into
place, I should be good as new (or better, heheheh...) - I already feel
fantastic compared to how I did just a month ago.

Cheers!

Shaun aRe

"Monique Y. Mudama" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On 2005-06-22, lowkey penned:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Fast forward to the next time I ride the trail and I am cautious
remembering my last time. I get to that section and I have to go
feet down to avoid doing another dismount. I am really surprised as
this trail never gave me these conniptions in past years. I
speculate the trail must have eroded somewhat changing its'
characteristics.

Possibly. If you're being cautious because of that one mishap,
though, you are probably riding it more slowly than you used to, and
it's just easier for things to go wrong when you're going slow.

Quoted message said:

Writing about it I'm thinking I give it another run.

Definitely do so! I'm a big believer in keeping at a tough section
until I get it right; if I don't do that, then the next time I'm at
that section, I freak out even worse.

I think I've got it figured out. First there are a couple spots in the
track before reaching THAT SPOT that seem to be small pools of sandy soil -
almost like beach sand. That probably caused a lack of focus on what was
ahead because of what I was dealing with at the time.

Then the spot itself on the trail through long grass has a good-sized bush
[it's gotta be 2+ metres] that has sprouted up on the down slope [left] side
of the trail. If you follow the track you would have to go right through the
sprawl of the bush's branches, so the natural tendency is to swing right.

The problem is that invisible under bush and the long grass the track is
somewhat sharp edged so trying to climb out, blind and up-hill, well is not
easy. You really have to slow down.

It's amazing how much a bush can grow from one season to the next.

--
'War spares not the brave but the cowardly'
-anacreon

On 2005-06-23, Shaun aRe penned:

Quoted message said:

Seems my problems stem from several quite bad physical traumas, one
being a nasty MC accident, another being beaten around the head
severely causing upper spine/neck problems, which were likely
further exacerbated when I tried to pull a wheelie drop of about 2
1/2 feet but the back wheel hit a lump, got kicked up, seeing me
face plant with the bike and my body weighing down on said face when
I landed - busted my nose wide open, got concussion, smashed the
front of my helmet, and nearly broke my damned neck (in fact that
was just after I first started posting here).

Yikes.

--
monique

"Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live."
-- Mark Twain

"Monique Y. Mudama" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On 2005-06-23, Shaun aRe penned:

Quoted message said:

Seems my problems stem from several quite bad physical traumas, one
being a nasty MC accident, another being beaten around the head
severely causing upper spine/neck problems, which were likely
further exacerbated when I tried to pull a wheelie drop of about 2
1/2 feet but the back wheel hit a lump, got kicked up, seeing me
face plant with the bike and my body weighing down on said face when
I landed - busted my nose wide open, got concussion, smashed the
front of my helmet, and nearly broke my damned neck (in fact that
was just after I first started posting here).

Yikes.

No [censored]! It was a long time before I tried a wheelie drop again LOL!

Yeah, after I'd told all the stories I could recall to the Osteo (he asked,
in order to better treat), I said 'So, you think these things did this to my
back then?' He just laughed and said 'Oh yeah, in fact, with al of that, I'm
surprised your spine isn't totalled!' - Contrary to appearances, I guess I
must be lucky then ',;~}~

Shaun aRe
--
Life is the dream you wake up to.