My usual Sunday 6am Mahlon ride.

Stocky

Member
This is going to be a wear your helmet, believe in Karma and trust your initial instincts story.

I'm running late yesterday, I don't get out of my house until 5:15am and I'm headed out of the driveway when my buddy down the street calls and say Bob is coming ( name changed to protect the stupid) . Could I bring my extra pedals for him to use on the spare ( piece of crap) bike( also my extra pair are clipless on one side and platform on the other, not easy for a new guy to use) . I said are you kidding , today is not the day for him to try it out with us. Now, we're not good or fast for that matter, but we are athletic, coordinated and we have the understanding and abilty to pick a line and ride the trails without serious injury . We've also been riding Mahlon for 3 months straight now and we're familiar and comfortable there.
We need to be back early today and the guy who usually slows us down is not coming with us. So we figured we could step it up , a few less stops at trail intersections and cover some ground.
I'm still fuming when I get down the street to my friends house ( I drive, I have the rack) but BOB is there and I need to keep things in check. Quietly I again question the stupidity of allowing him to join us today , without his own, bike, helmet, gloves , water etc... Basically we outfit him.
Another new guy is coming with us, he's ridden before, but not in years. I'm very confident in his abilty to ride with us.
We park at the main lot on the road because the gate isn't open yet. We're in 2 cars, BOB took his own car .
We head across the road and up the railroad bed ( I think this is a great warmup ) we take the second right and we're cruising along, keeping him with us, we're riding much slower than normal and letting him know if he needs to stop just tell us.
We crosss the little 2x6 board over the muck and come to the four way intersection that we usually head up the hill to the right. A few guys ride it, I walk it with him to keep him company and we're doing fine, but he's clearly out of is element and I just don't have a good feeling.
At the top it flattens out, it's rocky but flat and we're coming down a very slight hill. I'm now ahead of him by about 100ft , the other 4 guys are ahead of me by that much and all of a sudden I hear what sounds like a 10 car pile up. I stop and yell back " are you ok" " Bob are you ok" . I don't think so, I think I need help he says. I run back to find him sitting there with his bike of the trail in the woods and his helmet is shattered in 3 pieces. He's got a nice bump on his temple and the whole side of his face and ear are scraped up pretty good. His ear is bleeding, but not from the inside ( a good thing) . he's clearly shaken.
I'm not sure if it was the fact that it was a kids helmet that he was wearing or that it was about 5 or 6 years old, but that thing just blew apart, but cleary it saved us from ( not sure who's line this was from a few weeks ago) having to clean up his brains with a shovel.
I decided we were done and we backtracked and headed out, on the way out we walked a bit and rode at a very light pace. My buddy snaps his chain on his 1 month old Gary Fisher Piranah ( so this is Karma part duex) .
Back at the car Bob and the guy with the broken chain are heading home. I suggest we all just call it a day , but my friend Dave wants to ride The Wall and Devils Staircase, me too but maybe, just maybe we should call it a day.
Insatead the 3 of us ride up Weldon road and cut in to the Headly Overlook.
We explain the Wall to our new rider and how he should take the re-route. So I lead and I'm actually doing quite well, though I think it's a freakin tough trail. Some where on the right side almost at the bottom , my friend catches a rock with his pedal and it looks like he's gonna recover, but he uses his arm to try to push a tree out of the way:) and hyperextends his arm backwards in a funky position. That would be Karma part tres. He was the one who wanted to continue and not go home with everyone else.

Lessons learned.
1. Don't let the new guy come , go with your gut and politley tell him today would not be a good day for him to start riding with us.

2 . Put your faith in Karma and again go with your gut.

3 . WEAR A HELMET !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

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Fogerson

Former Resident Nerd
Well, look at the "bright" side....

If "Bob" borked it that hard where he did, The Wall or Devil's Staircase would've really f'ed him up....
 

NJ-XC-Justin

KY-DH-Freddy
Is that what all helmets look like in a cutaway or is that one a piece of junk?

The photo is priceless by the way.
 

Stocky

Member
Now here's the thing that really bothers me, no insult to Homeopaths ( not sure if I spelled that right) but his wife uses "remedies" for ailements.
I joked that she was going to mix some bull semen with some arrow root and wipe it on his scrapes.
She DID NOT take him to the hospital and I think this was the wrong move. If you get punched in the temple where he got hit, you're out cold.
My wife called to check on him and sure enough she wiped some "concoction " on his scratches and said he felt ok .

Ya just don't mess with your head like that !
 

walter

Fourth Party
I now have the commercial jingle in my head, "HOT WHEELS, BEAT THAT!!"

Glad to hear everyone made it out somewhat OK.
 
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