In the sections of drops where I wrecked, I rolled them (meaning I carried no speed into them and rolled down them weight back and front tire always on the ground) rather than dropping them with speed. It was nice to get through the section. Weirdly, when I hit the last drop where I am sure I wrecked (still have post concussion amnesia), I was absolutely certain it was the place like a tickling of a memory once remembered, but now forgotten.

In an effort to avoid further wrecks, it was my first ride with my All Mountain Post (AMP) seat dropper. Getting one’s seat out of the way makes a huge difference in getting one’s weight back and avoiding endos. Especially on XC bikes.  Some pics of my new seat dropper (the dark in the top right and lower left are thanks to not getting the shutter cover fully open.)

Above: Full upright position. The hardware is relative small (where the wire goes into the seatpost). I used white trash zip ties to affix to my frame, but will replace with wire mounts once I am sure I like where it is located. I really need an extra six inches of wire.

Above: Down 1"

Above: all the way down (down 4").

Above: closeup of down all four inches.

Above: Closeup of it down of it fully up.

The seatpost is actuated with the blurry level over my shifters on the top of the bar.

Closeup version from the other angle of the actuating lever. The only problem with the lever, the wire blocks the mount point for my left side light. Not a big deal in the summer, but during the dark months I need those lights for night riding…

So far, it works pretty well. Time will tell whether I really like or mostly like it.

I have no idea what happened in the crash. I was in a little section of 3-5 foot drops that come one right after another and remember as I approached one that I was going a little too fast. The next thing I remember I was feeling stickers in my back from the bushes I was laying in. I tried to stand up, got woozy and sat back down. Finally, I got up, checked myself out to make sure I was entact, and checked my bike. Everything seemed normal, so I continued to ride. I rode another 1/4 mile looking for turn and I couldn’t find it. (Turns out I did find it, but it didn’t look like what I was looking for — in hindsight I realize now that I was completely disoriented.) So I retraced my steps (and thanks to my GPS), found my way home.

That night my wife was pretty worried when I came home, despite instructing me to hose off, but I had promised to take her out so we went to California Pizza Kitchen. As we left the restaurant, she got really worried when I asked her were were were. Nothing looked familiar and I asked in all honesty. She said we were on our way to Ralph’s (the local grocery store), to which I answered, "Where’s Ralph’s?" But I refused to go get checked out. We went home and I helped shampoo the living room floor.

That night, vertigo set in. I get vertigo from time to time. But it usually occurs if I sit up too fast from a laying down position in the wrong direction. This vertigo just kind of happened with an audible "pop." So I went to the emergency room the next morning, got a CT scan, and found out I had a concussion and a cracked rib. Nobody can figure out why there was a pop. Maybe it was a dream.

I still have the video of the ride in my mind except for the actual wreck, which has been spliced out. I can’t remember a thing that happened, which is a little disconcerting. Later, I got my GPS log out and it showed the GPS didn’t move for 15 or so minutes at the point of the wreck. I remember being there for about two minutes. I think I was knocked out, sprawled on the trail still clipped to my pedals. It was the middle of a hot day in the mountains above Irvine regional park and I was riding alone… so I think I just lay there on the trail completely blacked out.

Yeah, good times.

This could have been my head. The orange circle shows where the helmet should be smooth, but is now cratered.

The orange arrows show where the helmet cracked. It was even worse inside.

Right in the middle, at around minute 00:56, the time continues, but my distance doesn’t. I was somewhere, but not moving for what looks like about 15 minutes.

From a recent ride, this little gem of a program builds a 3D image of your ride according to elevation:

I wonder if the program could do more, but it only comes in German, and well, I don’t really read German.

Another great program is Topofusion . Although it costs, it uses sources of free maps and displays them, including in 3D. This beats paying $100 per state for 1:24,000 topographical maps, which is what I used to do. This has everything: 1:24,000 topo, aerial photo, satellite, and street. It is great. Here are some screenshots.

One thing I really like about Topofusion is the ability to have the UTM grid shown. UTM is a Lat/Lng replacement. It is done in meters, which makes reading and navigating off maps much better.

I also use DeLorme’s TopoUSA. The jury is out for me whether I prefer TopoUSA’s raster topo maps or the USGA 1:24,000 photographed maps. The raster is nice because as you zoom, it continues to fine tune the topo lines. With 1:24,000, you are out of luck if you want better resolution than that. I can’t think of too many time when I have wanted better resolution, however.

The one improvement that I wish TopoUSA had was the ability to output the raster maps to be used on my GPS. If there is a way to do it, somebody please let me know.

On other mountain biking notes, it was a long week of mountain biking. I wrecked about 6 times. My stupid chain kept popping off my big cog into the spokes. Grrrr. I had taken my bike in to have these issues fixed a week ago. I don’t think they did anything other than clean it off, which I can do myself.

So I learned how to become a bike mechanic and adjust my own rear derailleur. And now it is working like a charm. Once again, if you want something done right, sometimes you just have to do it yourself.

Park Tool Repair How-To’s

Meanwhile, the bruise that goes from the bottom of my ribs all the way around to the side from where my handlebar tried to impale me on one of the wrecks will take a little more time to heal.

My driver’s teacher said, "when a dog runs across the road and you can’t safely stop in time, you just hit it." (To put that in perspective, I wouldn’t be surprised if he now lives and then lived in one of those trucks with a camper on it as his primary residence or if he had been committed many years ago… he wasn’t exactly playing with a full deck.).

When the moment came and the snake was looming as I blazed down the hill at 38 MPH (I have no idea how fast I was really going because my bike computer always registers 38 as my max speed), who thinks about drivers ed?

As soon as I saw it I immediately bunny hopped (you know, use you legs to pop both wheels off the ground at once). Because the snake loomed so fast thanks to my going fast, I gave even chances that my front tire hadn’t got off the ground in time to not splatter the king snake’s head. My momentum carried me halfway up the next hill, I turned around, and went to see if there was a carcass or a very lucky king snake. Thankfully, it was the latter.

As I approached, however, it wasn’t it any hurry to get off the trail. Perhaps I just nicked his head with my tire, which brain damage turned off his fight or flight mechanism, I don’t know. In any event, I reached down, flicked his tail, and he hurried up into the bushes where he turned and stared at me with his eerie king snake eyes.

On further reflection, what ever happened to the boy, who if he saw a king snake on the trail, would have been off his bike trying to catch it and stuff it in his camelback as a pet? And why hadn’t I taken the time mount my helmet cam this weekend?

Like most Saturday’s, I filled my camelback and kicked myself for not cleaning my chain last night. Because I don’t have a big appetite most Saturday mornings at 6, I opted not to eat. BIG MISTAKE .

I am in pretty good shape and haven’t had too much difficulty on the hills lately. Today, totally different story. I knew I was in trouble on the first climb of the day, which is fairly gradual after the first 30 feet. It is a single track, and as I made a switchback, I tried to hit the gas and there was nothing but a nagging voice inside my head telling me it would feel better to stop. I spun my back tire and lost my momentum. My feet hit the ground and I stopped (not good when you are climbing on a mountain bike because it is hard to start again when the track is dusty or sandy, which it was).

I said to myself, no, I am not letting this hill beat me. So I decended 50 feet and tried it again and barely made it. I got to the top of climb one, with a little difficulty, but made it all the same. Climbs two, three, and four, however, are significantly steeper, longer, and harder. I went down a short rise and started up climb two and realized halfway up that I had completely bonked out. I had no power or energy and I couldn’t make the climb. I walked my bike up the second half of climb two, determined to do a better job on climb three.

The problem with climb three is that I invariably forget how steep it is and how long it is. Not to mention the rocks and ruts. Same story, made it half way up, but had nothing. I dug deep and pedeled through the pain, but I couldn’t keep my front tire steady and eventually I rode up into the bushes off the track and again stopped. Again, I walked the bike up the last 200 feet

I knew the hills had the better of me, but I had to at least have some bragging rights, so I decided I would go for Big Red (hill four), which was going to be the hill I finished today. It is much less steep, but considerably longer than the others. It was really embarrasing walking my bike up the last stand of Big Red. The downhill was great, but I had had enough and hit the fire trail for home.

So, moral of the story? Eat before I ride so I have some energy? No, get a new bike to get an edge on the hill.

So I bought a new mountain bike today. I spent more than I wanted to, which causes me to have multiple buyer’s remorse. First, I felt guilty for spending the money (4 digits worth of money, before the period). Second, I felt guilty for having to justify to the Missus why I get to spend money on myself. Well, she was supportive, but I felt guilty having the internal conversation with her about spending the money on myself. But I had been riding a bike from 1988 that had no suspension that I had kept in reasonably good shape. It was only a matter of time before I killed myself on some of the downhills, right?

Got it home, accidentally squeezed the front break lever with the tire off (= bad for hydraulic disk brakes), and now there is rub on the front brake rotor. Then realized I forgot to buy cleats that fit my shoes and the pedals I bought.

Sigh.

But it is a sweet ride.*

* I haven’t actually ridden it yet, but in my head it will be a sweet ride.