Quick ride this afternoon, cos i really needed it, and to test the shoulder's durability. Was good. Tootled over to bottom of the hill in the car, and rode up Parklands Drive, then on up Huntsbury Ave. Steeper than i remembered, this section before Aotea Tce. Anyway, made the dirt, cranking the sounds for a good soundtrack to my clambering journey. Uneventful climb, not going very fast. At the top of Old Skool i just headed straight in, bombed it down to the first gate and met a guy there. We chatted a bit, him saying he'd never been down here before, so i said "Follow Me!" and proceeded to lead him down all the off piste bits between switchbacks... He didn't manage to stay on my tail and rode pretty much the 4wd the whole way down. The rough stuff i was on was a little over grown and i lost it a couple of times, having to walk a couple of the worst bits.
Onto the singletrack, very tight with the long grass crowding out the track, and i got a flat before the stile. The guy stopped and chatted again, then i left him behind again. Hopefully he enjoyed his new track. In the lower reaches i had a couple of annoying chain slippages. Time to replace that drivetrain, finally, methinks.
Shoulder did well. Would have been mad at myself if i'd crashed on it, but otherwise it was all good. No tweaky, worst cases were probably lifting the bike over stiles.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
recuperation
So. Since last i rode, i've been fixing. Thursday I basically had to stay in bed all day. Friday i was getting better, then over the weekend into the following week it sort of plateau'ed. Dull ache with occasional tweaks of pain when i reached the wrong way. Finally, got a Physio appt Friday last and now have a few stretches to go on with. Followed up on Monday, and tomorrow am off to Fiordland where, off the bike, I will have more time to heal, hopefully with no slips or slides down banks grabbing out for supplejack and tweaking it again.
Riding to work has been fine, except when trying to hop the back wheel up kerbs. I can see myself back on the trails after i get back from Fiordland. That will be nearly a month since the injury.
Also in the recent week, i put the first disk brake on the Surly, an Avid BB7 I bought a set of recently. Much improved. Now just have to get the centrelock thing sorted for the Alfine and I can say goodbye to rimbrakes!
Riding to work has been fine, except when trying to hop the back wheel up kerbs. I can see myself back on the trails after i get back from Fiordland. That will be nearly a month since the injury.
Also in the recent week, i put the first disk brake on the Surly, an Avid BB7 I bought a set of recently. Much improved. Now just have to get the centrelock thing sorted for the Alfine and I can say goodbye to rimbrakes!
Thursday, November 01, 2012
Wednesday night eventualities
Nelson picked me up from home after work and we headed for the hills. Parked in Croftfield Pl, off Penruddock, and proceeded around the Cashmere Stream Esplanade Reserve to wend our way up the Worsley Valley tracks eventually zigging our way onto Worsley's Rd and up to the end of the road. A fair few cars parked up top there.
Up the dirt and straight into bottom of the singletrack to climb. Originally thought we'd head straight into the new steepy off here, but reached it really quickly so decided we were feeling okay with the climbing and continued on up the steep ass little 4wd track, up past the usual singles and under the pylon. Next came something we're not allowed to break the first rule of. Down that, swooping and enjoying the hell out of, but instead of taking the high line to exit, we tried out the low line, which went across some open ground and was a bit of a disappointment. Into the 4wd track and on up back to the corner and this time headed into the trees again past what used to be the sketchy wallride.
Dropped into what's apparently called Dave's Track, but i reckon should be called ACJoint, and i led off down having an excellent ride. Was really on form, going quite quick in places, riding all the steeps and droppy swoopy bits well. BUT, nearing the bottom, roughly even with the cliffs, on probably the third to last 'sketchy' bit, i clipped a pedal on a rocky lip, which threw my balance very slightly, making my front wheel wash out and i knew i was going down. I left the bike and sort of began stumbling, thinking to myself, "this shouldn't be too bad, I'm not falling far, I'm not gonna hit a tree, sweet!" My hand went out, slipped and I landed with all my force on my elbow, which transferred my falling energy into my shoulder, which went crunch. And hurt. Quite a bit. Waves of nausea came and went and Nelson rode the next bit right down the chute out the bottom, while i struggled with my bike and very sore shoulder.
Got going on the climb and i didnt feel too bad, so long as i didnt try to do any tweaky power turns, sitting and climbing was okay. Granny slog for a while, doing okay, but not handling any rough stuff. Walked a section, rode more, then we crossed our nice little rock bridge which is holding up nicely, and I climbed the first bit out of the creek that i'd walked last week, but then walked a bunch up to the hairpin. Got back on and fuck it hurt, so had to walk the last bit up to the 4wd track. Riding up this was okay. As we approached the top again, a couple of riders came flying up behind us. As the first one passed i realised i knew him and we all stopped to chat at the gate.
We split here, Nelson headed on up Worsley to complete the ride we were going to do, while i took his keys and tentatively headed down to the car to drive round to pick him up. He went up to top of Nun, down first half, having a crash of his own near the bottom, before heading round the road, down Kennedy's, Crocodile and out to me around 8.40, just as it was getting dark.
My ride down the bottom of Worsley's was painful. Braking and negotiating rough stuff was the worst. But once on the road, i found that if i locked my elbow straight, the shoulder didnt hurt, so getting down to the bottom was smooth and easy. Before the final hairpin i stopped and headed down the bottom zigzag into the park, which was slow, then headed out Rushglen and Pentonville back to the car. Getting the bike in the back of the car was excruciating.
Home, and i drove myself to the 24hr Surgery where just before 11pm got an Xray which thankfully showed no fractures, and was home about 12.20am... Very busy in there last night.
Ironically, yesterday, a mate Dave at work was just talking to me about where i was on the curve of increasing confidence and cockiness leading up to the crash which plummets you back to the bottom of it again...
Up the dirt and straight into bottom of the singletrack to climb. Originally thought we'd head straight into the new steepy off here, but reached it really quickly so decided we were feeling okay with the climbing and continued on up the steep ass little 4wd track, up past the usual singles and under the pylon. Next came something we're not allowed to break the first rule of. Down that, swooping and enjoying the hell out of, but instead of taking the high line to exit, we tried out the low line, which went across some open ground and was a bit of a disappointment. Into the 4wd track and on up back to the corner and this time headed into the trees again past what used to be the sketchy wallride.
Dropped into what's apparently called Dave's Track, but i reckon should be called ACJoint, and i led off down having an excellent ride. Was really on form, going quite quick in places, riding all the steeps and droppy swoopy bits well. BUT, nearing the bottom, roughly even with the cliffs, on probably the third to last 'sketchy' bit, i clipped a pedal on a rocky lip, which threw my balance very slightly, making my front wheel wash out and i knew i was going down. I left the bike and sort of began stumbling, thinking to myself, "this shouldn't be too bad, I'm not falling far, I'm not gonna hit a tree, sweet!" My hand went out, slipped and I landed with all my force on my elbow, which transferred my falling energy into my shoulder, which went crunch. And hurt. Quite a bit. Waves of nausea came and went and Nelson rode the next bit right down the chute out the bottom, while i struggled with my bike and very sore shoulder.
Got going on the climb and i didnt feel too bad, so long as i didnt try to do any tweaky power turns, sitting and climbing was okay. Granny slog for a while, doing okay, but not handling any rough stuff. Walked a section, rode more, then we crossed our nice little rock bridge which is holding up nicely, and I climbed the first bit out of the creek that i'd walked last week, but then walked a bunch up to the hairpin. Got back on and fuck it hurt, so had to walk the last bit up to the 4wd track. Riding up this was okay. As we approached the top again, a couple of riders came flying up behind us. As the first one passed i realised i knew him and we all stopped to chat at the gate.
We split here, Nelson headed on up Worsley to complete the ride we were going to do, while i took his keys and tentatively headed down to the car to drive round to pick him up. He went up to top of Nun, down first half, having a crash of his own near the bottom, before heading round the road, down Kennedy's, Crocodile and out to me around 8.40, just as it was getting dark.
My ride down the bottom of Worsley's was painful. Braking and negotiating rough stuff was the worst. But once on the road, i found that if i locked my elbow straight, the shoulder didnt hurt, so getting down to the bottom was smooth and easy. Before the final hairpin i stopped and headed down the bottom zigzag into the park, which was slow, then headed out Rushglen and Pentonville back to the car. Getting the bike in the back of the car was excruciating.
Home, and i drove myself to the 24hr Surgery where just before 11pm got an Xray which thankfully showed no fractures, and was home about 12.20am... Very busy in there last night.
Ironically, yesterday, a mate Dave at work was just talking to me about where i was on the curve of increasing confidence and cockiness leading up to the crash which plummets you back to the bottom of it again...
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