I went out Saturday morning with @ChrisMunro and @RC_John to do 68J, Switz, etc. Gold Hill, and we had a fun, spirited-for-me day out. It wasn’t without some drama though.
At the bottom of 68J, we were taking it easy, and I was following too closely to Chris. We came around the left hander into the bomb crater section, and there were five MTBers scattered across the road. They waved Chris through, but I could’t see their signal, and I hesitated for half a second while up high on the first part of the line. My hesitation caused rear wheel slippage, which sent my weight downward/inward toward the bomb crater, and over I went - somersault, ass-over-tea-kettle style. It was a 2mph get off, but pretty fucking spectacular from how it felt and what John reported. “Dude, that crash took like 30 seconds!”, he said. Lesson: don’t follow closely up tricky bits of trail…
Once I knew I was good, I looked up, and my 501 was upside down, pouring gas onto the tower, down the windshield, and to the ground. John laid his brand new 390 Enduro down gently, and helped me get my bike right side up. We assessed that the Mosko strap (which was already hanging by a thread) snapped. Luckily I’d brought a spare knowing this was an inevitability.
I started riding again, and John made his way up from a not-great starting point. We pulled over to fix my bag strap, and as soon as I hopped back on, I was pretty sure my handlebar was bent/tweaked from the fall. All the bike’s weight landed upside down on my hand guard, and I think the reinforcement of the guard may have been enough to tweak the bar. I’ll determine if it’s bent this week…
Super fun day out otherwise!
