Lindsay and I scheduled Mile's baptism on August 10 as Eric, Olivia, and Jacob were planning to be home from New Jersey that weekend few days following. I had scheduled my second triathlon the following weekend in Polson. While I was not officially tapering for this race I was taking it a little light considering I had just run the Elkhorn Hurl on August 3rd and my legs were still pretty sore and tired. Normally on Tuesday's I do a mountain bike ride with coworkers but had decided to skip it as I didn't want to kill my legs or worse, crash and not be able to compete in the Polson Triathlon. Well, one thing led to another and suddenly I had plans to ride with Eric and his brother-in-law Chad on Wednesday evening. Chad, who was home from Kurguzstan, wanted to do some mountain biking and Eric and I were game. Chad and Eric borrowed Eric's parents mountain bikes. To call these mountain bikes by today's standards was a stretch, but they had wheels and pedals so off we went. Now I'm not sure what vintage of bike these were, but they had no suspension and were in pretty rough shape. I am amazed now, that the tubes even held air.
Chad and Eric really wanted to ride the Helena Ridge Trail but due to time constraints we got ferried to the trail head. Chad and Eric are both in better shape than I am and I immediately felt the burn in my legs, but I eventually settled into a zone and climbed in front of them to the saddle. At the top we took a quick break and then proceeded down the trail. After a short distance I realized I left my backpack unzipped so stopped to close it up. Chad went scooting by and I jumped in behind him. While following Chad it became quickly apparent that his back wheel was badly out of true. In fact it looked like it had a flat spot in the rim and was rubbing badly on the brake pads. We stopped again to check it out and sure enough the rim was so bent that the tire was rubbing on the brake pads. The tire, which was in bad shape to begin with now had a big hole in the side where the pads had been rubbing and was just waiting to blow out. To prevent further damage we disconnected Chad's back brakes. After that, Chad took it really easy and was able to nurse that bike along the entire ridge trail and back to Eric's parents without any blowouts. I still find that amazing.
With Chad going slow due to tire issues, and Eric going slow due to lack of mountain biking experience we were moving pretty slowly. In fact so slowly, that Eric figured so far we were going much slower than he could have run the trail. Meanwhile I would go a short distance and then stop and wait for them to catch up. I didn't want to get too far ahead in case Chad blew a tire and needed my pump to put a new tube in. Eventually we made it to the top of Dump Gulch, which we decided to ride out and avoid more rocky areas that would increase the likelihood of a blowout. Having biked Dump Gulch a lot, I was ready to open it up and ride out fast knowing that the trail was smooth and fast without a risk of wrecking. With that I dropped in and laid off the brakes. The wind was whistling through my helmet and I was feeling good. Well about halfway down I rounded a bend in the trees to see a biker making her way up the trail. The rules of the trail are to always yield to uphill riders, so I started to grab my breaks when I saw a sloped embankment on my right that was perfect for swooping up and around the uphill cyclist. Letting go of the brakes I swooped up the embankment. Then all hell broke loose. My handle bars were yanked right out of my hands and I found myself doing the flying squirrel through the air. At the last second I tucked my left arm and head hoping to lessen the impending blow. I am not sure what exactly happened at that point, but I honestly think I bounced off the ground hard enough that I got my feet back under me and ran a dozen or so yards down the trail. The gal whom I passed briefly turned and asked if I was alright to which I replied a little too enthusiastically "YEP"! Off she went. In the few minutes it took for Eric and Chad to arrive I assessed the damage. My shoulder was pretty sore and skinned up badly. My helmet was broken, and my thigh was scraped up......not too bad. My bike appeared to be okay too. Then I went in search of the reason why I crashed. Well the embankment had one little pine tree growing that had no pine needles until six or so feet of the ground. My bar ends (outdated I know) caught that tree and effectively ripped the bike out from underneath me. When Chad and Eric arrived we stepped off the distance from the tree to my impact and it was around 12-14 feet. Oh how I wish I had video of that!
Well I brushed off as much dirt as I could and we rode back to Eric's parents where I proceeded to tell war stories of the flying squirrel. Unfortunately, my shoulder was really starting to hurt and I was pretty upset with myself for wrecking. I really wanted to do the Polson Triathlon and my shoulder was not feeling too good.
Chad and Eric really wanted to ride the Helena Ridge Trail but due to time constraints we got ferried to the trail head. Chad and Eric are both in better shape than I am and I immediately felt the burn in my legs, but I eventually settled into a zone and climbed in front of them to the saddle. At the top we took a quick break and then proceeded down the trail. After a short distance I realized I left my backpack unzipped so stopped to close it up. Chad went scooting by and I jumped in behind him. While following Chad it became quickly apparent that his back wheel was badly out of true. In fact it looked like it had a flat spot in the rim and was rubbing badly on the brake pads. We stopped again to check it out and sure enough the rim was so bent that the tire was rubbing on the brake pads. The tire, which was in bad shape to begin with now had a big hole in the side where the pads had been rubbing and was just waiting to blow out. To prevent further damage we disconnected Chad's back brakes. After that, Chad took it really easy and was able to nurse that bike along the entire ridge trail and back to Eric's parents without any blowouts. I still find that amazing.
With Chad going slow due to tire issues, and Eric going slow due to lack of mountain biking experience we were moving pretty slowly. In fact so slowly, that Eric figured so far we were going much slower than he could have run the trail. Meanwhile I would go a short distance and then stop and wait for them to catch up. I didn't want to get too far ahead in case Chad blew a tire and needed my pump to put a new tube in. Eventually we made it to the top of Dump Gulch, which we decided to ride out and avoid more rocky areas that would increase the likelihood of a blowout. Having biked Dump Gulch a lot, I was ready to open it up and ride out fast knowing that the trail was smooth and fast without a risk of wrecking. With that I dropped in and laid off the brakes. The wind was whistling through my helmet and I was feeling good. Well about halfway down I rounded a bend in the trees to see a biker making her way up the trail. The rules of the trail are to always yield to uphill riders, so I started to grab my breaks when I saw a sloped embankment on my right that was perfect for swooping up and around the uphill cyclist. Letting go of the brakes I swooped up the embankment. Then all hell broke loose. My handle bars were yanked right out of my hands and I found myself doing the flying squirrel through the air. At the last second I tucked my left arm and head hoping to lessen the impending blow. I am not sure what exactly happened at that point, but I honestly think I bounced off the ground hard enough that I got my feet back under me and ran a dozen or so yards down the trail. The gal whom I passed briefly turned and asked if I was alright to which I replied a little too enthusiastically "YEP"! Off she went. In the few minutes it took for Eric and Chad to arrive I assessed the damage. My shoulder was pretty sore and skinned up badly. My helmet was broken, and my thigh was scraped up......not too bad. My bike appeared to be okay too. Then I went in search of the reason why I crashed. Well the embankment had one little pine tree growing that had no pine needles until six or so feet of the ground. My bar ends (outdated I know) caught that tree and effectively ripped the bike out from underneath me. When Chad and Eric arrived we stepped off the distance from the tree to my impact and it was around 12-14 feet. Oh how I wish I had video of that!
Well I brushed off as much dirt as I could and we rode back to Eric's parents where I proceeded to tell war stories of the flying squirrel. Unfortunately, my shoulder was really starting to hurt and I was pretty upset with myself for wrecking. I really wanted to do the Polson Triathlon and my shoulder was not feeling too good.