Crowning achievement

I am so "the man" right now I can't get over myself! Actually I'm having trouble getting over much of anything with this everlasting cramp in my leg.

This past Saturday I headed down to Markham park with some buddies for my monthly out of town ride until you can't move session. We got to the park and hit the trails at about 10:00 in the am with 80 degree weather and not a cloud in the sky. The trails were pretty empty as much of South Florida was preparing for the "oh my god we're all gonna die" hurricane Ike. (who never bothered showing up for his own party but that's another story)

We banged out a few trails right off the bat, hitting the warm up loop, washing machine, lost ring and Area 51 topping out at about 5 miles and then headed for some R & R. Those of you who haven't ridden Markham park really have no idea how much 5 miles of trail will take out of you.

The trails take total concentration as there are sharp little rocks everywhere and there are also some short steep climbs that you can't really get set for. I'm sure that the local's are probably laughing at me right now, but I only ride once a month now since my home trail has been closed.

Anyway, after our break we headed straight for "gunrange" which get's it's name from the fact that there is literally a gun range on the other side of the hill. I can say with all certainty that this is the most difficult trail in all of South Florida, and one of the toughest in all of Florida. It has a lot of super steep climbs over loose rock, chunks of cement and tree roots. Also the way the trail is layed out it is difficult to get a good run-up especially if you are following someone. This trail is also covered with a lot of small obstacles that have to be hit nearly perfectly to keep from crashing as well as some long narrow ridges that drop off about 15 feet onto rocks and some insane terraced downhills that'll make your pooter pucker!.....Pretty much one of the coolest toughest trail around.

So why am I the man? (Ok, I'm a man, does that count?) I made it with only 2 dabs! For the non-bikers out there, a dab is when you put your foot down to steady yourself when riding. Again, the locals down there probably don't think that's too much of a big deal but for a fattie that only rides once a month that is a total accomplishment. I'm not going to say that I owned it, but I made it and that's the most important part for me.

The downside is that I put so much of myself into that trail I was so whupped that I ended up walking up the hills on "Jet Ski" (wouldn't miss those decents for the world) and finally bailed to the trail head while the rest of the crew did "Crime Scene" and "Deep dark forest."

Well, I guess every long and boring story has to have a moral, so here's mine.
Set a goal and throw yourself at it with everything that you have and then some. Even if you don't make it you'll either be amazed that you did as well as you did, or you'll be too tired battered and bruised to give a damn!

Here's a link to some Markham vids and pics. http://www.singletracks.com/php/trail.php?id=156
Some of the pics are kindof old but they give you the general idea.

OUCH!!!

This one is a little late, but I figured it would be nice to have a little more on my page than just the typical hey how ya doing sort of stuff.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to take a road trip for some biking. For some of you this may not seem like too big of a deal but for me, these trips are few and far between. Our local bike trail is closed due to some legalities and the only place left to ride within an hour sucks! So I load up the gear; bike, extra tires and tubes, a couple of jugs of gatorade, helmet, riding shoes, body armor and a hefty stack of energy bars and hit the road for Ft. Lauderdale leaving about 9:00 in the AM. I'm planning on meeting some friends down there so luckily I won't be riding alone.
Turns out, Markham park has just instituted a new rule that you have to sit through a really dull video (about 5 minutes long) and then sign a release of liability and get an ID card to ride the trails there now. So after 2 hours on the road, I spend another 20 minutes in the park office an fulfill my obligations. Time to hit the trails! After all, this is what I came here for.....right?

I hook up with Mike and Cindy (who just finished the video) and we head to the trail-head and gear up. As intelligent and health concious individuals we do a quick warm up lap on a fairly windy but completely flat trail to get our cardio up and running and then head for the big stuff. Our first "real" trail is called washing machine and gets it's name because if you run it fast it's like getting thrown around in a washing machine....lots o fun! We get about half way through the trail (about 2 miles) and I'm riding through a transition area where there is literally nothing going on, pretty harmless flat terrain, and I stand up to pedal and WHAM! my back goes out. I don't mean like I had a little pinch, I mean it went OUT! I started screaming like a little girl who just lost her barbie doll and wrapped my body around my handle bars. Mike and Cindy come racing up thinking I just racked my man parts on my bike. After much cussing and screaming they get me off the bike and on the ground....bad idea..... I ended up spending about an hour and a half laying in the dirt beside the trail trying to figure out how in the hell to get out of there. Mike ran off to get some help while Cindy held an ice pack on my back and fielded questions from everyone that had to stop and see if there was any blood. Usually when someone is lying in the dirt at Markham they are bleeding profusely and of course everyone wants to stop and see the carnage. "what happened""he threw out his back""oh....nothing to see here guys lets go" Jerks! Actually a few stopped and asked if they could help but there wasn't much to do. Eventually Mike get's back with help and they inform me that I might want to get carried out on a spine board...I don't like this idea but concede that it may be the only way until they inform me that EMS is the only people that can make that happen. ARGH! not on this trip they aint. After much pushing, pulling and screaming (rumor has it folks though Ned Beaty was in the woods) they manage to get me back on my bike and roll me the mile or so back to the trail head. After a quick lunch consisting of part of a sub and half a bottle of advil they get me in the car and send me packing.

I have to give a quick shout out to my sister who talked to me on the phone the whole way home, without her help I'm not sure I would have made it. After getting home I had to crawl into the house all the while hoping nobody would see me, and collapsed on the floor. Luckily the older 2 were with the grandparents, and Danielle and Nati were out shopping I really didn't want to be seen like this.

Bottom line is that I took about a week with a few Chrio visits to get up and going again and now I'm trying to figure out when I can get back to Markham to finish where I left off.....Funny thing is that despite being in excrutiating pain, I was and still am more upset about wasting a whole day than about the back thing.

Let's hope the next trip turns out better.