MTB ride with a hamfisted ending

[luv2climb]

Yesterday I rode another one of my old favorites, the Salmon Falls Trail in El Dorado County, CA. This was only my second real mtb ride in 15 years. The first one was in Auburn last weekend.

This trail seemed more difficult than the ones I did in Auburn, due to how technical it is. I intended to climb the 2 mile long Flagstaff Hill, but I overshot the trail leading to it.

On the way out I saw people walking and resting on a climb, so I knew this would be a good climb on the way back. Sure enough, it made me live up to my username! I made it all the way up without walking or resting. I did pick a wrong line and stall out once, but I restarted and continued on.

I saw another cyclist with a GoPro on his helmet. He was riding with a friend. They noticed my chest-mounted GoPro and that sparked a good conversation. One of the guys was riding a hybrid with 700x35c tires!

On the way back I saw a lot of dog walkers and petted a few dogs. Then the hamfist of the day occurred when I attempted to descend the most ridiculously technical section of trail I've ever encountered. It was a slow-speed crash too. Yes, it was caught on video!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/149250811

Video is 100% natural sound, so my standard heavy breathing on climbs audio warning applies!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbdq1zN7Bz4

Sign I should have heeded, at least on the descent. I had no problem cleaning this climb, but the descent was another story!

caution sign on Salmon Falls Trail technical section by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

The section I crashed on

extremely technical section of Salmon Falls Trail by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

View of American River from near the above technical section

view of American River from Salmon Falls Trail by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

[tealtreak]

awesome looking trail! So different (open looking) to the dark, squish between trees I have been on here in VA.........Thanks for sharing and I am SO glad you fell to the left! lol (: (I am comfortable joking about wrecks cuz I have had many.............(: ! )

[goldfinch]

Too scary for me!

[luv2climb]

awesome looking trail! So different (open looking) to the dark, squish between trees I have been on here in VA.........Thanks for sharing and I am SO glad you fell to the left! lol (: (I am comfortable joking about wrecks cuz I have had many.............(: ! )

You and me both! I would have done everything in my power to make sure my weight shifted to the left if I felt like I was falling the wrong way.

Lesson learned. The guy near the end of the video who cleaned that section shows us how it's done! I need to study his technique, or walk that section. I honestly can't remember if I used to ride that or walk it in the old days.

[luv2climb]

Here's some screen captures from the helmet-mounted ContourHD raw video files.

Climb just above the rocky section that I crashed on. This is on the way out.

climb just above Salmon Falls 'super gnarly' section by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Descent after the above climb

descent just past Salmon Falls 'super gnarly' section by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Fallen tree over the trail (the 'low bridge' section of the video)

fallen tree over Salmon Falls Trail by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Short steep technical section that caused some good grunting in the video when I cleaned it

short steep technical section on Salmon Falls Trail by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Very technical section that caused me to stall out and restart

Salmon Falls Trail technical section by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Bottom of steep sufferfest climb you see in the video. This is the one I saw people walking and resting on while I was descending it earlier in the ride.

bottom of Salmon Falls Trail steep climb, near Flagstaff Hill by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Middle of climb

middle of Salmon Falls Trail steep climb near Flagstaff Hill by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Tree roots on the above climb. Picked the wrong line here, stalled, and restarted.

Salmon Falls Trail tree root section on steep climb near Flagstaff Hill by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Steepest part of the above climb

steepest part of Salmon Falls Trail climb near Flagstaff Hill by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Short steep technical section right after the "CAUTION WALK YOUR BIKE NEXT 100 YARDS" sign

short steep technical section on Salmon Falls Trail after warning sign by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

"Super gnarly" section right before I crashed

riding down Salmon Falls 'super gnarly' section right before crashing by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

[SadieKate]

People have died on that "caution section". I've personally seen people go over the edge - and their bikes go farther.

It's a great trail and 99% is pretty tame, but that first stretch should not be underestimated.

There're also big kitties sitting in the perfectly placed trees above the trail cuts. Not a place to ride alone.

Otherwise, it's a gorgeous trail. Spent a lot of time on it.

[luv2climb]

I've never heard of a mountain lion attack on Salmon Falls. A woman runner was killed by one near Cool back in 1994 though.

I've never heard of the deaths on that gnarly section either. Not saying they didn't happen, but I posted this same ride report on other forums and nobody mentioned deaths or mountain lions.

I can't live my life worrying about what may happen. I don't ride recklessly and I was careful to avoid getting too close to the edge. The video makes things look scarier than they reallly are.

I don't have a choice but to ride alone. None of my friends are into mountain biking. I'd rather take my chances by riding alone and be happy and healthy than be forced to limit my riding to paved roads, which IMHO are more dangerous than mountain bike trails due to moronic drivers who are speeding and/or distracted or don't care about my safety and wish they could run me down.

Don't get me wrong. I still love road cycling and will continue to do it, but there are certain roads I will no longer ride on unless it's very early in the morning when the dopes are still sleeping. Salmon Falls Road is one of them, thanks to motorist stupidity.