I've been riding XC on and off for about 15 years now, and yesterday I stepped out of my comfort zone and onto a flow trail my LBC just built at Oak Mountain State Park. If you haven't heard of Oak Mountain in Pelham, AL (just south of Birmingham), you will soon - the LBC, B.U.M.P. (Birmingham Urban Mountain Pedalers) is turning this into a serious MB mecca in the south. 23 miles of standard XC, family trails, two incredibly technical sections totalling about 10 miles, a downhill run consisting of about a mile-and-a-half of hand-groomed technical descent followed a four mile machine-built blur of a run, and now, a flow trail...first in the southeast, I'm told. Anyway, here's the somewhat funny story of a XC rider who ventured out of his comfort zone/discipline and paid the price (as posted on the bump.org forum):
I made MoFlow my bitch yesterday...for about 300 yards. And then I did an endo at that first step-up, hitting my head on the ground harder than I have ever hit anything on my body against terra firma. I landed on my melon and my shoulder, rocking my world. I sat up sshaking the cobwebs out when I saw a *huge* pool of blood on the trail...nuh-noh! So I took my helmet off, checking for the obvious split in my cabesa...no blood on my fingers, no cracked skull - check. I then noticed a ton of blood on my right calf...so I guess I cut my leg on the fall. My buddy came rolling up on me as well as a father and son. As my shoulder and arm were shredded, I had to cut up the bank to the Camp Tranquility Road and just cruise back to the road, back to the south lot - with one arm on the wheel.
Back in the lot, Pete (from this forum?) noticed all the blood on my leg, and got is first aid kit to clean it out. As he applied saline and wiped it down, he continued to ask me of it hurt...which it didn't. I attributed this to the intense pain in my shoulder and arm keeping my mind focused on them and not the gash. As he continued to clean it off, he asked if it hurt. Nope. Then he finished cleaning it, and there was no cut. IOW, I landed in *someone else's* blood on MoFlow! How rad is that! So, I went to the doc-in-the-box, and fortunately there are no breaks...though it feels like it. Can't lift my arm above parallel to the ground, can't lift anything, grip anything, or apply any significant pressure with my right hand. They triaged me (sling and codeine) until I can make it to a sports med doc Tuesday.
Bottom line - I took it very easy, as I am no daredevil and I am not experienced with that style of riding. But It didn't take much to put me out for weeks now. Be ultra careful, this thing is no joke. I'm not gonna get into the design debate, I have my thoughts, but the reality here is that you need to ride it a coupla times before you decide to bomb...it may save your life...or your ass.
-EGS
I made MoFlow my bitch yesterday...for about 300 yards. And then I did an endo at that first step-up, hitting my head on the ground harder than I have ever hit anything on my body against terra firma. I landed on my melon and my shoulder, rocking my world. I sat up sshaking the cobwebs out when I saw a *huge* pool of blood on the trail...nuh-noh! So I took my helmet off, checking for the obvious split in my cabesa...no blood on my fingers, no cracked skull - check. I then noticed a ton of blood on my right calf...so I guess I cut my leg on the fall. My buddy came rolling up on me as well as a father and son. As my shoulder and arm were shredded, I had to cut up the bank to the Camp Tranquility Road and just cruise back to the road, back to the south lot - with one arm on the wheel.
Back in the lot, Pete (from this forum?) noticed all the blood on my leg, and got is first aid kit to clean it out. As he applied saline and wiped it down, he continued to ask me of it hurt...which it didn't. I attributed this to the intense pain in my shoulder and arm keeping my mind focused on them and not the gash. As he continued to clean it off, he asked if it hurt. Nope. Then he finished cleaning it, and there was no cut. IOW, I landed in *someone else's* blood on MoFlow! How rad is that! So, I went to the doc-in-the-box, and fortunately there are no breaks...though it feels like it. Can't lift my arm above parallel to the ground, can't lift anything, grip anything, or apply any significant pressure with my right hand. They triaged me (sling and codeine) until I can make it to a sports med doc Tuesday.
Bottom line - I took it very easy, as I am no daredevil and I am not experienced with that style of riding. But It didn't take much to put me out for weeks now. Be ultra careful, this thing is no joke. I'm not gonna get into the design debate, I have my thoughts, but the reality here is that you need to ride it a coupla times before you decide to bomb...it may save your life...or your ass.
-EGS
