Hi everyone!

I thought I'd come out of the woods long enough to remind folks to be careful especially if you've had some time off the bike while doing winter activities. For me it was cutting splitting and stacking firewood and hiking frozen or muddy trails instead of riding them.
When you've been off the bike for a while, that first ride feels stiff at first an then as you warm up you feel fresh and inspired and ready for anything and have NO SKILLS at all. I did a perfect illustration of what not to do yesterday evening after work when I was 3/4 of the way through my routine and hit a compression in the trail I'd hit a thousand times before only to have it rip the bars from my hands, pitch me forward into them at the waist and do a dangerous high speed endo onto packed hay field and rubble. As I hit I kicked the bike away from me such that it ended up down the trail instead of on top of me. A slick move that a 20 year old would have been proud of, but at 44 things don't move in odd directions like they used to.... I got lucky not to break a collarbone and get to take a day off from work to let my bruised shoulder and arm try to heal some. At least I didn't buy another expensive helmet. old yeller is fine too. Just derailed both ends.

Moral of the story: don't be in such a hurry to kill yourself on that first early spring ride!

Ray
bike nut at large