Broken Brain

First thing in the morning I went down to Mohican thinking I would ride the whole loop but might opt out sooner than the full 25 miles depending on how I felt.  During the first 8 miles or so I felt okay but not terribly energetic.  Still, it was a nice morning in the woods and I figured I'd ride it out even if I ended up riding slow.

I always enjoy this valley scene, 

I think it's just after mile 5.

Well my plans changed somewhere between miles 10 and 11 as I recall.  There's a dirty drop off you can opt for on this section of trail and, as I've done before, I opted for it.  I rolled to the edge of the drop and scrubbed off some speed with my brakes as I rolled over the edge.  

All I can figure is that I held too much brake as I dropped down onto the trail below.  I remember skidding towards the edge of the trail trying to will my bike to stay left, away from the ravine-like drop off.  Quickly realizing I was going to crash off the edge, I thought "here comes a crash, at least this side hill looks open."

Next thing I realized I was headed over the bars.  "Great, this is an endo.  I wonder how far I'm going to go down this open hill side" I thought.  Midway through the air I was abruptly clobbered up side the head.  I instantly knew it was a tree and I instantly felt like I'd been hit with baseball bat.

I bounced down the hill side before landing on my butt, facing down the hill.  OUCH.  OUCH. OUCH!  I was hurting and mad as I took of my helmet, glasses and hydration pack before laying back and thinking about how much my head hurt.  The initial pain spike began to recede and I put my gear back on, said a few prayers, and stood up.

My bike was 15 feet uphill from me and the trail another 15 or 20 feet uphill from my bike.  I was thankful to feel coherent as I drug me and my bike back to the trail.  I walked a little with the bike before getting back on, wondering if I was in a well enough mental state to ride.  I continued to ride but slow.

At the covered bridge I sat down to drink and eat.  My right ear was throbbing but I couldn't find any blood.  I looked at my pupils in the rear view mirror of a car parked there and found them to be normal.  Ride the road back, hitch a ride, or... I decided to climb Mount Doom at a very reserved pace.  It was okay and took my mind off, well, my mind.

At the second road crossing after the climb I took the road back to my truck.  I wasted no time throwing in the bike and my gear and heading for home.  On the way home I really started to feel not well, nauseous and a pounding head ache.

KT got a very short version of the story and I headed for a shower and bed as she Googled "concussion".  An ice bag and Tylenol accompanied me to bed.  KT reported, "your brain has been injured!"  Oh what a great thought to fall asleep too, but with a few more prayers I dozed off.

After sleeping for several hours I feel much better, thankful for answered prayer.  I will be taking it easy for the next week, I've got an injured brain you know.

Two years old & a new bike!

Photographer Daniel

Mr. Daniel helped himself to the digital camera, turned it on, and took his first picture.  I think it might need a little Photoshop help. :-)

Daniel's first picture.

MTB with the KTs

KT, our friend Katie and I went down to Mohican for a ride.  We considered it a nice activity at the tail end of our vacation week.  The truck was loaded up with my bike in the bed and the girl's bikes on the rack.  I drove to the second mountain bike trail head, dropped them off, and drove to the primary trail head.  While Katie and KT were starting their ride into the fern forest I was chugging up SR97 on the road.

Eventually I caught up to the ladies between mile marker 19 and 20.  We rode to the main trail head where the truck was waiting.  It was nice day for a ride.

Katie truckin' down the trail.

Vacation at the Beach!

We packed up the car for a week of vacation and drove to our first stop, Toledo, for a trip to the zoo with Poppy.  Despite temperatures in the mid 90's, Daniel enjoyed seeing all the animals.

Seals and a sea turtle on display.

Daniel likes the fish, probably because

they are always on the move... just like Daniel.

This Meerkat knew it was hot out.

Poppy, Daniel, Daddy.

We headed north from Toledo to South Haven, Michigan for a several days at the beach on Lake Michigan.  Thanks to some friends of ours, Daniel had a DVD player to use in the car.  He found it very amusing to be watching Elmo in the car.

 "Elmo in car, Elmo in car!"

 Flying a kite with mommy.

The beach was nice, complete with a light house.

At the hotel Daniel went swimming for the first time

ever and enjoyed the water.  He also liked his swim suit.

 We dug lots of holes on the beach.

 It was a nice vacation at the beach!

MTB Ride: the Good, the Bad & the Ugly

Despite it being Saturday I set my alarm for the usual time of 6:30.  It sure is easier to wake up without pressing the snooze button for a bike ride than it is for work.  I left the house minutes before 7 with my mountain bike and gear loaded in the truck.

In the mountain bike parking lot at Mohican I ate a bowl of muesli along with a cup of coffee and at 7:38, I looked at the time on my cell phone while standing at the trailhead sign, I headed out on my first ever full lap of the course.  With KT or Ryan I had covered the entire 25 miles but never all at one time.  Having heard  riding the course in 3 hours or less is a "good time", my goal was to get back to where I was standing in less than 180 minutes.

The temperature was perfect, about 60 degrees, as I started up the opening climb.  As usual for me, it took a couple miles to feel somewhat under control.  I felt like I was riding pretty steady, never letting up on the throttle until I stopped to take a picture of a box turtle on the left edge of the trail.  Unfortunately, the cell phone picture didn't come out at all in the shaded and soft morning light, even for a cell phone picture.

While using the cell phone for the picture I noticed the time and after jumping back on the bike, I did the math to check my pace.  It wasn't looking good.  As I recall, I'd ridden about 7 miles in a bit less than an hour.  At this pace I'd end up only covering 21 miles in 3 hours, not 25 miles in 3 hours.

After finishing the pace calculation I focused on increasing my speed.  I began to ride one gear larger and made a conscious effort to reduce usage of my break levers.

Reaching  the covered bridge I stopped long enough to suck down a gingerbread GU, leftover from the holidays.  I didn't check the time but continued to the climb up Mt. Doom, knowing my pace was about to slow.  It was a good climb for me in terms of keeping the bike under control and I reached the second mountain bike parking area ready for the peanut butter sandwich I had packed.

In less than five minutes I ate my PB sandwich, drank some fluids, and continued on.  I made a time check but cannot remember what I learned, at this point I didn't make an effort to calculate pace.  I was really beginning to think I was not going to crack 3 hours, but I figured I'd ride at my limit and see what happened.  I knew the next section could be fast.

On the twisting, often downhill section through the fern forest I was finding my groove.  No brakes, lots of speed, and feeling good.  Until... my left grip and bar end hooked a 1" diameter sapling along the edge of the trail.  I never even saw the sapling but I suddenly saw the ground coming at me in a hurry.  Wham! I landed hard on my chest and right hip.

"What hurts?" I thought.  My hip.  I stood up, picked my bike up, jumped aboard and began to slowly pedal.  After a few pedal strokes I thought "hip feels okay, let's go!"

Down through the campground and onto the last couple miles of trail.  I was riding hard and had depleted my two bottles.  I felt a sense of urgency as I kept telling myself it had not yet been three hours, unsure in the back of my mind if this was true or not.  Popping out of the woods near the trail head I brought the bike to an abrupt stop and optimistically pulled out my cell phone... 10:28.  Sweet!  2 hours 50 minutes!

The Good - met my goal of breaking 3 hours
The Bad - crashed hard, sore hip, but thankfully okay
The Ugly - after checking final time on cell phone, realized my seat bag had unzipped and was now completely empty.  Lost items include inflator, multi-tool, tube, chain tool, quick link and tire levers.  Doh!

(Sorry no pictures, turtle picture didn't come out well enough to post and I was "racing" to beat my time goal so I took no further pics.)