Old Man Down
I think it was two years ago that Craig first tried riding with the Wednesday night group. It was winter and there was snow on the ground. We were having a blast slipping and railing through the snowy night woods when Craig finally caught up barely able to breath. With mucous pouring out of every orifice in his head, it looked like his face was melting. Between short exasperated breaths, he asked how to get back to the cars. He was done. We killed him. He relegated himself down to the B group.
Fast forward a bunch of months and Craig was back. After riding as much as he could and eventually circles around the B guys, he was back to test himself against the premier riders of Wednesday nights in Downingtown. He did well. He did very well on his six inch travel Maverick. A few months later and he caught the bug. He baught a single speed and that was it. Overnight he transformed into a 40+ year old single speed machine. He completely dominated the MASS Master's Sport class on his SS.
Through this fall Craig has continued to impress. Many rides he has taken a position near the front and remained there. Today on such a ride at Middle Run/White Clay, after twenty eight miles, Craig went down. He went down hard. We had decided to roll back down to the skills area and try the stunts again for good measure. After the last teeter-totter and on the last drop, he fell and seperated his collar bone from his shoulder.
R.I.P. You stubborn fuck.
Sorry, had to change the tone. So he crashed. It was ugly. He was in a lot of pain. After picking his bike up off of him, we asked him to get out of the way so we could try the stunts again. When we were satisfied with the skills course, I completely expected to walk back with him. Craig wasn't having it. He got on his bike and started riding. All the way back to the car he rode. It was nuts.
I hope I'm half the stubborn bastard he is when I'm 10+ years older. Take some time off and take it easy when you start riding again. This little mishap shouldn't have much of an effect on your riding.
Check out the lump on his right shoulder. The left one doesn't look like that.
Fast forward a bunch of months and Craig was back. After riding as much as he could and eventually circles around the B guys, he was back to test himself against the premier riders of Wednesday nights in Downingtown. He did well. He did very well on his six inch travel Maverick. A few months later and he caught the bug. He baught a single speed and that was it. Overnight he transformed into a 40+ year old single speed machine. He completely dominated the MASS Master's Sport class on his SS.
Through this fall Craig has continued to impress. Many rides he has taken a position near the front and remained there. Today on such a ride at Middle Run/White Clay, after twenty eight miles, Craig went down. He went down hard. We had decided to roll back down to the skills area and try the stunts again for good measure. After the last teeter-totter and on the last drop, he fell and seperated his collar bone from his shoulder.
R.I.P. You stubborn fuck.
Sorry, had to change the tone. So he crashed. It was ugly. He was in a lot of pain. After picking his bike up off of him, we asked him to get out of the way so we could try the stunts again. When we were satisfied with the skills course, I completely expected to walk back with him. Craig wasn't having it. He got on his bike and started riding. All the way back to the car he rode. It was nuts.
I hope I'm half the stubborn bastard he is when I'm 10+ years older. Take some time off and take it easy when you start riding again. This little mishap shouldn't have much of an effect on your riding.Check out the lump on his right shoulder. The left one doesn't look like that.
posted by JenBob at
9:04 PM
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