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On Tuesday June 30th, 1998, myself and 4 others went for a ride in Rockville Hills Park. After about an hour of fun riding on a variety of trails we were cruising along on a sweet stretch of singletrack on the backside of the park. I was going first and Cheryl was just behind me. Just after going across some gnarly roots, I heard a commotion behind me that sounded like bike and rider going down hard. Cheryl's front wheel and then whole bike had slipped out from under her and she had done a "dirt cushioned belly flop and 3' slide across the roots. Luckily, no major damage. After a minute of regaining her composure we were back on the trail. Next incident happened on a short, steep, rocky fire trail we had to descend. Myself, David and Cheryl went first and we kicked up a bit of dust (foreshadowing...). Keith was next and Reed was bringing up the rear. This was Keith's 5th ride on his sweet new Santa Cruz bike. He's still learning the technical stuff. The 3 of us in front got down to the bottom and started waiting for the two others. It's a short descent so after waiting for about 2 minutes we knew something was wrong. We headed up the trail and halfway up found Keith looking like this: |
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With the dust kicking up, Keith had decided to put his glasses on. Unfortunately Keith was going down a rocky, steep fire trail at about 20 mph when he made this decision. After making the decision, Keith removed his right hand from the handlebars to grab his glasses out of his pocket. While he had just his left hand on the handlebars he hit a rough part of the road and needed to apply the brakes. Keith squeezes the left brake (for the front wheel) a little to hard and he goes over the handlebars... Did I mention this was a rocky fire trail? As you can see by the pictures, Keith's left knee and left forearm became intimate with the rocks. Luckily Keith was able to bike out under his own power! Off to the emergency room for 5 stitches in leg and 5 in arm. So, be careful out there, and keep both hands on the handlebars when riding anything technical! |
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Although the terrain in the picture to the right does not look that steep or difficult, it is. A new trail has been cut below this section because so many bikers get hurt here. This gully has a steep drop off and then a sharp right at the bottom with some big rocks to avoid. We plan to go back and shoot more pics from below the gully to try and capture the steepness. |
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