When I started Mountain Biking about one year ago our favorite joke was that every good bike came with a hiker. Normally that's becuase you always encounter some obstacle or ascent you just can't ride and so you have to walk with your bike (or carry your bike) over the obstacle.

This past Saturday that line took on a whole new meaning.

For the first time in many months we decided to head out to Beach Fork State Park for our long ride. In general I like Beach Fork with the exception of all the roots and one big ass hill, The Mary Davis trail (a hill I always need to walk up at least part of).

It rained a little on Friday night so the trail was just a little wet but overall it was in great shape. The only downside to the trail being a little wet is the roots get super slippery. I'd like to say that wasn't a problem but then I'd be lying. However, they weren't my biggest problem so I guess that's a good thing.

The ride started off fairly well. I was navigating over some slick roots pretty well and I was feeling really good; then we started up the first incline of the day. It was only about 30 feet and it wasn't too steep yet, for some reason, my chain broke. Now, normally, losing all momentum wouldn't be that big of a deal but I started riding with these fancy clipless pedals last Wednesday. If you'll recall a bike isn't particuarly good at standing up alone if it isn't moving. When my chain broke my bike, understandably, stopped moving and I couldn't put my foot down instantly to catch myself so I toppled like a newly chopped tree. Fortunately the other 3 guys were still nearby so I was able to call them back for some help with chain repair.

Ed has a nice chain tool so I borrowed it and removed the damage links and then rerouted it through the derailleurs and struggled to close the chain up. Finally Ed stepped over and connected it just in time for me to realize I had wrapped the chain around the frame while I had fed it through the gear system. Embarassed I tried to deflect attention back to Ed and his mastery of the chain tool as he took the chain back apart and fixed my gaff. Within a minute or so the repair was complete and the bike was ready to go.

We all headed back out and about 3 minutes later Gilbert had a minor crash on a slick root so I rode past only to crash on another root about 100' later. I didn't think I hurt anything but later in the day I noticed my left hip was pretty tender. After this little spill I hopped back on my bike and continued on until i reached a bumpy little switchback that I had trouble navigating so I had to release my foot from the pedal to get control and turn around. While releasing my foot I slammed my knee into my handlebars which hurt like hell (this is a pretty bruised up knee already). Gilbert stopped and asked if I was alright and I assured him I was and that I'd be right behind him so he took off to catch up with Mike and Ed.

No more than 150' later I was on another incline and my chain broke again. I didn't crash this time but I also didn't have Ed's nifty tool or anyway to call the other guys back to me. They were all well past me at this point so I picked up my chain, tossed it in my backpack, and started hiking my bike.

Two or three miles later I caught up with others near the base of the Mary Davis hill. Ed quickly reassembled my chain and up we went. I actually managed to pedal about 80% of the hill (which was a nice surprise) but by the time we reached the top I was pretty gassed. After a too short break we headed out to go down a trail I'd never gone down before (that would bring us back to the bottom of the Mary Davis Hill). I actually did OK going down the hill and I managed to navigate over some obstacles the likes of which I've never ridden over before. The suspension on this new bike is amazing and it makes a lot of these obstacles far more manageable.

Unfortunately once we were at the bottom we had to go back up the Mary Davis hill. I started slowly and never really got any faster going up it. At one point my legs were getting really tired and I was on a fairly steep part of the hill. I tried to push through the section but eventually I lost all momentum. Remember my feet are attached to the pedals and I'm going up a very steep section of the hill. In fact I'm on the very far right edge of the trail - everything drops off on a really steep decline to the right of the trail. Because I'm stuck to the bike I tried to detach but couldn't so I tried to guide my fall to the back of the bike instead of to the right. However, I only half succeeded and I fell off the back right of the bike and tumbled off the path and down the hill about 15' until my lower back hit a tree and I stopped. I also managed to pull the muscle in my tricep just a little while I strained to stay on my bike as opposed to falling back down the trail. After a couple of seconds of climbing back up to my bike I resumed my ascent and eventually reached the top (where I fell over again).

Now, it may sound like I had a lot of trouble with the new pedals but, in actuality, I didn't. I successfully unclipped without incident a lot that day. It's just that when I didn't unclip successfully there is only one thing you can do and that's fall over.

Once we reached the top we rode a different trail (one I'm familiar with) until we reached the fork that took us to the "Lost Trail" I thought it was called that by Ed because almost nobody went on it but, in actuality, that's just the trails name as indicated by the sign at the bottom.

The trail was a lot of fun. It had some scary steep parts with bumpy drop offs but I rode over it all like I knew what I was doing. It was fantastic. I am really glad it came late in the ride because I always need the rest of the ride leading up to the tricky stuff to build up my confidence and this time it really paid off. I still had trouble with the uphill parts (my legs were wiped out) but I did really well on the downhill and it felt great. It was, I think, the trickiest downhill I've successfully ridden down and I didn't have any problems with it.

Once we were on the bottom of the lost trail we were actually back on the trail that we had started on so we had about 1.5 miles of slick roots to navigate before reaching the car. We headed up and within about 100' I had somehow broken the bead on my rear tire and flattened it. My rear tire is a tubeless tire. People run tubeless because it lets them ride at lower tire pressure without having to worry about pinch flats. The downside is it is pretty difficult to fix while you're on the trail unless you have a quick-inflate CO2 canister - I didn't. Thus, once again, I was walking my bike.

By this point my knee, my shoulder, my tricep, my lower back, and my ego were all pretty bruised and my bike had been broken three times! What a day. All in all it was the worst ride of my year (in terms of problems) and my best ride (in terms of downhill victory).

I'll be taking off next weekend to celebrate Lisa's birthday so hopefully my body can heal up a bit and I can get a new chain installed before our next trek!

#MountainBiking