Is Yoga Babe Certifiable? Longboard Collision!

The weather report had a high wind advisory this, morning, but it wasn't supposed to start until 10 am, and I was sure the wind would miss or arrive late to the area.  So with that in mind I called Yoga Babe to make sure she still wanted to ride and then got ready.  By the time I was ready the wind had begun.  Oh well, I guess the weather report weather report was right.

It is very rare I can  find someone to ride with me in less than good conditions.  I was ecstatic when I rode to Yoga Babe's house and she was still on board for the ride.  We took off in 21 mile an hour winds, or so that is what Yoga Babe said and I believe her.  The wind at one point was so strong I rode my bike tipped at an angle to it wouldn't blow over.  Poor Yoga Babe is about 30 pounds lighter than me and ended up getting blown into the dirt on the side of the road.  Luckily the worst was only for a short part of the ride.  Mind you we had head winds a good portion of the ride, but only the one part was strong enough to blow us off the road.  So glad Yoga Babe came out with me, and now she can be part of the certifiable club of riding in less than perfect conditions.


Longboard Collision

Eventually Yoga Babe and I parted ways, but I was still in the mood for more riding, so I took off up the Canyon. I didn't expect much traffic on the trail as the winds were pretty good.  As I rode up I could tell the ride back was going to be tough as the wind was literally pushing me up the trail.  Which is gret as you are going up, but coming back was sure to be a struggle.

As I was trying to decide how far I would ride I saw 4 to 5 long boarders coming down the trail.  They were in both bike lanes, and not budging, since no one was in the pedestrian lane I went over to the pedestrian lane to avoid being hit.  Apparently the pedestrian lane was not safe as it should have been.  One of the long boarders came around into the pedestrian lane heading straight for me.  I had no where to go.  There were boarders on my left, bushes on my right, a boarder headed straight for me and about 2 seconds to react.  My reacation to use my famous swear word with "Holy" in front of it, skip around the board then collide with the boarder.  Thanks to my mountain biking skills I was able to avoid a straight on hit, and did not get knocked off off my bike. Only the right side of my body hit, but boy did it hurt.  Major, ouch!  I hope it hurt as bad for him.

I know that's not nice, but it really hurt, and he shouldn't have been in the pedestrian lane at all!  Of course after we hit I thought of telling him how he shouldn't have been in the lane, instead I just asked him if he was okay.  He was, so I rode on.  On a side note, he did end up off his board, which gave me a little satisfaction.  

The rest of my ride was uneventful, thank goodness, but it makes me wonder if long boarders should be allowed on the trail.  I have heard stories of them almost hurting people, and being impolite.  Personally I have never had any problems with them.  Some close calls, but no problems until today, which of course makes me wonder.  Do you think long boarders should be allowed on the trail? Or is there another solution--perhaps and even, odd day?  I don't have the answer, but something needs to be done so no one gets seriously hurt.