One of them covers my entire left hip and is getting darker by the hour. The shoulder one is just barely starting to make itself known. It's over my left shoulder and creeping down over my collarbone. I was wearing my knee/shin guards and elbow guards, because I *always* wear them, so I know things could have been much worse if I hadn't been. I know sometimes people look at me funny for wearing that stuff out in Sycamore Canyon but I'd rather be safe than sorry. 2 weeks ago I was sessioning some boulders and I was prevented from getting a cracked kneecap because I was wearing my knee guards. I figure if at any point in the ride I'm going to take risks, I should protect myself.
Yeah, it was this morning (Friday) around 9:30 am. Some riders stopped by while I was on the ground to see if we needed help, I think they might have been TDW riders. They knew Luke, but their names escaped him at the time.
Bummer to hear about the injury. I myself am healing up from a nasty spill I took on my first STR group ride last weekend. What a way to introduce yourself right? But it is the name of the game, and crashes happen, and injuries come with crashes. Heal up quickly and jump back on the saddle. Best Wishes.
dont lie you know this injury happened while trying to copy the (in)famous GarretGarcia move pits to chesty twitter flip... we know your gnarly nerdgirl:bang:
I thought that was you. :wave: I saw your beetle last Saturday, too. Small world. It rained last night. There's chance of rain for today, too. Perfect time to ride Sycamore. Too bad my bike is getting serviced. #-oTake care.
OMFG! While I was laying on the ground, Luke said to my brother, "She was trying to do the pits to tweety" (then he had to explain the joke to my brother). ROFLMAO! :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol: Yeah, I admit it. I was going downhill so fast that I had to tweet about it on the way down....
Here's to a speedy recovery, Alison. Sorry to hear about the crash. As it's said, "there are only two kinds of MTBers: those who have crashed hard, and those who are going to." My experience is that it's not a matter of if, but when and how bad.
Yes, I've heard that saying. Fortunately, until this point, it hasn't been that bad. In retrospect, I realized they haven't been too bad because before this, every time I've endo'd it was when I was going rather slowly down something steep, loose, and rutted out. Of course, I've been working on that technique and realize in those areas I need to, as Luke puts it, "Commit or eat shit," and go through them faster than I have been. Sessioning spots like that has helped immensely. However, endoing while going slowly is something I can walk away from. Yesterday was my first endo while going fast downhill. Wow. That's a *big* difference! (Hence me landing 4 feet in front of my bike). Definitely the worst crash yet. I think I was probably only going about 10 or 15 mph; just a pleasant speed. (I shudder to think what would have happened if I had been going down this hill in "Middle Sycamore" where I generally reach about 25 mph-- that would have been broken bones and an airlift for sure).
I can't speak for Alison, but this isn't why I wear armor. I've ridden Sycamore without armor tons of times, even after I had a bad crash in March that smashed my helmet into pieces. I have plenty of confidence in my skills and have a very good appreciation of my limits, which I've been trying to push a little lately. I wear armor because I acknowledge that crashes are often agnostic to skill level or terrain difficulty. Even slow speed crashes can have devastating consequences, as you well know. At some point, all mountain bikers are going to crash. I know this and I always wear armor to minimize the damage done to my body when it's my turn to go down. I don't actively worry about crashing, but that doesn't mean that I'm not going to prepare for the eventuality of it happening, even if it means wearing arm and leg guards every time I ride. As for Alison, she's only been riding since April and she's still very much enmeshed in the learning process. Crashing a lot is simply a part of that process. Part of learning a new skill is figuring out why we fail and she has come a long way in this regard. Many of her crashes have been due to fatigue and not eating enough during riding. Other crashes happened because of a lack of technique or experience. Whatever the case, we've taken steps to address these issues. We're good about resting and eating enough and we use our Sunday rides to session tricky or difficult areas. All in all, Alison has come along way from where she started. Her skills and her confidence have grown immensely. She has the makings of a strong rider, but it's going to take time and probably several more crashes to get her to that level. But you know what, that's true of me too and it's probably true for most of us as well.
