Pride Before a Fall and All That...

[Trombonus]

As someone who has fallen on their ass in a truly embarassing way, I feel for you.

 

[cheerful_deviant]

I love my mountain bike. It's been a while since I've had a chance to get out on it, but all she needs is a little grease and a good hard ride.

I have an old Giant. (A Giant Butte ) It has about a million miles on it and has been crashed more times than I'd like to admit but it keeps on rolling. It is getting a little beat however. Also, I'm getting a little old and I think maybe a bike with a full suspension may be in order. Mine predates even front shocks.

Who am I kidding, I never get a chance to ride anymore.

 

[lucky-E-leven]

I have an old Giant. (A Giant Butte ) It has about a million miles on it and has been crashed more times than I'd like to admit but it keeps on rolling. It is getting a little beat however. Also, I'm getting a little old and I think maybe a bike with a full suspension may be in order. Mine predates even front shocks.

Who am I kidding, I never get a chance to ride anymore.

I ride a Specialized FSR full suspension rig. It's red, silver, and blue and takes just about anything you throw at it. I've ridden clip pedals for years and really adore the machine as is, though I'd love to have $150 for a good seat. Otherwise, it needs new tires, tubes, and a ton of lube to be back in race form. I've done myself extensive personal damage, though no matter what I put it through the bike is in about as good condition as it was the day I bought it. It's got a few badges of honor and a few scratches to elaborate on, but for all intents and purposes it's the fucking mack truck of hard trails. The one I learned on happened to be an expert trail, full of narrow switchbacks through a ton of skinny trees that just love to hang up your handlebar extensions ... and is alongside a lake, so it's full of rocks, stumps, sand, and insane hills. My proudest moment to date is still the one where I came upon a near sheer face incline after a ravine descent. I happened upon it just as a group of 4 men encountered it, and as I'm occasionally not the planner, I sped right down one side of the ravine and narrowly traversed my way up the other side (awesomely enough, squirreled right past a man that didn't quite make it up the other side and was clinging to a small purchase with one foot and holding to the roots of a tree with his hand ... about two feet below the summit of the incline). It was a rather victorious moment for me, to be honest.

Of course, all of this occurred after I got snarled up on a descent of a rather small mountain/large hill and busted my right elbow within an inch of complete fracture.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

I ride a Specialized FSR full suspension rig. It's red, silver, and blue and takes just about anything you throw at it. I've ridden clip pedals for years and really adore the machine as is, though I'd love to have $150 for a good seat. Otherwise, it needs new tires, tubes, and a ton of lube to be back in race form. I've done myself extensive personal damage, though no matter what I put it through the bike is in about as good condition as it was the day I bought it. It's got a few badges of honor and a few scratches to elaborate on, but for all intents and purposes it's the fucking mack truck of hard trails. The one I learned on happened to be an expert trail, full of narrow switchbacks through a ton of skinny trees that just love to hang up your handlebar extensions ... and is alongside a lake, so it's full of rocks, stumps, sand, and insane hills. My proudest moment to date is still the one where I came upon a near sheer face incline after a ravine descent. I happened upon it just as a group of 4 men encountered it, and as I'm occasionally not the planner, I sped right down one side of the ravine and narrowly traversed my way up the other side (awesomely enough, squirreled right past a man that didn't quite make it up the other side and was clinging to a small purchase with one foot and holding to the roots of a tree with his hand ... about two feet below the summit of the incline). It was a rather victorious moment for me, to be honest.

Of course, all of this occurred after I got snarled up on a descent of a rather small mountain/large hill and busted my right elbow within an inch of complete fracture.

Cool!
Gonzo biker chick!


(I was never gonzo that way - just up and down the forest trails of the upper Midwest - exhilirating sometimes, as on a steeply rolling X-C ski trail, but nothing really daredevil about it. More about exercise, endurance, and enjoying the woods, especially in the fall.)

 

[RonClarkeson]

Just to remind you all that it's true what they say...

I was teaching a friend how to skateboard... and showing off, I suppose. My first introduction to the world of skating was to take him to a short but crazily steep hill by the local technical college, where you have to make a tight turn into a car park to avoid going into the far wall. He stood at the bottom on traffic watch, while I whizzed down it to an audience of old ladies who'd just had blue rinses done on the cheap.

I'd never done it before, but I sailed down it, and my friend was suitably impressed.

We then moved on to a much gentler incline, where I let him have a go. While I was instructing him, I decided to have a smoke. The positioning of his feet was all wrong, so after a while I jumped on the board to demonstrate how to stand. By this point, though, I was kind of high, and in the middle of relating a story filled with suspense and intrigue... and I forgot I was on the board.

I took a step back, and suddenly became aware of the board travelling at great speed. Then the board wasn't underneath my feet anymore... In fact, nothing was.

For what seemed like several seconds, my body glided backwards in an arc, almost in the style of an Olympic high-jumper.

... but there was no mattress to land on.

I bruised my arse

And the worst thing of all? The board was stationary at the time

It bloody hurt, too. I feel like I don't want to sit down for the next week.

Just love it been there done that. How does you hat fit?

 

[English Lady]

I can't skateboard, and I definitely can't ice-skate... weak ankles. My husband played hockey, he's got ankles and calves you wouldn't believe!

I've got weak ankles too - went ice skating a few times as a kid -sprained my ankle one time and never did it again*L* So no skates or skateboards for me I'm afraid.



take care of your bum, scheh. it and your pride will heal up nicely, I think

 

[scheherazade_79]

This is cool! I wake up and suddenly this has blossomed into a thread all about skating / biking / blading etc.

Last time I fell on my arse like this was when I had a BMX in the 80s. I was doing wheelies on it, when I lifted the front wheel too far back and the bike came crashing down on me.

The difference is I cried that time. This time I just swore.

I've decided not to go to school today...

 

[Fallenfromgrace]

you all leed such speedy lives or have in the past. i dont come close...that's depressing.

 

[scheherazade_79]

you all leed such speedy lives or have in the past. i dont come close...that's depressing.

It's never too late to start. There was a guy in the news today, who started skating last April. Now he's become a celebrity in Australia by skating right across the country for charity.

I'm too lazy to do that, but I'll probably still be looking out for decent hills when I'm in my 80s

 

[Fallenfromgrace]

It's never too late to start. There was a guy in the news today, who started skating last April. Now he's become a celebrity in Australia by skating right across the country for charity.

I'm too lazy to do that, but I'll probably still be looking out for decent hills when I'm in my 80s

yeah i guess, i just have too much holding me back. And of course much of that is my own doing.

Cool about the guy, and being active until your 80's...