pain

While riding yesterday, getting ready for the race on Sunday, I took a
spill. It was pretty bad, but only because I landed on a pointy rock
right on my lower back/upper butt.

I laid there in the trail,
too much in pain to move if anyone came. Luckily it only hurt really
bad for about a minute. Then I was able to stand up.

After I got
back on my feet and inspected my bike, I decided to finish the ride.
But, after riding just a few feet, I noticed my left crank arm felt
loose.

Great.

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I've been mountain biking for one year now and it's time to pay the fiddler...

I told my wife and friends that if I was still biking the next time the New Bethlehem Peanut Butter Festival Mountain Bike Race rolled around that I'd enter.

It's important everyone know that a year ago I was 5'5" and 230lbs. I rode all fall and winter which was pretty good for skill building. I figured riding technical crosscountry trails through the snow and ice in Northwestern PA sure beat sitting in front of the TV.

So now mid August a year later, I've lost some weight (20lbs) and gained some skill for the technical single track I have available to me. My big problem is that the recreational (just for fun) riding I do isn't really helping my speed as much as I'd like. Especially not for a 15 mile cross country race..

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Twas a hot day on the trail and Abe, Dave and myself were having one of our regular saturday morning rides on the Doumont Trail system in Nanaimo, BC. We were on a trail called 'Styx' which is a winding, rooty trail with lots of upturned trees and rotting logs. At one point we had stopped for a breather and some H2O. Dave was having a drink when he though he had a stick stuck in his shirt as he was being 'poked'. But it kept sticking into him - time and time again. He had actually stopped about 5 feet from a wasps nest in the side of a rotten fallen log. Then it really started to sting and that is when he realized it was something biting him.

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