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10-09-2007, 09:27 AM
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#1 (permalink) |
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STR Veteran
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a story of a boy and his new cacti friend
Chapter 1 : Morning Acupuncture
My story begins at 7:30 am today as I start my climb up Cholla I notice that my rear shock is not fully pumped up(an issue Ive been having, if you read the workshop you may have seen my post), the side effect of a "not so pumped up" shock is sag which means you kick every rock that is in your pedaling circle. Well as those of you who climb Cholla on a regular basis know that there are few "step ups", of course I know most of them and what line I like to take, so once I saw the one that is right after one of the steeper sections of Cholla I said I will just power up it like I always do. Being that my bike was sagging, my right pedal caught most of this step and launched me into the not so friendly cacti sitting on the side of Cholla. The results of which left me stuck with a lot of one inch long spines, and probably hundreds of tiny ones you can feel but can't see. Up and down my back and arms, I could only feel for them as I pulled most of the big ones off ... Chapter 2: I know my girlfriend loves me As I got home finally after walking with tiny little thorns up and down my back I woke up my extremely loving girlfriend(who yelled at me for waking her up, but laughed as she was extracting the thorns). Finally ending up using packing tape to extract all the ones she couldn't see, Took a shower and drove to work... Chapter 3: Cholla:any of several spiny treelike cacti belonging to the genus Opuntia family. The lesson I learned: pump your damn rear shock up even before a climb. And Rebecka I love you.  |
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| post thanked by: |
allison (10-09-2007),
autoduel (10-09-2007),
BrewMaster (10-09-2007),
CC (10-09-2007),
denmother (10-09-2007),
Evil Chocula (10-09-2007),
foofighter (10-09-2007),
ghixon (10-09-2007),
Impy (10-09-2007),
J_Sims (10-09-2007),
Letyrides (10-09-2007),
mottmcfly (10-10-2007),
mtnbikerfred (10-09-2007),
nomad (10-09-2007),
scorns (10-09-2007),
sdyeti (10-09-2007),
Shannon (10-09-2007),
slayer (10-09-2007),
steviebfromtheoc (10-09-2007),
Winston (10-09-2007),
Wrecker (10-09-2007),
xhuskr (10-09-2007)
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10-09-2007, 09:50 AM
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#2 (permalink) |
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On the Mend
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dam Thai, that blows...i think i know where you took the digger...
__________________
Pho'd Up: " Heart Rate Monitor + Road miles = fast. Chasing Neil, and Chris (Sar Boats) = Faster." www.coverageispersonal.com |
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10-09-2007, 09:57 AM
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#5 (permalink) | |
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STR Veteran
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Quote:
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10-09-2007, 10:02 AM
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#6 (permalink) | |
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STR Veteran
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I am....
Quote:
Heal soon and hit the trails  |
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| post thanked by: |
.8down (10-09-2007)
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10-09-2007, 10:12 AM
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#8 (permalink) |
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Spinning my wheels
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Not that it always works...
but when I lived in AZ, I got a helpful tip for pulling off a piece of cactus...use a cheap black comb. Slide it under the cactus and pull up. It's not perfect but it works in a pinch. There was one time when I fell and put my hand on a piece of dead cactus. Yeah, that was fun
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.8down (10-09-2007)
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10-09-2007, 10:17 AM
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#10 (permalink) |
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Homer
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Pics, we need pics. I know you said you don't have any, but it would make the story so much more funny, I mean we could all sympathize with you more if we had pics.
 As someone who went through the same exact thing a few months ago, this is all meant in good fun. Glad it wasn't any worse bro!!
__________________
Less typing...more riding. |
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.8down (10-09-2007)
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10-09-2007, 10:29 AM
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#11 (permalink) | |
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STR Veteran
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Pac
Quote:
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10-09-2007, 11:00 AM
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#14 (permalink) |
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Senior Member
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Dude that sucks.
About 10 years ago I was riding up Cholla with my girlfriend and since she was slower then me, I was trying to go reeeeally slow to wait for her. Well back then the trail was alot more narrow and long story short, I landed in a bed of cactus. Thank god for the camelback because it took most of the impact but yeah, needles all over my butt, neck and right shoulder and part of my back. Back then I was living in LA county, a 40 minute drive or so, so it was a painful ride home until she could get the stuff out. Come to think of it, getting them out wasn't all that fun either. 
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Beer, the cause and solution to all of life's problems... |
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10-09-2007, 11:23 AM
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#16 (permalink) |
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On the Mend
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and that cholla stuff isnt so nice to remove either...i remember a little bit of history Adam gave about them when we were doing the trail maintenance. they're nasty little buggers
__________________
Pho'd Up: " Heart Rate Monitor + Road miles = fast. Chasing Neil, and Chris (Sar Boats) = Faster." www.coverageispersonal.com |
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.8down (10-09-2007)
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10-09-2007, 11:44 AM
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#17 (permalink) |
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Powered by Guinness
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It's not really Cholla till you've slept with the cacti! Sorry to hear about your incident (been there...done that). hurts to type with needles stuck in your fingers...ouch
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Slainte' sdyeti I am a student. The trail is my teacher. genusmtbkr5 Sign up for the pain, you'll love it. Bike MS - Team Crash http://www.biketofinishms.com/xhuskr |
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.8down (10-09-2007)
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10-09-2007, 12:15 PM
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#18 (permalink) |
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On the bright side, you found a girl that's willing (or not) to be woken up and then be nice enough to pull the thorns out - I think you found a winner!!!!
Sorry to hear about the "sticky" situation.
__________________
The only reason people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory.
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.8down (10-09-2007)
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10-09-2007, 01:06 PM
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#19 (permalink) | |
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STR Veteran
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Quote:
I remember years back my friend Albert chased us around yelling "suck it out" after falling in a nice bed of Cacti, on Cholla no less. I never rode faster away from a friend in my life...  |
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| post thanked by: |
ghixon (10-10-2007)
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