Thud...

One more day until we have the Interwebz! Woot!

Things were a little rough here today. Woke up after "sleeping" in until 7 and then got ready to go out and ride the dual slalom track in PowPow. Waited for Will and waited some more. Turns out he was already almost there. We got packed up and out the door. One piece of GREAT news...our chain-smoking, idiot, d-bag downstairs neighbors got evicted about a week or two ago (I thought it had been kind of quiet and my air wasn't as polluted lately! Turns out they put about 12 holes in the walls, 3 broken doors, shattered windows, etc. Lovely...they are GONE!!)

Anyhow, we got up to PowPow (Will couldn't find the spot) and all got suited up. I would be trying out flats for pretty much the first time (save a poor attempt with Vans sneakers about 3 years ago). I scored a nice new pair of 5-10s (sticky SOBs, they are!) and was eager to try them out (for Whistler's sake).













New pedals...nice..........

Dan gets a call from Darren...we hadn't even gone up to the track yet when he tells us it was bulldozed 3 months ago. Wha-what??! Let's just go to Canadia where we can build whatever the F#$% we want! (rant off...)

So, we went over to our other ride spot to do some shuttle runs.

Ya know how sometimes you get that gut feeling? The feeling that something might go wrong. Well, I had that today and ignored it. The day started off with confusion, then the slalom track disappearing, Joy had to go back for her body armor.......shoulda just gone home.

We (Will, Dan, and I) pushed up and took a run down. Stopped to watch Will hit a couple jumps and then I shoved off.

Flat pedals = weird.

I got going and came into a berm with a huge rut on the left side...I high-sided and went over the berm to try to avoid getting sucked in. Wheels slid out and I rolled into a bush. Doh! Nothing hurt on the bike or me...an easy tuck and roll crash. I thought that was it...the bad gut feeling. So, I went on down the hill.

Will hit a jump and landed all squirrely. Ditto for Dan. Problems with the shifting and he stopped short of the take-off and rode away. We thought he went back down to the car so Joy & I followed. We messed around on some little drops and rollers for a while, figuring the guys were sessioning further up the hill.

Well, I caught sight of what looked like Dan walking down without a helmet on and his jersey off and thought, "Oh crap, did he crash?" But they got down to the cars and we were still playing around. Then Will called me over.

Gut feeling confirmed.

Dan ate it on a jump, cased the landing with his front wheel and had a pretty epic crash, according to Will. Landed partly on his head, helmet missing a lot of paint where he impacted...down to the white underneath. Damn.















Luckily, thankfully, he is "fine"...nothing broken, lots of bruises, and possibly a very mild concussion.

We joke that the riding spot has to be some old Indian burial ground or Pet Semetary or something else because so many people have gotten hurt there.

Anyway, went home to chill for the rest of the day. Ride for me tomorrow with Joy...Dan resting for the day.


By the way, I'm hoping Justin's going to still give me a HTFU bracelet :)