Hi :)

[Canyonleo]

Hey guys,
I just moved into the area and I'm trying to get in touch with the local riding community. I've been reading your forums and you sound like a great group, I'm a novice rider at best, and I'm coming off of a long lay up due to busting my leg. However I look forward to joining some of your rides, hopefully we can get a few weeks of good weather :)

[Dirt]

Welcome!

This time of year you need to hope for bad weather to make the riding good. When it is cold, the mud is frozen. Hopefully we'll get some riding this weekend and in the weeks to come.

There are some great places to ride that are mostly rock. They are not usually good rides for beginners though.

We'll see you on the trails.

Pete

[jabberwocky]

Welcome to MORE! Novice riders are always welcome. We all started somewhere. :)

Since we are all sitting around bored, you could tell us the story of how that leg got broken. The forums love a good injury story. :D

[Dirt]

The forums love a good injury story. :D

Especially if you've got pictures. Just remember that we're going to forever identify you with the story you tell. ;)

Just kidding.

Pete

[Buddylee]

Just kidding.

Pete

No you're not!

[TBLGirl]

Welcome Canyonleo! As soon as the snow melts and the trails freeze we'll be doing some more rides. Hope you can join us.

Anne

[Canyonleo]

Well, it wasn't actually broken, it was a severe soft tissue injury in my hamstring and glut. And while I wish it was a good story in more so a silly mistake. I had a bad day at work and decided to blow some steam off with a nice long hard ride. Well I just had just gotten my bike back from a rebuild and it has a new fork with a lock out. I had been playing with this new toy while going up a pretty nasty hill and I forgot that it was still locked when I started to go down. So there I was going as fast and as hard as I could into this beautiful banked turn and I clipped a stick, not even a big stick I think it was about a foot long and an inch in diameter. At which point in time my bike decided to stop while I did not. I got thrown into the head set and my handle bars jackknifed onto my right leg trapping it there while the seat nailed me so hard in the bum I swear it knocked the wind out of me. I then landed in a graceful heap of rider entangled with bike, my right leg was still trapped and all of my weight landed on the top tube smashing it even more (yeah that hurt). Lying there making sure that all systems were functioning all I could think to myself was.... "Damn sorry Kimmy" she is my sister and I was in her bridal party for the wedding taking place next week.

So the lesson.... don't ride hard trails with new toys you haven't gotten dialed in yet. Especially if you need to be bruise free in the upcoming weeks.

As for the injury itself, after trying to let it heal for several months, I sucked it up and had surgery on it right after the new year. I don't have any pics, however right after a good workout/ride you can still see the bruising :p

[iplayoutside]

Canyonleo,
That injury sounds a bit painful!!! I think we all can identiffy with having the bike decide that it was it's turn to ride on our backs for a bit. doesn't matter how good you think you are in happens to us all. Lord knows I have gone over the bars a few times with my bike landing on me. where have you been riding?

[Jackson]

Hey guys,
I just moved into the area and I'm trying to get in touch with the local riding community. I've been reading your forums and you sound like a great group, I'm a novice rider at best, and I'm coming off of a long lay up due to busting my leg. However I look forward to joining some of your rides, hopefully we can get a few weeks of good weather :)

Welcome - plenty of riding chances. If you're in Northern Virginia or can get to it, there are a number of night rides at Wakefield. You'll need lights, though. (But if you contact one of us in advance, one of us can get you a spare light to borrow.) Chris Allen and I lead a casual ride on Tuesday nights. Link below:

http://www.more-mtb.org/forum/calendar.php?do=getinfo&e=529&day=2007-2-13&c=2

I'm also leading a casual ride at Fountainhead on President's Day - All are welcome:

http://www.more-mtb.org/forum/showthread.php?t=6590

But there are plenty of choices - depending on the weather. My Fountainhead ride may have to relocate to an easier Cross County Trail ride if the trail is not frozen.

- Tom

[Canyonleo]

I mainly rode up in Gambril and Schaffer, I learned to ride in AZ so while rocks don't bother me logs are still abit of a mystery. I just moved to Burke though and I'm really close to Fountainhead now :)

[Jackson]

I mainly rode up in Gambril and Schaffer, I learned to ride in AZ so while rocks don't bother me logs are still abit of a mystery. I just moved to Burke though and I'm really close to Fountainhead now :)

Well, then both parks are close. Wakefield is a popular place b/c it's so close for many, especially after work. There are other night rides there. It's legal Mon, Tues, & Thurs to 10:30 PM. (You don't have to ride with a group, which is a great option.)

If you have off on President's day, hope you can make it out. If you're female, Liz Notter also leads a great series of RLAG rides. She's always happy to recruit more riders for that group. Anne Mader from the Bike Lane leads a popular Friday Hookie rides for all comers. I hope to make it to one soon.

- Tom

[mabagal]

I mainly rode up in Gambril and Schaffer, I learned to ride in AZ so while rocks don't bother me logs are still abit of a mystery. I just moved to Burke though and I'm really close to Fountainhead now :)
Hello, Canyonleo and welcome. You sound like a pretty strong rider, esp. if you ride @ Gambrill and Schaeffer!
(In my book, novice and Gambrill should not be used together. ;))

I'm coming off of an injury too! (For inquiring minds, it was just a fall @ F-head. :o Folks may say that someone pushed me :mad: , but it is not true and I will not name names. )

Be sure to check back here or at http://ridelikeagirl.org/. I'm sure Liz is already working on a Spring Ride Schedule. BTW Liz and all the RLAG leaders ROCK! Looking forward to checking out the trails again.

[jabberwocky]

At which point in time my bike decided to stop while I did not. I got thrown into the head set and my handle bars jackknifed onto my right leg trapping it there while the seat nailed me so hard in the bum I swear it knocked the wind out of me. I then landed in a graceful heap of rider entangled with bike, my right leg was still trapped and all of my weight landed on the top tube smashing it even more (yeah that hurt). Lying there making sure that all systems were functioning all I could think to myself was.... "Damn sorry Kimmy" she is my sister and I was in her bridal party for the wedding taking place next week.Thats a very good story. I've had some similar falls, including one where the bike and I both somersaulted down the hill. It ended with me sliding to a stop and then the bike landing on top of me. You know you're doing something right when your bike tries to kill you. :)

As Jackson noted, if you live in Burke, Wakefield and Accotink are close by. The weekday night rides there are very popular, and a good way to meet other MORE people. Wakefield and Accotink aren't very technical (especially if you are used to Gambrill type riding) but are still fun places to ride.

Check out Liz's RLAG page, and keep an eye on the calender here and hopefully we will see you on the trail!

[Mrs. Outlaw]

Welcome - don't have much to add to all the posts before me, but the RLAG program is fantastic. You should try to come out for the next posted ride.


Julie

[Squirrel Girl]

Hi Canyonleo, I was in India when your thread was active, so I didn't get on the ball then, and just now discovered it. Sticks. Bad. Gotta watch out for them. If you dare.... there's a truly gruesome picture in the "gallery" where a guy had a 1" diameter went in his leg, just above his knee and kept going for about 10".

So, maybe you can feel good that you didn't get hurt nearly that bad??? :o

Anyway, I hope you heal up quickly!

Where in AZ are you from? I got my Master's at NAU back a million years ago (and long, long before I was a mountain biker--in fact they were just inventing mountain biking about then).

Right now I'm *really* really hoping to put together a 5 day trip to Sedona to go riding this spring. I wanna, wanna, wanna!

SG