(click photo to make larger)I met some very cool people last week, when I attended the Orange County Startup Princess event. One of the women was Carrie from This Mama Makes Stuff. I got a message from Carrie on Twitter yesterday. She asked me if I wanted to go mountain biking with the girl’s on Wednesday night. I replied with yes, and that I would most likely be there, in a matter of words.
Oh, and the trail we are riding, “Three Bitches”.
I’m a little apprehensive and cautious about this whole “trail ride”. A few years ago, ok more than five, I had a mountain biking accident. I was riding the Whiting Ranch Trail with Angry Husband. I was coming down from a hill. I was going at a medium pace, and must have hit a rock or something. All I know is that all of the sudden I went over the handle bars of my bike and landed with the bike on top of me. It was a few minutes before Angry Husband discovered me at the bottom of the hill. He had taken a different route.
I could barely walk and thought that I broke my hip or something. I was scraped up, bruised, and in pain. I had him take me to the ER for tons of x-rays. Luckily, my hip was not broken and I would survive. My bike on the other hand, had a cracked fork, and bent pedals. My helmet was also cracked down the middle. I took my bike to REI for service. They had never seen a fork so damaged. I think it was a manufacturer’s defect in reality, and not the accident. Maybe my fork caused the accident, I don’t know.
I never really got on my bike after that. About six months ago, I thought maybe, I would start training for triathlons. I got my bike serviced and inspected. And there it sat, or actually hung in my garage rafters.
After tweeting Carrie, I had this texting conversation with Angry Husband. I was at work, hence the texting.
ME: Ok..I got invited to go mtn. biking wed night at 6. Am I ready?
AH: physically or psychologically?
ME: Both?
AH: lol, well your bike works fine..well it did 6 months ago when you had it tuned up. i will pull it down tonight or tomorrow and see if anything needs fixed..as for the mental aspect you are on your own..
ME: Yea, I prob need some new shorts as well.
AH: you should go for a test ride tomorrow day to get refreshed on the bike, so you don’t look like a total dumbass out there and fall on your face.
Well I went into the garage this morning. Angry Husband had not checked out my mountain bike. Fail. I wrangled it down and inspected it. Sigh. Both of my tires were flat. I could not locate the pump. So I walked with the bike about a mile to the gas station.
I then went on my ride. I did about 3-4 miles around my local area. My body was not used to riding a bicycle at all. I didn’t realize how bad my knees were from running. I’m a mess. I really need to stretch more. After riding, I worked on stretched out my legs/knees/body. I was also not used to the shifting.
Also, I will have to drive Angry Husband’s “angry truck” to the trail site. I don’t have a bike rack on my Tahoe. Sigh. My old car, I had a sweet rack.
Carrie said we would take breaks. I hope they have sympathy on me. I will have to strap my cellphone onto the front of the bike for “emergency purposes” aka “HELP!”.
Wish me luck tomorrow night!
