Thursday, February 08, 2007

If a girl endos in the woods but nobody is around to see it...

I am riding along down the Deer Run minding my own damn business when all of the sudden my bike comes to a complete stop and I am flying over the bars. I lay there for a minute trying to catch my breath and then hop up to see what the hell caused such a thing to happen. This was my first endo. You see endo-ing is one of my biggest fears of riding a bike. So much so, that I am a back-breaker meaning, I hardly ever use my front brake to avoid this horrible fate!

Back to my story, so I look at the trail and can clearly see the indentation in the ground where my front tire stopped suddenly but there is no apparent cause for this to have happened. No rocks, no logs, not even a twig, nothing! Dazed and confused, I try to hop back on the bike and catch the group. It won't go anywhere. I check the back break thinking maybe the pads are stuck on the rotor or something. Nope, they are fine. Then I look at the front tire and notice that the skewer is stuck in the rotor! I can't get it out and am just concerned with catching the other riders so I start walking the bike on it's back tire and leave the front one in the air (a trick Kathy taught me while we were hike-a-biking at our daughters soccer practice).

Finally, I see Kathy in the distance coming for me. She has a look of concern on her face. I tell her what happened, she removes the weeds sticking from my helmet and then turns her attention to the bike. She takes off the tire and hands me a piece of something. I ask her what it is and she very casually says "a piece of your fork" I start to FREAK. I say "WHAT?" "No it is not" and then she shows me the void that piece had left on the fork. She takes off my tire and gets the skewer loose and puts the tire back on. We figure it is safe enough to ride slowly back to work. So that is what we do.

The damage? The fork down something-or-other (the hookey thing that holds it to the tire) is broken off much like this and the rotor (disc brake) is bent or warped. I call my mechanic (also my husband) and have him stop by my office after work to assess the damage. It is his opinion that the fork failed or broke which caused it to twist and suck the skewer into the rotor and causing the bike to come to a sudden stop. He also thinks it has been cracked for some time. He gets on the phone to Fox and tells them what happened and arranges to send the fork back to them. We are hopeful that this is a warranty issue being that the bike is less than a year old and I weigh less than 100 pounds and do XC riding not dirt jumping! We are also trying to get the warped rotor covered by Fox. I will update everyone later on the status of that as things develop.

We arrive home and Brent asks if I need anything to which I respond "yeah, a stiff drink" he tries to give me whiskey but I refuse and decide on some Smoking Loon Cabernet which I proceed to almost finish all by myself. I guess I was more shook up by all this that I expected to be or just thirsty, whatever.

My mechanic then took an old Rock Shox Sid fork he had laying around (thanks to Bill) and installed it on my bike so I won't even miss one day of riding. He called our buddy Todd who drives for Fed Ex and got a box delivered to pack the fork into. He packed it all up and then took it back to Todd to ship out to Fox today. I am hopefully going to have the replacement by this time next week.

Physically how do I feel today? Like I got hit by a truck. I landed on my head and left shoulder so obviously my shoulder hurts, a lot. But for some strange reason, the entire right side of my body from my ear lobe to my lower back hurts. Oh, and it hurts when I cough. I am pretty sure I did not break a rib or puncture my lung....

Ride on...

16 comments:

Jeff Moser said...

Oh you were just jealous that I got a cool crash helmet memorial and wanted one too! Sounds like you get more points for hitting the ground though...ouch!

I inspected Kristy's dropouts on her Fox fork this morning, and swapped out the dumb Specialized QR for a Shimano. We will order some Salsa or Hope skewers tomorrow. I also put the QR on the right side, away from disc rotor! Thank you for all your "research"!

Kristy said...

I am glad to hear this won't prevent you from riding. Sounds like you got your bike bandaged up until you can get some new parts on it.

Maybe your mechanic can work out some of your sore muscles tonight!

Sandie said...

Dropout, that is what that thing is called! I could not remember, my mechanic kept calling it something but I was only half listening and drinking...

Scott said...

So you're a back breaker huh...Thats what I thought I remember Brent telling me...

Seriously, thats pretty messed up. I'm sure you've thought of 100 other places you're glad it didn't happen.

Michelle said...

Sheesh, bad deal. I will have to inspect our dropouts a bit more often.

I hate endoing. I did one last summer, ended up facing up a hill I was just coming down. Hurt myself but the bike was fine.

Tequila was my remedy. Glad to hear you are not hurt badly and can still ride-:)

Todd said...

I think you just enjoy writing crash blogs and having Brent wait on you.

Anonymous said...

Crash helmet memorials are for pilot error not mechanical failure. Sorry Jeff.

Tim said...

Broken bones, headers, Kristy getting knocked unconscious ... you FBC riders rack up a lot of medical time! :)

Glad you're OK (this time).

Jeff Moser said...

Yeah sure, "Anonymous". Pilot error is much more glorious than mechanical failure. Or is the other way around?

Jeff Moser said...

Yeah I know, Tim! We need to clean up our act or people are going to think we're retarded...

Sandie said...

First of all, the fork BROKE it had nothing to do with my superior riding ability.

Everyone got that? It BROKE, it was not my fault...

Kristy said...

Hey you know what, I have fallen and I am not ashamed to say so, nor am I retarded! Even if I was I would still be riding, and I hope that would be ok with everyone.

One can go through life taking the safe road or take a risk and have some fun on a bike. Shoot I have broken bones walking down the hall, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't walk anymore.

I learned a lot from my crash and will be an even better riding because of it.

Scott said...

On the previous moser/geocities website there is a link dedicated specifically to the crashes. As a former FBC member I can say they used to be even worse. Helicopter rides, jaws wired shut and I'm sure a few concussions that went undiagnosed. They are a tough bunch of folks. If you ride, you will fall.

Jeff Moser said...

I'm not calling anyone retarded, but I sure felt that way after my last header. It was just a dumb thing to do. I wasn't even doing anything cool...just pushing up my helmet! Where's the honor in that?

Part of what makes the sport fun though, is the fear and challenge of not getting hurt. There are no safety nets or seatbelts like at Disneyland!

Scott - "Used to be a FBC member"? I never said you could quit beatch! Oh you're in for life! Ah the memories of yesteryear...someone came back to work bleeding on a daily basis.

Tim said...

Oops. I think I stirred up trouble. No, wait, Jeff made the "retarded" crack. Bad Jeff! Down boy!

Besides, I think chicks with mountain biking scars are hot. Not that I'm calling anyone's wives hot.

Er, not that I'm not saying you're not hot.

Not that I'm ... oh, crap.

Say, how about that picture of Jeff with the tulips?

Kristy said...

Ok boys, apologies accepted. I guess girls are just more sensitive on this subject.

Jeff keeps telling me that "crashes are like badges of honor." With that honor comes a little hitch. One should expect to be razzed about a crash for weeks, months even possibly till death.

From now on I will wear my badge high and proud!