Labor Day Mountain Biking... CRASH (pics)

[Sharky]

I've been trying to be more active lately. A few months ago I picked up mountain biking and have really enjoyed it. I go out on the local trails several times a week, I even joined the local mountain biking club.

With that said I've had my share of "learning experiences." My first of which involved me going over the handlebars ona down hil and folding my front tire like a taco. No big deal, I was fine and after bending the wheel back as much as possible I managed to ride the bike back 9 miles to the trailhead before a storm hit.

Now fast forward to yesterday, Labor Day. A few friends and I decided to go out to Boyette, a local trail system built on old sulfer mines. It's a lot of fun, tons of drops and climbs, etc. Everything you could ask for in Florida Mountainbiking... (Hey - we don't have mountains!). This was my first time on this trail system. Anywhoo....

About 3 hours into it, I am having a blast. I am hydrated, well fed from a good breakfast and feeling great while some of the others are dragging ass from not eating in the AM. I am getting cocky. NOT GOOD when you are the most inexperienced rider in the group. My friends and I decide to head over to an area with a few consecutive jumps off small hills so we can take a few pictures. I was first. I did OK on my first jump ever... a little wobbly but OK. The other guys came down, I took the pics and we were ready to go again. Same thing.. a little wobbly, but I was feeling good. So on my 3rd try I get cocky and think I am hot shit. I pedal harder, go faster and try to pull off a jump that made me feel like I was on X-games.... ONLY SOMETHING WENT WRONG! I lifted too much, leaned to the right and BAM! I was down. I landed face first, the bike landed on me, then flipped over me and I was on my back. I couldn't breathe, I was yelling in pain and my friends thought I was dying. I thought I was dying. A rib was sticking out of my chest, I knew it! I have never felt so much pain in my life. My face, my shoulder, my chest, my legs, etc... It was all hurting! My friends were quick to stabilize me and assess the situation, not letting me move an inch. Finally after what seemed like an hour (in reality about 5-10 minutes) I was able to breath. The weight was lifted off my chest and I could see straight again. I sat up and was in pain, but no broken bones - AMAZINGLY! My bike wasn't even tore up. Well, My seat busted but thats OK. lol. So I took about 5-10 minutes to get my whits about me... AND i STARTED BACK ON THE TRAILS AGAIN.... 6-7 miles back to the trailhead.

Lessons learned:
1) Never be cocky
2) Always ride with friends, never alone.
3) Live hard or die trying! - I will be 30 on Thursday and I can't wait to get back out on the trails tonight!

Now for the pics:


Having fun on a 20-25' drop:


My first jump:


The beginning of a VERY BAD FALL!


The aftermath:



See the rest of the pics here:
http://crew.massivedollars.com/bikin...tte/index.html

[GonZo]

Thats why I hike instead of bike!

[Big_D]

great pics mang, good read, looking forward to meeting up in amsterdam and munich

[Big_D]

and that sucks

[RedShoe]

Originally Posted by GonZo

Thats why I hike instead of bike!

That's why I beat off instead of actually having sex.

No wait that came out wrong.

Damn Sharky... glad to hear you're ok. (you're the only one I know that can show me how to BBQ the perfect steak)

[RedShoe]

Originally Posted by sharky

I lifted too much, leaned to the right and BAM! I was down. I landed face first, the bike landed on me, then flipped over me and I was on my back. I couldn't breathe, I was yelling in pain and my friends thought I was dying. I thought I was dying. A rib was sticking out of my chest, I knew it! I have never felt so much pain in my life. My face, my shoulder, my chest, my legs, etc... It was all hurting! My friends were quick to stabilize me and assess the situation, not letting me move an inch. Finally after what seemed like an hour (in reality about 5-10 minutes) I was able to breath. The weight was lifted off my chest and I could see straight again. I sat up and was in pain, but no broken bones - AMAZINGLY! My bike wasn't even tore up. Well, My seat busted but thats OK. lol. So I took about 5-10 minutes to get my whits about me... AND i STARTED BACK ON THE TRAILS AGAIN.... 6-7 miles back to the trailhead.

Nothing is more embarassing than hurting yourself in front of people and thinking you're dying only to realize you just had the breath knocked out of you. At that point, next time go all out. Play it up like you need to be airlifted to the nearest hospital.

[SCOOTER]

Glad your ok ..

[Sharky]

Originally Posted by RedShoe

Nothing is more embarassing than hurting yourself in front of people and thinking you're dying only to realize you just had the breath knocked out of you. At that point, next time go all out. Play it up like you need to be airlifted to the nearest hospital.

From the fall, they all thought it to be true too! Fortunately I dont' embarass to easily. They gave me shit the whole ride back -- which they should. I talked a lot of shit The first half of the day.. lol

[Zayne E.]

I never would have thought I could say you're the thinnest guy in a series of photos...good to see you're staying active and keeping the weight under control.

And kudos for wearing a helmet!

[Sharky]

Originally Posted by Zayne E.

I never would have thought I could say you're the thinnest guy in a series of photos...good to see you're staying active and keeping the weight under control.

And kudos for wearing a helmet!

HAHAHAHA! I am the heaviest guy out there, they are all just 5-7" shorter than me. lol. I am continuing to drop after gaining some back though....

[mattz]

That looks like fun, well not the fall, but mountain biking

[_Richard_]

hey.. didn't kill ya ;)

[wyldblyss]

What happened to the rib sticking out of your chest?

[kristin]

I've tried reaching you on ICQ several times, can you hit me up please?

[pornguy]

Fucking retard.

Thats a great story.

And I learned the same thing the same way.

[KILL_FRENZY]

I will take this story as a lesson

[draude]

ouch that hurt

[Scarlet Sparklecream]

hey sharky, did anyone try to heal your bruises?

[Hollywood Horwitz]

at least ya didnt break yr arm!

[shekinah]

at least you had fun, but still glad you're okay

[GAMEFINEST]

looks like u had some fun

[emichele20]

it does look fun. i am glad that you are alright...

[Elli]

haha looks like fun! I'm glad you survived!

[Huggles]

Ty from Movietitan.com has huge balls


On his first mountain biking trip with me, he did a 12 foot fall over his handle bars onto sharp and jagged rocks, ripped up his leg, smashed his face, and busted up his arm, got back on, and flew down the trail still.

[Spunky]

Originally Posted by wyldblyss

What happened to the rib sticking out of your chest?

I was wondering that myself..that would hurt like hell

[zand_stein]

its good to know that theres a miracle, coz you are still alive......and no broken bones.....

[ThePornPusher]

Thank god you didn't break any bones! I have seen many broken bones in the trail in my day. Although I wiped out plenty of times, I never hurt myself too bad.

I'm into trail riding myself. Its awesome to see there are other people out there into this. It was only about 6 years ago that I was still hitting up my local trails and making tons of jumps.. See I ride a BMX bike (20'), I use to race out here on LI they have a track, every sunday I use to go out there. But what I really liked to do was tear up the trails. I would always go way back into the woods and start an entire trail from scratch. I would dig for the first 5 hours every single day and then ride it out for a few hours until it was dark...then be back in the morning and so on.....BUT ANYWAY

Last week I went out to the trails down the block from my house, riding my same bmx bike and I started digging away!! This whole group of jr/high school kids showed up there, they were trying to ride the trail but said they really didnt kno much about it...So I showed them how its done, how to perfect the lips and landing, and how to actually jump. I had a great weekend, felt real good passing on this past time to a younger generation.. Back when I was in high school tons of kids were riding bikes, we use to have 30 kids in the trails digging, jumping, drinking , now a days these kids are busy riding something motorized/watchin tv/computer etc...always in the trail when i was a kid, those were some of the best times ever......WELL Heres some pics I took last weekend....




You can see from that pic above how much bigger the landing is on the first jump, they call it a 'step-up'. These type of jumps are called 'doubles', and when you put one double after another after another and so onn... (like these) they call it a 'pack'...6 doubles would be a 12 pack etc... heres from a few days ago, I started making a pack off to the right, just by expanding the lip side on the first double....



and this is the back view of those 2 doubles.....



Most of my weekends consist of riding the banshee and the kx125(well 137 ;]) , but the cops have been busting balls lately! So thats what got me to jump on the old bike!

Just thought I would share! Have fun riding man, and be safe!

[NetCashBrian]

"What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger"

Who ever said this, was never in that much pain :-)

Glad to see you are OK after your fall.

[CuriousToyBoy]

Originally Posted by sharky

The aftermath:

That's a marked improvement buddy boy - crash more often ;-)

He he

Seriously, glad you came through relatively unscathed.

[media]

I looped it almost the same way one time.. Thats the reason I have seizures occasionally now.. they thought I broke my cheek bone when I hit.. my face swelled up like a motherfucker.. they had to inject me with two shots before the swelling crushed my eyeball..

[MikeB]

Thoses bruises look nice. Physical pain is one of the best teachers of all :-)

[Sharky]

I don't forget, but I learn from my mistakes. I am heading out again tonight;-)

[tranza]

That's not such a bad crash......

[Brad]

I used to tell the kids that I took out for bike rides when I worked at a summer camp during university that if you don't come back from a ride bleeding and bruised that you didn't have a good ride. So you sir obviously had a good ride!

The good thing is that you learned something valuable (make sure you have your weight over the back wheel), and you probably won't have the same problem again any time soon!

[AlienQ - BANNED FOR LIFE]

Owned???

[czarina]

ouch! that looked like it hurt!