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.

On the Dirt Again

Monday and Tuesday were recovery rides for me. Apparently hitting my head hurt a lot more than I realized. Monday was the typical recovery day, but Tuesday I still hurt, but it was a beautiful day, a perfect dirt day. I was very tempted, and I knew if I rode dirt I would pay the price, lucky for me Mandy wanted to go for a ride. Since we did not have time to drive to Lambert, we took off to the Provo Trail. We had a fun ride up to Bridal Veil Falls and back. On our ride we saw KC--she had just come down from the foothills. She gave some good routes for the time when I take Mandy up there.
Mandy heading up to the falls.

Mandy on the trail.

Wednesday morning I got up early and took off to meet the guys for an early morning dirt ride before work. Typically when we meet we all go up the hill together. However this day I saw the guys coming and decided since I was still sore from my crash I needed a head start and I took off up the hill. I must not have been as sore as I thought as Steve did not catch me until I turned on to Canyon Creek. It was here he told me we were going to go North. Ooops I guess I should have waited. Well, thanks to my taking off we were now going South.

I continued up the hill and then told Steve I was taking off down the trail on my own as I knew the guys would catch up to me soon--they are a lot faster than me on the downhill. Most of the downhill, I rode tentatively, and that is putting it mildly. For the first part of the ride I had my brakes on every time I hit a downhill and when I took berms or turns it was like an awkward growing teenager. This is the part I hate about crashing, no matter how hard I try to ride like normal I can't. It seems my body refuses to do what I want and I can't convince myself I will be okay.

By the time I got to the end of the downhill Steve was right on my tail. We went into the parking lot where he was sure the others were far away. I knew better and sure enough 30 seconds later Kerry and Eric came in. We turned around and headed back.

This time things went much better. I braked a little less and on the turns and berms I glided and kept my sped versus wobbling and trying to make the turn. By the end of the ride I was almost back to riding normal. Now if the weather will cooperate I could get more practice in.

Great Riding

It has been a great week for riding. The weather has been nice, and I have been trying to take advantage of the great weather.

This is Steve on the BST, getting ready to take off and enjoy the downhill.
Top of the BST overlooking Orem, Lindon & Pleasant Grove.

Rode through a paintball war. Luckily they did not shoot our way.

Top of Chevron--love this climb.

Royce & Mandy riding down Ziggy at Lambert Park.

Mandy taking on Ziggy!

Mandy riding the trail.

Lambert Park on a great sunny day!

Mandy on middle at Lambert Park.

On Monday there was still snow on the river trail after Bridal Veil Falls. Skinny tires are not the best for going over this.