Vedavoo and Turtle Rock trail

As mentioned in yesterday's post, BertrandTheBold and I rode Turtle Rock trail at Vedavoo yesterday. Everything was [almost] perfect. We left work at 4, loaded up our bikes and headed out by about 4:30. It had rained at Vedavoo just enough to add some stickiness to the sand. The weather was just right, overcast and cool. The trail was also amazing. It is around 2 miles and loops around the backside of Vedavoo from East to West (or West to East, see, it's a loop). It has little uphill and downhill stretches that are a great balance of uphill cardio and downhill blasting. The trail is easy enough for mildly competent riders but features rock outcroppings that the most advanced riders can enjoy playing on.

The actual ride went very quickly because the loop was so short...we probably completed the two mile track in 35-40 minutes...taking our time. Then we just rode around on the rocks around the parking area for an hour or two: lots of fun stuff to play on. We didn't shoot many pics because we were having to much fun to stop. I have included the pics I took but none are spectacular. None of these images are from Turtle Rock trail. I didn't even take the camera out on that trail. The rocks are a blast for general rompery.

I've never been afraid of getting hurt but now I have a family to consider. I have developed a very bad habit of bailing on stuff I could ride out because these thoughts are in the back of my mind. This is actually worse than just riding it out because you land hard on your ankles, maybe trip and sprain wrists, and invaribly destroy your shins with sharp spinning pedals. It also is very hard on bikes. Case in point: I hopped a little rock yesterday at a pretty good clip. Upon landing, another rock that I didn't see before (blended in with the sand) was suddenly in front of me. This rock was roughly the height of a curb and about two feet across. Not a big deal. I can easily hop up a curb going very fast on a bike. It only requires a slight hop with the front wheel and your back tire will ride over it.

Instead of just riding over the rock I bailed, stepped on my bike as it was sideways on the ground, and smashed the rear dereulier into the rock. The rear shifting mechanism was bent bad enough that the spring-loaded little sprocket was rubbing on the wheel spokes. I was able to bend that part back pretty easily but part of the frame is bent. I need to disassemble the back gear system, reshape it, and then adjust my whole shifting system to accommodate the slightly-altered shape. Fortunately I'm pretty sure I can repair it.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I have always maintained that a fearful driver is more dangerous than an aggressive driver because indecision causes wrecks. The same thing applies to MTB: and now I have a bad habit of being indecisive on the trail. That's going to have to stop or I will destroy my bike before the summer's over.