RR: Blackstar to Skyline....Almost

[maxwell]

Well, I was gonna meet up with The Path guy's this morning and get my Skyline DH run in after all.

My plan was to pedal the Stinky up Blackstar, past The Golfball on Main Divide, and hit the DH trail with the guys, then back up Skyline and down Blackstar to my car. They were shuttling, I was gonna pedal today.

There seemed to be a lot of riders out there today enjoying the cooler weather, and tacky dirt.
I felt great going up Blackstar, and thought, "man, this should be harder than this on the Stinky".

A little ways up, just before the Hidden Ranch area, a guy came riding down. He had a BIG smile on his face, slowed as he passed, we said "hey", and he continued on down. I was thinking that he looked like he was having a lot of fun, and my day was just begining.
Then I turned the next corner.......
She was kinda sitting, kneeling, her bike was laying next to a big rut, and it looked liked she was in quite a bit of pain. I asked her if she was ok, and she said no, she thought she may have broken her collar bone. She was with the guy that I'd passed just minutes before. I asked if she'd be ok while I went to get him, and she said yes. I headed down, and just a couple of turns later, he was already headed back up to look for her.
Good sign of a GREAT riding partner, no one get's left behind!
Well, Steve and I rode back up to where Toulva(? sorry about the spelling) was and set up a plan. We used Steve's jacket and made a sling, and I left my cell phone with them so they could try and call her husband, and I rode back down to the ranger station in Silverado Canyon.
Those guy's were cool, and said they'd head up and give her a hand.
So, I turned around and headed back up to check up on her, and retrieve my phone. Luckily, she was able to walk with Steve down the hill a little, which made the slow drive up for the firefighters shorter.
Of course, they got there a few minutes ahead of me, and were working on getting her ready for a short helicopter ride. She had some pain in her back, so it was the best way to be safe now, than sorry later.
She was in good spirits. I asked her if she wanted pictures of her ordeal, and she said sure. She'd never ridden in a heli, and she wasn't even gonna get to enjoy the view. I told her that I'd get a couple shots of it flying her out, and she said that'd be cool.
I ended up riding down with Steve to his truck, and calling it a day.
All in all, I got a little bit of adventure in, with some good miles, and got to meet a couple of really nice folks. Not a bad day on the trail. For me anyways.

Here's some pics;

I can just walk the rest of the way, really, I can.


Steve watches for the heli, while Toulva gets ready to ride.



Her ride, before her ride.......



There she goes.......






Just a reminder......

Watch those ruts after the rains, they get BIGGER.

[mtnbikerfred]

Nice work Bro!!!

[Kid A]

nice job, darin! way to help out and keep her spirits up

Btw - assuming truck came from bottom of b-star how the eff did that truck make the first left switchback as you start the climbing??? 19 pt turn???

[guero]

wow, that is too bad about toulva. way to go darin, that was very selfless of ya to help them out! thanks for the write up and the pix.

[Pain Freak]

Good job Darin.Nobody gets left behind....even if it's somebody elses group.
Man, I love mountain biking and the people involved in it!

[CPATCRASH]

Nice jobe dude!

[maxwell]

Originally Posted by Kid A

nice job, darin! way to help out and keep her spirits up

Btw - assuming truck came from bottom of b-star how the eff did that truck make the first left switchback as you start the climbing??? 19 pt turn???

It wasn't a full size rig, kinda short. They actually brought up 2 small fire trucks, and a CDF truck.
And, they informed us that the heli was an Orange County Fire bird, so it was FREE! Paid for with our tax dollars. Finall get to see our tax dollars doing something worth while!

[foofighter]

Great job helping a fellow rider! the ruts are bad indeed even at aliso the little downhill from the base of cholla is really rutted now.