First major crash of the season

[mudgirl]

I'm fairly new to mtn biking, with only about 3 months total of riding under my belt since I got my bike last summer. I've been going to the local "beginner" trails, but I was bored with them and asked a guy I've ridden with a few times if he'd take me to the local hot spot, Shindagin Hollow, near Ithaca. He said the trails were a "little" more technical than what I'd been doing, but nothing I couldn't handle.

Despite the fact that I got off to a "wonderful" start and fell in the creek less than 20 feet from the trail head in front of five guys (not enough momentum to get up the other side ), I was having a blast! There were tons of roots, but I was handling them; tons of rocks, but I was doing okay. Until we were going down a fairly gentle descent and a tree trunk reached out and stuck its roots in the spokes of my front wheel!!! I have no idea how fast I was going, but it wasn't obscenely fast, thank God!! The back end of my bike whipped around so the bike was facing in the total opposite direction I had come, and I went flying!

I don't think I got too hurt. I've got a scrape just below my elbow and big knot on the bone a little further toward my wrist, but so far it doesn't hurt too badly. The worst damage was to my front wheel. I ripped out one spoke altogether, bent another, and totally ruined the rim. It's so bent even after we disengaged the brakes all the way, the wheel was still rubbing the pads in spots. We were so far out in the woods I don't think we could've been further away from our cars!! I pushed the bike back to the car and met up with two other groups of mountain bikers on the way. I was so mad and jealous I had to cut my ride so short!! I dropped the bike off at my LBS so they could replace the front wheel & give it a look-over to make sure nothing else is broken on it. Ugh! Oh well, my bike is supposed to be ready for me to pick up after work tomorrow afternoon, so I am going AGAIN, and this time, I will beat those trails into submission!!!

Today is a picture perfect day; 70's, no humidity, clear sky, and we don't get many of these in central NY!!! So, I guess I'm gonna go for a spin on the road bike now.

[Veronica]

Anytime I do single track and I don't crash, I'm amazed.

Hope the bruises heal quickly and the trees stay put next time.

V.

[Tri Girl]

Bad tree...
Sorry you crashed, but glad to hear the bike fared worse than you. Scary, scary!!!

You get that bike and tame that trail- show it who's boss!

[fatbottomedgurl]

Great crash! Sorry about the bike casualty, but sounds like you aren't gonna take it laying down. You go!

[divingbiker]

We were so far out in the woods I don't think we could've been further away from our cars!! I pushed the bike back to the car and met up with two other groups of mountain bikers on the way. I was so mad and jealous I had to cut my ride so short!!

Sorry to hear that you had a crash, and glad to hear that you're not too injured.

But "cut your ride short"? I don't think so! When I crashed a few weeks ago, I'd only ridden a quarter mile! After driving a half hour to get there.

It's amazing to me how tough mountain bikes are made.

[mudgirl]

Thanks for the encouragment ladies. I needed some now that it's the next day and various body parts are hurting a little more! Ugh!

divingbiker, you're right; that would have been so much worse if I'd only been a quarter mile away. I did get about 45 minutes worth of riding (not sure of milage since I don't have a cyclometer), so I at least got that!

Unfortunately something came up for tonight, so I won't get another chance at those trails 'til Saturday or Sunday. But I'll be there.

[han-grrl]

I was asked an interesting question by the husbands of one of the women participants in our mtb clinic for women. His wife had fallen and had become nervous after that. That's ok, perfectly normal. So we were comparing "war wounds" when he asked me, "how do you just get back on?" Well, i had to think. And my answer was this: its a choice. I can either let my fall scare me, or i can learn from it, and let it make me stronger. Its a matter of taking a deep breath, and going for it. and no, its not easy.

i just thought it was kind of neat that he asked.

and i say, if you are going to crash, make sure its spectacular!

once i fell in the single track, a branch caught my wheel and literally, in milliseconds i was on the ground. it was funny because it was a "...what the??" kind of fall, because no one had seen the branch.

[DirtDiva]

Nothing like a good crash story. Glad to hear you came out of it okay, even if your poor front wheel didn't.

My last crash was completely stupid and self inflicted. I was bunnyhopping a rather small rock and was thick enough to be looking at the damn rock instead of where I was going. Landed quite skew-whiff and discovered that having a visor on one's helmet is a great way of preserving the skin on one's face (my elbow wasn't quite as lucky). Actually, pretty much all my offs this year have involved looking exactly where I don't want to end up and, well, ending up there. I smell a bad habit...