Die Hard, Ride Harder

First off, I am not a Bruce Willis fan. Second, this is not really about the film.

The worst thing which can happen to a mountain biker in June, is getting injured. (place the f-word here)

Useless as I hence become, staying home for two long weeks, driving everybody crazy: my family, friends and co-workers. We all hate it, unanimously.

This time however, it was unquestionably unnecessary and undoubtedly stupid, as I, at the latest minute of a 3-hour challenging after work mountain bike ride, reluctantly decided to follow one fellow rider to a tricky descent. It all resulted in a rampant salto. My oversize handlebars got stuck as I tried to roll down the steepest section of the trail and I ended up facing the tarmac after a hard landing.

So, my little finger on my left hand was dislocated, the tendons torn up, my upper lip had to be sewn together (sorry girls, I am not that beautiful anymore), I grazed my hands severely and almost lost my front teeth in best hockey-player fashion. Nice ride.

Moreover, I managed to ride in this terrible condition around 30 minutes back to the car to bring myself to a nearby hospital, where they took good care of me. Almost "Die Hard". Unlike Bruce Willis though, I had my shoes on. This time.

So I‘ve been „all-inside“ recently, but the dark days are soon doomed to be over. Among all however, the thing which upsets me most, is surprisingly not the fricking injury itself, but its time of occurence: JUNE! It‘s definitely very annoying, almost depressing to start again, after having worked hard to get in shape for the summer.

Well, I am on the saddle again, nonetheless. Weighing a few pounds more and feeling still a bit shocked and disquieted on the trail, I am surely back in business.

The lessons learned:

• If you have a bad feeling about something, don‘t do it!
• (you may) Ignore conformity, even in a trusted group!
• Never ride first!
• 900+ meters of elevation gain is definitely enough for an after work ride

You live and learn.

Recovering

I ride hard. Sometimes with consequences.

Currently I am recovering from a finger-displacement and upperlip-injury with 4 stitches, the result of a short steep downhil extension of a demanding after-work-ride. It'll take another week to be up and running again.

Ironically I came across this video "Let A Stranger Drive You Home" on Monday, which describes the accident:

"Always follow your leader. Never be the first to go down, unless you are familiar with the characterics of a technical trail." Follow your own rules.