Over the Bars

On Friday we all went to ride at the Bar H Ranch... Sean, Nina, Jon, Noelle, Tom, Holley, Erich, David and Jimmy. The trip was A-mazing! When we got there we all grabbed our bikes and hit the trails.

The first trail was a short and easy one that was only 2-3 miles just to get warmed up. After that we went to the trail with the hardest climb and longest downhills. We were cruising along... all at different paces of course... when I went the wrong way (aka I was too far behind the fast crowd to see where they had gone)! I went down the trail and immediately ran into the road and went both ways calling for people when I finally realized that they had turned a little ways back.

I then waited for the last few people to make sure that the people in the back knew where to go and then I took off again. I managed to get up the climb without too much trouble and reached the top where a crowd was waiting for the rest of us.

After we all arrived Nina told me to grab my bike and then she took off up the trail. I jumped on to follow. Erich was right behind me and I warned him that I frequently fall and for his sake he should hang back a little! As we road along Jimmy came flying past all of us and then Erich passed me so that he could catch Jimmy. At this point Erich was between Nina and I.

Nina rounded a corner and was not in sight. I saw Erich stand up and knew that a downhill was coming up. As I got closer I saw what was soon to be my fate... a 15 foot downhill with HUGE rocks and no place to go but over them. The sizes of the rocks ranged from large softballs to footballs.

As soon as I hit the rocks I knew that I was in way over my head.

I saw the ground come toward me like an old friend... only this time my friend was a lot harder than I it had been in the past. I went over the handlebars with a mighty force and landed on me hands first. After I had skidded a foot or two I rolled onto my right side wrenching my knee in the process and landed on my side after I had hit my back.

I went too stand up and grab my bike as I am accustomed to doing on a regular basis when I realized that things were not as dandy as they usually were. Dave came running to my side because he was behind me and saw the whole thing. We moved off the trail and started to inspect the damage. "Is that a bone?" asked Dave in reference to a huge lump that was now protruding out the side of my elbow. I extended my arm and pulled it in several time "nope... guess not" I replied!

My hands hurt like crazy and my knee was killing me... then the adrenaline kicked in! I looked down the hill and realized that Nina ate it at the bottom of the same hill when she lost her concentration trying to tell me to be careful and go slow (so much for that).

After a few minutes I hopped back on my bike and kept going. Everyone else hung around for awhile so I was by myself. Although I could feel pain it was not enough for me to be really concerned except that I was having a really hard time gripping the handlebars. I ate it 2 more times after that on easy sections just because I was timid and couldn't grip very well. When I got to the bottom of a big hill Jimmy and Erich had stopped to wait for everyone and they were a little ways off the trail.

Jimmy figured out that I was not doing too well so we slowly went back to the trail head. Later, Jimmy asked why my right wrist looked so funny. With my palm up, my hand was cocked to the inside by about 3-4 inches. It felt natural that way and looked really weird. I thought that my left thumb was broken because it hurt so much.

Noelle and I stayed at the truck for the rest of the time while everyone else went off to ride all the other trails... I was so jealous I could not stand it!

When we got home I went to the ER and stayed there for 5 hours with Dad. My wrist is in a splint and we don't know if it is broken. I will have more x-rays done by an orthopedist this week. My knee had, and has, a lot of fluid on it and was really sore... another referral to the orthopedist. My right thumb is sprained and black and blue but functional. The rest is just scratches and bruises!

My first REAL mountain biking crash! I am definitely hardcore now!!!!