Wake-up Call

Last Wednesday I did what I have been doing for the last three years during the riding season, leaving work an hour early and hitting the mountain bike trails. I hit one of my favorite local mtb trails, Mt Falcon. Mt. Falcon is located near Morrison, Colorado and the trial is a difficult one. The first 3 miles or so are steep and hard, but one thing I look for in a ride is a good leg workout. After one gets up to the first picnic table, the hardest part is over. I always head over to the Parmalee Trail, which is another mile or so. Then it takes about another half hour to traverse that trail and connect back to Castle Trail which leads back to the parking lot.
If going uphill is the work, heading down is the payoff. I have probably ridden down this trail ten or so times. But there is always an element of danger, from either the speed or the many rock gardens that pepper Castle Trail. This day I almost endo-ed during one rocky section, but somehow dodged that rocky bullet. Later on, I wasn’t so lucky. I was going maybe, no maybes about it, going too fast and around a corner was an uphill rider. Uphill riders get the right-of-way, so I tried to avoid crashing into him. But for some unknown reason, I ended up heading straight towards him. My instincts must have led me to squeeze the brakes, including the front brake. That reaction caused my front wheel to slide out, right in front of this guy. What followed next is hard to remember. All I know is my forehead hit the ground. I was wearing a helmet, which I always do when riding downhill and the front of it took most of the impact. It was a hard hit and I ended up with dirt and gravel in my helmet and mouth. As I stood up, the other rider asked me a series of questions; was I alright? Didn’t I see him? Was I alright? I mumbled something to the effect that I was and glad I didn’t run into him and also said that I just ruined a brand new bike helmet. He rode off and after shaking the dirt out of my helmet and forehead, and noticing the bleeding left knee, continued on.
The scary parts of this crash were that it happened so fast, it seemed very violent, especially the part where my upper face planted into the ground and that I wasn’t even sure if my right foot released from the clip-less pedal ( I should have adjusted the shoe before heading down). My neck has been hurting since that day, even after my chiropractor adjusted me yesterday. It doesn’t hurt real badly, just enough to make me realize that it could have been worse. I plan on riding again next Wednesday, but I will definitely be going slower on the next descent. And I am very thankful the Lord protected me during this