letting out the bad humours....

went to Prescott AZ to ride in the Granite Mountain wilderness today and got medieval on some old-school blood-letting...

the ride:
it was my 3rd time riding here, but the first time it was in the 60's and actually pleasant to ride. the worst thing was the insane gusting winds, but most of the ride was blocked by the hills. so that wasn't too bad. lots of variety in this area...i tried to avoid a majority of the chunky technical stuff and get the most time on the fast singletracks that cut thru the area. i parked at a trailhead that required that i get a lot of the uphill out of the way in the first 3 miles, guaranteeing that when i was ready to head back to the car i'd have a fast, smooth transition out.

maybe too fast....


i was on my way out after riding about 15 miles of trail and was going about 20mph hitting some little slalom jumps and having a blast when i suddenly found myself in a position that could be described as "not-so-much riding, but being face down on the trail with a bike on top of you. and bleeding."



in addition to the typical roadrash, i got a nice deep gash courtesy of a rocky outcropping that i decided to cuddle with....5 hours later i was wondering if i should be worried that it was still bleeding....



random pics:




my bike is pretty jacked but it was due for a tune-up so i guess we'll just make it an overhaul. the handlebars & front fork were about 45 degrees different when i got up...i was able to force it back to about 10 degrees off and ride back to the car without incident. the 90 mile drive home on twisty mountain roads was pretty interesting with a gimp arm (i know you guys remember those roads...).

in closing:
fucking awesome ride, can't wait to go back. and thank god for IPAs....they're speeding along my recovery as we speak. and will probably help when i dig that chunk of gravel out tomorrow.

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