I've ridden Diablo a few times on my Ironhorse MKIII and I've always enjoyed it. I'm by no means a downhiller but I have a good time. This year I met up with Firemandivi for his first time there and we took a run. When we got to the bottom we bumped into a guy wearing a RM jersey who turned out to be burly50, so he went on the next run with us. About 5min into the run I didn't see a the ledge that came after a rock out cropping and went OTB squarely landing on my shoulder on another rock out cropping and probably only a few PSI away from splitting my full face helmet in 1/2. Firemandivi had the pleasure of watching the whole thing. I survived thanks to my pads but my tube did not. So we spent some time replacing that I got my head back in the game and we headed to the switchback trail under the lift. I go first followed by burly50 who was closely followed by firemandivi. I come to the first trail split and wait, and wait, and wait. Thinking somehow they must have past me I head down to the lift and wait and wait and wait. Another RM member comes up and tells me Burly50 got hurt pretty bad. Eventually Firemandivi comes down and tells me he witnessed Burly50 cut one of the switchback short and run squarely into the rock filled water bars which he followed up with a taco'd rim and a pretty bad fall. Burly50 was taken off the mountain and sent to the local hospital. Burly50 was lucky that firemandivi was there because he's a medic and made sure he was stabilized. Apparently Burly50 injured his back pretty bad I haven't heard the final diagnosis but keep him in your thoughts.
We went for another run but the wind was gone from our sails and most of the day was gone so we packed our stuff up and went to watch the US Open which never fails to impress. Watching riders leave the huge rock garden at the top by launching the last rock ledge is some sick schit! Everybody I bring to this race for the first time is dumbfounded by the skill of the racers.
We went for another run but the wind was gone from our sails and most of the day was gone so we packed our stuff up and went to watch the US Open which never fails to impress. Watching riders leave the huge rock garden at the top by launching the last rock ledge is some sick schit! Everybody I bring to this race for the first time is dumbfounded by the skill of the racers.