Beware of the Razor Bark Trees!!

I rode my mountain bike with abandon today.  Normally, doing anything "with abandon" means "throwing caution to the wind".  Not so with me.  For me, riding with abandon simply means I abandoned what few bike riding skills I have acquired.

During my 12 miles of trail riding, I wrecked twice.  The first wreck wasn't too bad.............mainly I just lost my line and sort of fell sideways against a tree but didn't actually hit the ground.  Not so with the second wreck.

After crossing the "Butterfly Bridge", the trail turns to the left.  I was riding fast, having regained my "groove" and was leaning to the left as I made the turn.  I didn't notice the tree that was leaning into the trail and BOOM, I hit it with my head.  Didn't hurt the tree but it threw me like a bulldogger throws a bull in a rodeo.  I was left on the ground all tangled up with my bike.  My right arm looked like I had been in a knife fight and the other guy won.  I looked aroung to see what did all the damage to my arm and finally spotted the Razor Bark Tree!  I had wrecked against a tree that had bark as sharp as razors!

Mountain bike riding is good for my heart health but not so good for the rest of my body.

Mountain Biking--Cuts & Bruises

Mountain biking is actually the good side of bike riding.  The cuts and bruises heal after a while.  I purchased a really nice mountain bike (the Trek Superfly), which is the same bike that President Bush rides.  I figure that if he liked it, it must be OK (ha).  When I first started back to riding the trails, I fell at least once on each 8 to 12 mile ride.

It was so bad that one day after a ride, my little four year granddaughter, Avery, looked at my bleeding knee and said, "Peepaw, you need to practice more!"  And she was right. 

I have been riding the 8 mile and 12 mile loop a lot at Cedar Hill State Park and finally made a 12 mile ride without falling even once!  You are probably thinking, "that is no country for old men" but the rides only take a maximum of about an hour and 15 minutes and are never boring like a road ride.

There is no idiot like an old idiot.

You have heard people remark, "My Daddy didn't raise no idiot!"  Well.................I can't say that anymore.  I went over to Mesquite this morning to meet up with some of the members of our bicycle club to ride in the Mesquite Rodeo Bike Rally.  I had every intention to ride the 47 mile route since my longest road rides lately had been only 30 miles long.

I was riding with 3 young women and a young man (I say young since all three were around 50).  When we got to the point that the 47 mile route branched off, I learned that everyone else planned to do the 63 mile loop.  Old men can still have a tendency to let their macho personality kick in and I still felt very well after the first 20 miles to the cutoff so................I took the 63 mile loop.  Wow.  This was where the idiocity kicked in. 

Not only did I make the mistake of biting off more than I should be chewing, but I also rode a faster pace than I was used to in order to keep up with the younguns.  A mere 30 miles after my big "uh oh", I hit the wall (still staying with them the whole time) and caught a SAG wagon back to the starting line.  I rode a total of 50 miles, which was about the distance I originally figured I could do.

For you biking fans, this is my Trek Madone 5.2.  Notice the skinny little saddle!  Can you say "painful" after 4 hours of fun filled road riding!

Live and learn, I say.  But............the problem is, I never really learn anything and almost instantly forget the bad in everything.