Mental pain week...turns physical

So....this week really sucked. We had major problems with our email server in which I had to fix (and I'm not an Exchange admin)...So I ended up working almost 60 hours in the last 4 days, so I was able to take today off. The weather was perfect - mid 60s and no humidity. Add the rain from the day before to the mix (no sandy spots!) and you couldn't have had a better day.

Ryan and I met at around 1pm at Boyette and headed out. We decided that we were going to do some of the trails we don't normally do just for some variety. We took the fire road in and took the creek crossing side (we always turn left and go up Loch Ness and around). The creek level was pretty low (and we could see the concrete pavers under the water) so we forded it. It should be noted that this crossing can be really really bad or nearly dry. From here we hung a left and headed down Inner Loch Ness (I personally cleaned and trimmed this trail last week, so I had to ride it). We could already tell it was a bit slick out here - the pine needles and leaves were still wet from yesterdays rains. From here we took the West Meadow Trail to Randy's trail, to Spider Berm. From Spider Berm we went over to Golf Cart where we both almost went off the side of the trail (Nevegal tires will go where ever you point them, including right over the edge of the trail!!). Thankfully at this point neither of us actually did. After Spider Berm we headed over to Pandemonium to SideWinder. At this point we decided we wanted to go ride Garry's loop, so we took the shortcut via the fire roads.

And then I found the PAIN TRAIN.

Up until this point, the ride had been fantastic. We rolled up and took a look at the drop in (about 15 feet down, at a fairly steep angle). I moved back a few feet to drop in and didnt like the approach. I rode around a bit to get the angle right and then I caught a branch in my rear derailler. At this point I should have known to just skip it. I didn't.

From what I can tell, I dropped in and somewhere about 8-10 feet down I found myself too close to the wall of limestone and a small tree on the right side of the trail (probably because I didnt want to go off the left side which puts you into an alligator infested lake) at any rate my shoulder either found the tree or the limestone, as did my knees and sections of my right arm. Ryan made his way down to see if I was ok. After regaining my witts and making sure nothing felt broken we both looked at my bike. Something seemed amiss. It appears that during the fall, that the quick release sheared off. I did find the parts, Ryan carried those back up and I brought the bike up.

We were able to get the quick release to hold enough tension to let me ride the bike back out of the park (just a leasurely 4 miles back!).

Ironically I was familiar with the fire roads because just last week we rode these in trucks when we were doing trail maintenance.

After I got home, I cleaned up and put ice on my knee and bacitricin on the scrapes...

Shoulder:




Arm:

Right leg:

Ride Stats and Maps:

Started: Nov 5, 2010 12:55:09 PM
Ride Time: 1:11:47
Stopped Time: 47:16
Distance: 10.84 miles
Average: 9.06 miles/h
Fastest Speed: 14.54 miles/h
Climb: 34 feet
Calories: 578


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Over the bars and into the woods

Lovely. One way to describe the feeling of weightlessness one feels as their body takes flight over the handlebars on their bike. Even more lovely is that this happened on the first drop of the ride. This would not be my first foray into the dirt today. What was really amazing is that while I did get ejected from the bike, the bike landed perfectly upside down - seat and handlebars and stayed this way.


Not me, but you get the idea...

We had decided earlier in the week we would try the tougher trails first. I elected to do rollercoaster, one of the more difficult trails in Alafia. We rolled up to the first drop, a 5 or 6 step staircase of pain. Shawn, Jason, and Rich (the more adventurous and more experienced) went down no problem. Then it was my turn. From what I could tell I was doing great - I made it down the first 4 or 5 steps and then physics took over. Mistake #1 - I was not behind the seat. In downhill drops and staircases, you have to literally have to get your body behind the seat to put enough weight on the back to prevent the over the bars scenario. Mistake #2 - which may or may not have occured - locking the front brakes. I assume I did this as a gut reaction to the falling sensation, but who knows. Alex told me that I looked like I had cleared it just fine, but said at the bottome it was like something grabbed the front wheel and flung the bike and myself over like the worlds worst pendulum. I am pretty sure that everyone in the park heard the words "OHHHH F@@@CK". I took the hardest shot to my left knee, in nearly the same spot I did the first weekend I had my bike. The last wound had just healed. My gloves protected my hands, helmet scratched a little, got a nasty raspberry on my leg from where it caught the handlebar grip, and I got covered in dirt. Uggh.

This was not what I needed to start my adventure on one of the toughest trails I had ever attempted. With my confidence gone (and I apparantly took Alex's too) we continued down the trail. I had a lot of fun on the trail and had I not fallen off, I probably would have loved it and attempted to do more of the drops. I did ok the rest of this trail until I got to a spot dam near at the end. Coming up a steep climb I did great till I hit the summit. At the summit I caught a large rock with my left pedal and lost my momentum. I tried to balance it out, but alas, on my ass I was. Timmmmber! Pitched right over on my side, laughing the whole way down.

Finally we exited Rollercoaster and went back to the picnic shelters to cool off. It was already in the 90F range. My "moisture wicking" jersey was basically a hot wet towel at this point.

The hardcore guys decided they were going to go run North Creek and Rollercoaster again, Alex, Ryan, and I, decided to do Sandpine, Rock Garden, and the River loop.

We had a great time on those trails and running low on water, we headed back to the camp to relax and to refil our drink bottles.

We decided to run one last pull throught Rock Garden, then we called it a day.

I also had forgotten to turn on the GPS, so by the time I realized it, I said forget it.

Distance covered: 14.8mi + fire roads (probably another mile on these)

Roller Coaster:2.2mi
Sandpine:2.5mi
Rock Garden:3.5mix2
River Loop: 3.1mi

Map of Alafia, courtesy of SWAMP


Alex sent me his GPS based route (notice the difference from the stated mileage vs what the GPS sees since it gets lost in the forest)

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