A story of the glory and pain...pics included.

Hey all,
For those of you who have seen my past posts you will have noticed that I haven’t posted for a while, I have good reason and this post should definitely make up for my lack of posting! *(this will be a long post but it should definitely be worth a read)

In December, I started work running a small bike shop so I hardly get a chance to ride, quite ironic really! However, a few weeks ago I got chatting to some local riders and mentioned the severe lack of downhill and mountains in general in this area. I used to be able to look out of my bedroom window and see a downhill course so I feel a little out of place here. Anyway, these guys mentioned a mountain that wasn’t too far away, I’d recently had all my bike upgraded to the 07 spec and was desperate to try out all the new stuff (Thanks to 24sevenbikes.com !).

So, on my day off I decided to go and explore the mountain I’d heard about, I knew it wasn’t going to be the sort of stuff I was used to but not having ridden for almost two months I figured something was better than nothing!

So began my first biking trip of 07.

I reached the mountain and was pleasantly surprised by what it had to offer. At first, I attempted to ride a rambler’s path (yes a bad idea I know!). The path was extremely steep and possibly the most technical thing I’d ever ridden…picture Lisboa downtown on the side of a steep mountain, wooden uneven steps and the rocks that had purposely been placed jagged edge up like steps but sticking eight inches out of the ground either side so people couldn’t ride it. To me it just made it more fun, unfortunately my enthusiasm saw me pinning it down completely out of control with a smile from ear to ear, however, about half way down it dawned on me that if a rambler should appear there would be no possible way of stopping and death could possibly be on the cards for one of us.

I decided to venture further across the mountain and found some really fast, loose, off camber single track that was super steep. With the new Maxxis minions fitted the back end of my bike decided to almost over take the front but somehow it felt really controlled, I’ve always been good at drifting but this was a whole new level of drifting, almost like speedway!

I thoroughly enjoyed the single track but was desperate to get some air between my wheels and the soil so I went on a little mission and found a sweet 10 foot tech cliff hip. I’d ridden much bigger in the past but fearing my skills were a little rusty I got a nice dose of adrenaline and a bit of the shakes on my first attempt…..I made it easy….the thing that made this specific drop tech was about 5 feet down the drop there was a ridge sticking out….on my second attempt my tyre tapped it, somehow I didn’t eat poo. I kept riding it for a little while until I felt my skills were back up to scratch then headed home desperate for some more riding in the coming days.

So began my second biking trip of 07.

I’d managed to book a few days away from the bike shop and called up an old riding buddy. I arranged to go back to my real home and ride all of my favourite trails and parks on a 3 day road trip.

I met my old riding buddy Russ at the trail where mountain biking began for me. The trail had some major changes put in place for 07, there was some north shore, a few fair size doubles and gaps and some wooden berms. Now for some reason a lot of riders say they progress by riding everyday, I feel the opposite, if I haven’t ridden for a while it just makes me more hungry to go as fast and as big as possible, I hit every gap, jump, berm and drop faster than I’d ever hit them before, I was pedalling through stuff that had other downhillers shaking there heads……..but one thing was for sure, I couldn’t stop myself smiling.

After realising my riding hadn’t gone rusty at all and if anything I’d gained a whole new set of skills and enthusiasm from all the bike DVD’S I’d been watching I felt and urge to go big….bigger than I’d ever been before. Now, if you want to go big there’s only one place to go in Wales and that’s Cwmcarn otherwise known as MYNUDD MOJO. Designed and built by Phil Saxena (world cup course builder) and MOJO suspension one of Britain’s top suspension specialists it’s a track that has seen the likes of Cedric Gracia smashing his bike and totalling himself and his wheel and Andrew Shandro snapping his forks and ending up eating dirt. Some of the hits have been compared to red bull rampage by dirt magazine and it really does sort the men from the boys. It’s a track I used to frequent when I lived in these parts and it makes you feel like a rock star and gives you that all important confidence boost because every jump is always surrounded by photographers in the summer months.

Anyway, me and Russ pulled up and all the old locals came to the car and we caught up on what had been happening while I’d been away. We went up and began sessioning a few of the medium to big hits on the bottom section. I was a little nervy at first but a few hits on the 40 ft table and 20 ft hip seemed to boost the confidence and I was going bigger than I remember going last time I was here.

After sessioning the table and the hip I could hear this whisper on the breeze, the whisper of a jump that’s claimed many, one guy even landed throat first on his stem and almost died. It’s a jump you don’t often see getting hit. Basically put, it’s a 30-35 foot gap/double that you have to hit pedalling as fast as you possibly can in the smallest cog. I’ve tried this jump twice before, both times on single crown 130mm travel forks which saw me taking a chunk of bone out of my finger and getting pretty badly beat up. I’d never made it in the past.

I tapped my helmet, blocked out the fear and began pedalling, I could feel my breathing getting shaky, I dropped of the bridge and entered the berm before the kicker, I pedalled but something in my head always seems to say ’I think that’s fast enough you fool’. I hit the kicker, preloaded and up I went, instead of looking for the landing I was concentrating on keeping the bike levelled out, when I did spot the landing I knew I wasn’t going to make it but it was too late to bail so I just held on….BOOOOM a huge case and a collective OOOOOO from every rider on the mountain side, somehow though I managed to ride out of it unscathed……

‘More speed’ I told myself pushing up for the next attempt, by now quite a crowd was gathering. I began pedalling again, this time focusing all my energy into making sure my speed was right and ignoring the common sense voice that was screaming at me inside my head. I spotted the kicker, preloaded…..Airborne, I mean really airborne, I felt like I should be contacting a control tower for permission to land, I could feel the pedals trying to pull away from my feet, I was higher and travelling further than I think I ever have before….then…..TOUCHDOWN….perfect landing, the opening riff of ‘Holy Diver’ from Carline Dunne’s segment in Kranked 6 immediately started playing in my head, riders were shaking my hand and giving me props, my smile looked like my teeth had been glued to my lips. It was the best feeling ever, being beaten so many times only to come back and conquer one of the most feared and renowned jumps on a world cup class course.

I decided to go cool off for a bit, I went and did some real freeriding in a wood with no trail and sessioned a small road gap….by now I felt invincible.

The idea was to then go to a skate park for the evening, learn 270’s and come back the following day to attempt one over the 20 ft hip……we were heading back to the car when all of a sudden that dreaded ‘One last go’ feeling came over me.

Me and Russ headed back up to main track and decided to attempt the double in a bottom section run, I had a nagging gut feeling that something was going to go wrong, I knew I shouldn’t be having that ‘one last go’.

We began pedalling, 40ft table (which is actually fairly easy due to the position of the table on the mountain, low and fast!) then the 20ft hip, dropped off the bridge, round the berm, then there it was again, that kicker, I pedalled, preloaded and was airborne once again, everything felt right, I spotted the landing, Placed my front wheel when all of a sudden, BOOOM everything went black for a micro second, I opened my eyes and appeared to be half way through a front flip, the inevitable crunch came and went like earth giving me a big left hook. I got up, removed my helmet as non riders stood at the side, hands cupped over mouths gasping and not quite believing I managed to get up…..some riders came down and picked up my bike, at that point I thought I’d dislocated my shoulder and attempted putting it back in but it wouldn’t seem to go, then I looked at my bars and so did all the other riders that had now gathered, 4mm thick steel with a lifetime guarantee bent completely downwards from the initial impact.

I then drove Russ home, got home myself and then someone decided I should go to hospital…..Eventually I found out I had a small hole in my knee with visible knee cap, a snapped in 3 and over lapping collar bone, a fractured left thumb and wrist, a bruised and swollen temple with some slight head injuries and some pretty severe muscle damage in my neck.

It’s taken me a few weeks and I’m almost back to normal, I cant quite ride yet but cant wait until I can. Crashing this time has been and odd experience because a big crash usually puts me off that specific jump or going that big, this time though, the feeling of going that big and the props from the riders have got me addicted, I’m hooked on wanting to go that big again. 30-35 foot isn’t huge don’t get me wrong, but it’s the technicality, speed and reputation of that specific jump that have made me hooked on doing something like it, or even that specific jump again……

So next time your out on the trail, don’t think twice about going big, just do it, it’s worth it….BUT NEVER EVER EVER GO FOR THAT ONE LAST RUN!

Pics of x-rayed shoulder included.

Hope everyone else out there is safe, well, enjoying the trails and looking forward to summer.

Dan