Every have a bad day? (mountain biking)

Eek Terry, what a nightmare- horse poop and bruises - that's a rotten combination. Hope the bruises go down quickly.

I agree - it sometimes it's nice just to be checked up on. This is defintily something girls tend to be better at that boys. I think girls are better at imagining how they might feel in the same situation and offer words of encouragement.

Not doing the boys down at all, bless them, but unless they can see a physical problem, that they could maybe offer a practical solution to, I think they find it harder to understand. If you're not in some kind of physical difficulty then why would you're riding be affected.

This totally isn't a dig at the guys , I know a lot of us have very supportive hubby's ect - more of a insight into how they're brains work and why they sometimes act like they do.

Or am I just giving them an excuse to ride off and leave us behind...... ;)

eek Terry, how awful. the horse thing angers me to no end. people can be so inconsiderate to others.

as for the nasty bruise on your leg, won't it be cool when you go to work and people ask you how your weekend was, and instead of the typical "i went shopping, nails done, read cosmo mag" that others do on the weekends, you can tell them you did the REAL girly thing. and have a gorgeous bruise to show for it. the guys in the office will probably be more impressed than the girls. (no i am not trying to stereotype here).

HAIL TO THE TIARA!!! Liz is most definitely right that it fixes a sad head.

Thanks for all the support, ladies. Let me clear up a couple things. The horses were behind me about 10-12, up to 20 ft. The riders were tailgating and making myself/the horses miserable. The one rider spoke to her horse and said, "Get used to it. You're going to see a lot of them", meaning bike riders; then, she just went back to talking to her friend. I actually flagged them to go ahead and the one said, no, that they were fine behind me. Just blantent!
Now, I will say other horse folks we met up with that day were great and we all thanked one another for "sharing" the trails...

The guys...I'm not mad at them for not coming back in as much as they are just guys who are into their "ride" just like we all are...
but, us girls do check up on one another a lot better. And I agree that their brain-logic does not registrar the same as ours

However, to their credit, one ride this spring, a wind picked me up and moved me a foot to the side of a trail that had a drop of about 2 stories (it was a slope and I would have slided/rolled) They saw what happened and said, "We have to turn back because the wind will carry you off like Dorthy". They insisted on going back even though I thought I was OK to keep riding/not scared...guys.

So, Irulan the hubbie was concerned with the ski pole because, of course, you could take care of yourself...sigh...at least he got some instant feedback from an outside oberver. Guys...
Terry

I can see where horses going the same direction as you could be a sticky situation if you aren't going faster than them!!

RE: what I said about DH... that was a long time ago, and we've both grown up a lot. I think he's perfect now. :)


One time I was on a ride in British Columbia that **I** picked that turned out to be way over my head. I was really losing it, sat down in the trail and cried and the worst thing was I couldln't blame it on anyone else because I had picked the ride!

Irulan

Thanks you guys! You made me feel so much better about myself and helped me get through the week. I stayed off the mountain bike this week and concentrated on road riding, but tomorrow is Saturday and I am going to try again. Terry I love the rhinestones on the helmet!! My husband gave me a tiara about a year ago when I won an award at work (I am the library Goddess) and now I wear it when I am having a bad day at work, especially when I am chairing an especially difficult meting. It never occurred to me to wear it on the mountain bike!!! I may just have to take a picture and share it with you guys!
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE—NO BAD RIDES!
Tablerock

Go for the picture! I really enjoy seeing the different pictures people post.

Veronica

*sob* I can honestly say that yesterday took the cake. First, I should say that Kpicha is incredibly nice and understanding. I met her for a ride yesterday, and 20 minutes into our warmup lap I misjudged a log obstacle and endo'ed quite spectacularly. I landed hard on my right arm and really jammed it, so I had to quit and go home.

This morning the rest of my body caught up with my arm and now I feel like I've been hit by a truck! It looks like I'll be off my bike for at least a week. Wah!

But, Kpicha was really sweet about everything (especially considering how far she'd driven to meet me for this ride) and I look forward to meeting her for another ride, in which I promise not to ruin all the fun.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Adrien
I misjudged a log obstacle and endo'ed quite spectacularly. I landed hard on my right arm and really jammed it, so I had to quit and go home.

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haha, done that a few times. Every one tells me I should learn to fall correctly... evidently those with a martial arts background understand tuck and roll a whole lot better than I do!

I've often thought that getting into the mat room at the HS with some one to teach a few tricks on how to fall and tuck would be a good thing...

Irulan

Hey Adrien,

I sure hope you're feeling better today! That didn't look like fun at all! Although, it was a little bit funny looking when I looked up and saw you almost completely perpendicular to the ground.:eek:
So, I guess next time out, it'll be my turn :(

As far as the duck, tuck and roll thing goes, how in the world are you supposed to roll with a bike still attached to your feet?! Imagine how funny looking that would be!

Anyway, I can't imagine trying to unclip while at the same time, flipping over a log:eek: That whole duck, tuck and roll thing sounds like a good plan, provided that you're not clipped in anymore ;)

Cheers,
Kristina

Reminds me of an article Bicycling Magazine printed a few years ago on how to avoid an endo. You were supposed to:
1) realize it was coming
2) unclip
3) propel yourself over the handlebars like on a gym pommel horse (!!)
4) land on your feet but away from your out of control bike
5) Then, maybe, throw your arms in the air exultantly and wait for the judges score. (OK, I made this part up.)

They even had pictures. It seemed ridiculous to me, but they were serious.

aka "Kim"

LOL! Yeah, I remember seeing that and one final step; as you land on your feet, you quickly spin around to catch your bike. Woo-hoo, Wonder-woman! :D

Quote:

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Reminds me of an article Bicycling Magazine printed a few years ago on how to avoid an endo. You were supposed to:
1) realize it was coming
2) unclip
3) propel yourself over the handlebars like on a gym pommel horse (!!)
4) land on your feet but away from your out of control bike
5) Then, maybe, throw your arms in the air exultantly and wait for the judges score. (OK, I made this part up.)

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Ha! If only I'd remembered about the snappy dismount! This was my first-ever endo, so I'm not sure I scored very well. What do you think Kpicha, it was at least a 6.5, wouldn't you say? My favorite part was the sensation of my chin gently bouncing off the ground. Hee. I should get extra points for that.

Your posts made me chuckle....when I endo my first (conscious) thought is always "where's the BIKE???!!!". I now try to put my feet up in the air to "catch" the bike, rather than have it come down <keeerrrrplunk> on my head. Any endo survived without a trip to the ER is a good endo IMHO.

Oh my god, Adrian, an endo...geez. Glad you're OK. Get out the ice and rest! Oweiiii!

How's the helmet and bike? Did you check your helmet for structural or hairline fractures? My mechanic told me to always check the helmet after a fall and to buy a new one ASAP if any structure problems result from a fall. Anyone else have any input on this information?

As to falling and rolling, my experience has been that serious falls come so fast that you don't even KNOW you've taken the dive until you've all ready landed. As to unclipping, my pedals automatically come unclipped upon hard impact. My understanding is that they are supposed to do this, sort of like the airbag going off. My shoes have unclipped twice during hard falls. I don't worry about staying clipped-in if I hit a surface that cause a hard fall...I know the shoes/pedals work.

Also, if I know I'm going to fall well, MAYBE one foot makes it out but that still doesn't mean I'm not going to come up bruised, ect because I broke the fall. Also, my body tends to wait a day or so before it decides to flair up in pain from a fall. It's always been my understanding that when people have minor car fender-benders that the pain from the car jolting doesn't come on for a few days, so, this makes sense if you look at the fact that riding is exceleration and hitting a soild object that cause a fall cause the body to go into a "shock" mode for a day or so.

I had a pretty good run on Saturday (Trail #100), but we started late. By 10:30, the Phoenix sun was in it's glory, so we didn't finish the entire loop...even the dogs we passed were dragging and beat from the early heat. Luck for us, the sun is now rising at 5:30 and it's already in the high 60's at that time. Time to go north...
BTW, there's a great MB race in the Prescott area this weekend. It is on a fantastic trail called the Great Basin Loops. Loop'py doop, boulders that your pedals won't fit through, and creeks that criss-cross the trail making it one heck of a ride.
Cosmic Ray, "the 1/2 oracle 1/2 sage" of AZ trails to bike/hike, gives it his primo stamp of approval...just watch out for trees that grab your derailers and horse manure. :D
Terry