more tumbling

No body diagrams for this posting, because I came out of the crash pretty much unscathed, a scratch on a leg. I know, you're thinking "this is The Bruise Report, so where are the bruises?". Sorry, not this time, but...

This wreck took place near the bottom of the Teocalli Ridge trail in Crested Butte. I was bombing the downhill on a section of trail that crosses a hillside, and lost the front wheel in a soft shoulder. I came off the bike and started tumbling downhill. I seriously felt like Wesley in The Princess Bride, end over end over end. Manged to get the arms out and stop where you see me standing. The picture was taken by Nicole Gordon, who is standing on the trail, we estimate I rolled about 30 feet away from the trail. Sweet!

head-plant sommersault

We spent the 4th of July holiday weekend riding in Durango. Although neither Jason nor I had the legs for it, we went for big rides with lots of miles. Saturday's ride was doing the last segment of the Colorado Trail, from Kennebec Pass back down to the Junction Creek trailhead. Although we shuttled most of the uphill (using Junction Creek Road), there was still plenty of high-altitude climbing to tire us out, including that brutal climb up to the Kennebec Pass summit.

Anyway, it's toward the end of the day and we're almost done, I'm getting a bit spacy from exhaustion. I'm bombing a straight, open, fast downhill section of the CT (not far from the Dry Fork intersection = on that section of reclaimed road) and keeping up with Jason, which means I'm moving at a good clip. I think I hit a loose rock. All of the sudden I'm flying straight ahead through the air and my bike is headed off downhill to the right. Going 15-20 mph, I landed on my head and flipped again before coming to rest on my left side maybe 10' past the bike and 20' past the offending rock.

I cracked my helmet in 3 places!!! I've dented helmets, but never cracked one. Best part, my head is fine, just a sore spot on the forehead and a desire for a neck massage. Wow, if that's not a case for a quality brain bucket, I don't know what will convince you. Oh yeah, bruised knee and scraped shoulder from the second time I hit the ground but using my shoulder and leg instead of my head.