Still counting bruises from yesterdays daftness,hopefully offloading some stupidity may help the healing process…..
Dropper stopped popping back up during yesterdays ride,meaning manual lifting of seatpost whenever necessary.
Ride ends,rolling down hill back to the carpark,reach down to grab seat whilst pressing dropper lever,only for reasons that I still dont understand pull rear brake lever instead,resulting in glorious skid then graceful highside over the bars and a couple of rolls into the undergrowth.
Thankfully no lasting damage apart from a few tears (tears ?),pretty funny looking back on it but oh-so-avoidable !

Did anyone see it happen 😳

Hmm two spring to mind…

1st. Riding a bit of narrow, off-camber, slimy train in the Alps – nothing hard or serious but ‘tricky’. Guide says “this is a bit tricky, stay AWAY from the front brake” this information went into my brain, span about a bit and out popped – “use the front brake, now HARD” which I did, BANG, the BANG was the sound of my left ankle going in a direction it shouldn’t a tearing a load of ligaments/tendons I forget which, on the way. Followed by spending 3 days in the hot tub bored – knowing full well heat was the last thing it needed and an arseload of prescription pain killers (which my Dad’s name on the label) and big strap and riding DH on it to the point I had to land every jump by sitting on the seat a split second after landing or the pain made me cry. Way past daft and into stupid now.

2nd. Fast forward a few months and I’m back home on an uplift day at Cwmcarn, with my now ‘dicky’ ankle. Good day, about 9-10 runs and I’m tired – sent the last drop off the bridge like a Pro (in my head) and landed like a sack of spuds (in real life) by rode it out and finished the run, no drama, only there was – unknown to me, that landing was the final straw for my ankle, no pain, couldn’t feel a thing but I’m knackerd so roll past the bus to meet my mate at the gate, just as the bus is passing I step off my bike and BANG I’m on the floor – ankle gave up the second I put my foot on the floor and I’m down an it’s killing me – but to everyone on the bus, fat old Lad has just fallen off the side of his bike into a pile on the floor. Driver had to stop through fear of crashing he was laughing so much.

Sunday, riding home from the bike club’s Christmas meal, Sustrans route with a Double-side wooden bridge (one side with anti-slip panels one side not) Everyone else goes right, I go left which was my first mistake. Get to within 5 metres of the end of the bridge then decide to stand up ‘cos the slippy wood is nearly finished….

hit the ground sideways like a sack of poop and now have a big old corned-beef-rash down my right side and a big sore lump on my hip :0(

Bloody hell, hello Ant! Hope you heal soon.

Mark P

Hiya Mark! No real harm done, as I was quite, er, relaxed at the time 🙂

Hope you and yours have a good Christmas

Practicing my wheelies while waiting for others to finish their pre-ride faffage in the car park at High Beech, Epping Forest, on a mega-busy Sunday morning.

Of course I went too far back, looping out and landing hard on my tailbone. Had to fight back tears of pain while trying to look nonchalant.

Reading trustyrusty’s post just reminded me – more recently I was finishing a ride, last little muddy chute in the woods about 100m from my house.

I handle the steep muddy bit no problem but forget about the wooden bridge on the run out.

Still braking as I hit it, the bike slips sideways instantly and I end up falling left and actually getting jammed in the wooden balaustrade. Fortunately no witnesses to that one, but ended up with a yellow & black leg for a week or so.

local woods, approaching previously unridden steep rooty bit, we’re doing a fair speed. I pull up at the top to have a look, mate comes flying into me and we both tumble down the roots bikes n’ all laughing our heads off.

Returning from the pub after a swift pint, which may or may not be related. I wisely took the cycle path home, however at a certain point there is a bus stop and other street clutter, so I look back other my shoulder to check for cars so I can join the road and cycle chest first at speed into a lamp post.

At Brechfa after a few wet days. Slowly grinding up the second big climb on the Raven where it’s got a few drainage ditches running parallel to the trail, spot one has got a bit deep in the centre so go to the right where it looks solid and normal. As my front wheel starts to go over it I notice that the solid surface is actually just debris and sludge, too late to do anything so try to pull the front wheel up and manual over it. Sadly all I do is push the wheel down into the sludge, causing it to drop low enough that me and the bike just pivot round the front axle and I end up completely turtle 😳

All happened at 2mph and in super slo-mo, bruised back and sore shoulder.

I spent years telling myself that I wasnt riding the drops in Wharnecliffe because I only had a hardtail. Bought a full sus, headed straight to a decent size drop off and landed neatly on my face. Joined this place later that day hence my user name