General Cycling Discussion - A River Ran Through It. (and i fell in it.)

Well, today was finally my day. After a month or so of not crashing with my new eggbeater's, today I was baptised. It wasn't your conventional baptism, no this one was "clipless style."

After many recent heavy rains, the countryside has been flooded and many of the rivers left their banks for days. This morning, i decided to ride the mountain bike out into the hills on the country roads to breathe some fresh country air. I decided to take a 4 mile stretch of dirt, unmaintained backroad that i knew was bi-sected my at least two creeks that had to have been recently out of their banks because of the recent rain.

I knew i might have some water hazards ahead but felt adventurous. My first clue was when i thought i was avoiding a roadkill rabbit and it turned out to be a dead carp! I learned that the road was basically pretty dry and i was suprised. However it was very bumpy. Thousands of tons of water can do that to a road.

After a couple teeth jarring miles on the road, i came to my first swamp. Crap! The whole road was a muddy swamp! Turn back? Heck no! I ride on and crank my way through the swamp as i watch my tires grow to mammoth size with all of the accumulated mud. Yeah! I made it through, and back onto dry land.

I was almost back to a gravel road and thinking to myself, "i can't believe how easy it has been to get down this road", when i look up at what is supposed to be the end of this road. Instead it is a lake. So now, only 40 yards seperate me from the nice smooth gravel road. Oh yeah, 40 yards of water and mud. Fortunately, i was able to see a pretty dry strip on the side for awhile so i started to ride it across. Suddenly this path got very bumpy and i knew i was going to have to plant my feet on the ground.

I had 6 inches of dry ground bordered by a wheat field and 50 feet of solid water on the other side. I unclipped my right foot so i could stop and survey the situation. Just then a nice little bump projected me heavily to the left. Yep. It is my time. I am going over. Splash!!!! Baptism by clipless! There I lay in the mud with my left foot still clipped in and my entire left side in the mud. Had to be an amazing site. Unfortunaltey there were no witnesses. That is why i chose to share!

(Yeah, i am fine. Pretty soft landing in mud. Just a minor scrape on the knee that i didn't even see till i got home and hosed off some mud!!)

If you're going to go might as well go in style and make it big and memorable. Great story and glad to hear nothing but your pride was injured.

Hey, in mountain biking, no mud is accidental (at least, thats what you should tell people). The muddier you are coming off the trail, the better time you must have had. Little do they know, you cheated. ;)

I'm glad you aren't banged up, which is good, because it means I can laugh without feeling guilty. :) I had a clipless collapse yesterday myself, though it was because I was carrying a third bike wheel over my shoulder with one hand, and wasn't able to properly stabilize myself when I rolled into my backyard. A soft muddy landing would have been nice. :D

Enjoy!

peace,
sam

Thanks for sharing a funny story. Once on a motorcycle dirt bike I put the kickstand down into space with nothing under it on the steep bank of a stream. I leaned left into the air, fell upside down on my back in the stream with the bike squarely on my chest upside down. You know that black mud? It's not good for leather jackets. I did have a witness, I was actually showing him the "ropes" and I was getting off to go help him !

Well, today was finally my day.
<snip>

(Yeah, i am fine. Pretty soft landing in mud. Just a minor scrape on the knee that i didn't even see till i got home and hosed off some mud!!)

ROFL... thanks for sharing, glad youre ok. Not laughing at you, just empathising with you and recalling a few of my own horizontal trackstands.

Sounds like a great ride tho! wish I had that variety of terrain nearby.

sounds kinda like my first sexual encounter

Hmm. Kinda reminded me of my most recent one.

I'm worried about you boys and relating mud to your love lifes. Where I come from there would probably be a barnyard animal reference right around the corner. :D

I was almost back to a gravel road and thinking to myself, "i can't believe how easy it has been to get down this road", when i look up at what is supposed to be the end of this road. Instead it is a lake. So now, only 40 yards seperate me from the nice smooth gravel road. Oh yeah, 40 yards of water and mud. Fortunately, i was able to see a pretty dry strip on the side for awhile so i started to ride it across. Suddenly this path got very bumpy and i knew i was going to have to plant my feet on the ground.

I had 6 inches of dry ground bordered by a wheat field and 50 feet of solid water on the other side. I unclipped my right foot so i could stop and survey the situation. Just then a nice little bump projected me heavily to the left. Yep. It is my time. I am going over. Splash!!!! Baptism by clipless! There I lay in the mud with my left foot still clipped in and my entire left side in the mud. Had to be an amazing site. Unfortunaltey there were no witnesses. That is why i chose to share!

(Yeah, i am fine. Pretty soft landing in mud. Just a minor scrape on the knee that i didn't even see till i got home and hosed off some mud!!)

'Tis a blessing no one saw you. I was leading a mountain bike ride here in Denver once along Cherry Creek. It was a lovely March day, about 50 F and very sunny. The singletrack trail we were riding goes along the creek and at one point had a tricky transition where you had to lean out over the creek to clear a tree with your handlebar and then immediately lean back to get around the tree. I'd done it dozens of times with no one around and was feeling really cocky.

I came to the tree, leaned out to clear the tree trunk and then leaned the bike back in but I hadn't cleared the tree and slammed the end of the handle bar into to trunk. It knocked me off the bike and I fell about 4 feet straight down into about 3 feet of water! I remember looking up as the water closed over me and seeing a lovely deep blue sky... and the look of shock on my ride partners faces!

I jumped up, still standing in 3 feet of March water, and gasped the biggest breath of air I have ever gasped in my life. While I was standing there, in 3 feet of March water, a lady who was participating in the March of Dime Walk-a-thon (along with 3000 other people...witnesses, if you will) asked, "Did you mean to do that?"

I almost fell back in the 3 feet of March water, laughing :D

Your baptism is far more worth a story than any of my can't-unclip stories. I was stopped at a light with a friend, unclipped on my right, but with my left foot out of position. I ride fixed, so I thought I would back up to get my left foot forward. I put my weight onto my left foot, leaned too far left, and bam, went over. I am such a ****.

F-u-n-n-y!!!