Old. Older. Oldest. Me.

I’m starting to see a pattern in this iteration of the NSSC…the word old. What’s old is new again, this shit is getting old, and now I’m too old. 

The very first version of this blog (to which I’ve lost the credentials and even the actual name of it - I’m sure it’s floating around on the internet somewhere) was borne out of a crash on my mountain bike. It seems if I have been good at anything on a mountain bike, it’s been crashing. Hell, this blog had a couple year run of me detailing multiple crashes and even more injuries. 

In keeping with the new theme, what was old is new again, kinda. I went down with the ship yesterday, fairly hard too. It’s been a hot minute since I’ve kissed the earth and I can’t say I’ve missed it. But as with most of my crashes, it was a potent combo of speed, bravado, and possibly riding above my skill level.  That coupled with the fact I tend to ride like I’m still in my 30s and not almost 55 (I just gagged a little typing that). 

Now, understand I’ve never loved crashing, but it has always been a part of cycling, especially mountain biking. I’ve understood the risks, but as I’ve gotten older, if I’m not feeling something, I’ll go around or walk over the obstacle, no shame in that to ensure riding another day. This was emphasized even more after my rash of injuries a few years back. But, crashing now is on a different level. I was clipping along at a pretty decent pace, descending Far West trail at HLMP. A little maneuver on a high-side banked turn and as I came out of it all of the sudden *BLAM* on the ground wondering how I got there. I laid on the ground for a few seconds, taking account of my situation before I got up, dusted myself off and continued on. 

For the next few minutes, I took it easy on the descent, before finally opening it back up and hitting the few jumps and finally descending through the flow-trail to finish the ride. 

Ultimately I’m OK, but not without some reminders that will linger for a while. 

This elbow has scar tissue
layered on scar tissue.  

Couple this with the fact that now Garmin has metrics on their Edge products that tell you how many jumps you completed, how fast you were going when you jumped, how much hang time you had and how far you jumped and you’ll quickly see that some of these things might not be good for an aged mountain biker. 

This metrics page is going to get me in trouble. 

But hey, I haven’t crashed in quite some time, so I was probably overdue. And it taught me something…I can crash and not get seriously hurt, so I’ll most likely try that again. This most likely wasn’t the lesson I was supposed to learn.