The Crash After the Crash...

I’ve been traveling quite a bit lately and recently was in the city of Victoria on Vancouver Island, BC. It was absolutely gorgeous over there and we made sure to bring our bikes. The trip primarily was so that my girlfriend Elladee could do some dealer visits and get some work done. While we were there we stayed at her business partner Lisa’s house. Luckily we had some downtime after the workday to hangout with Lisa, her boyfriend Kevin, Kevin’s son Jordan, and another friend named Braden. We had all talked about going for a fun group ride the day before, but it never happened. Well, since it doesn’t get dark over here until around 10:00 pm we had just finished eating an awesome dinner Lisa and Kevin made us and I shout out, “Hey, let’s go for a ride!!” I was pretty gung-ho, but I could tell the food was still settling with everyone else. Luckily I don’t give up easy and I managed to talk them into it. It was about 8:30 pm so I knew we had to fully rally to get everyone sorted and on their bikes.

We were all ready to go in a matter of minutes and were out on the road on the way to a trail. Once we got there I made sure to lead us out. At the moment I am borrowing a friends’ hand cycle and it’s a nice bike, but it’s meant to stay ON the road. Hehe. However, the trail was really basic with some fun double-track trail with some pretty big roots strewn across it and a cool looking lake just to the left down the embankment. So like I said I decided to lead everyone out and was keeping a pretty good pace. Every once in awhile I would hit one of those tree roots and it would kick one of my back wheels up a bit, but all I had to do was lean into it and it would go back down. We had been out riding for a good 30 minutes and not only was it getting darker, but we were under some pretty thick trees so it was getting pretty hard to see. I kept it pinned knowing we needed to get back, but also because I don’t believe in doing anything slow. Slow is boring! Well, I’ve come to learn that slow is sometimes a little smarter! As I’m cranking along I come up on 3 massive roots and try to hit them head on instead of at an angle, but when I do one of them unexpectedly kicks my right rear wheel up in the air so much so that I can’t save it. Mind you I’m still pedaling and have a huge smile on my face. I was up on two wheels for a couple feet before I end up upside down and laughing my ass off!!! Everyone jumped off their bikes and ran over to help me since I am strapped into that thing and am just skiii-rooed if I tip. All you could hear was, “Ha Ha…Ha Ha Ha Ha…Ha Ha….!!!!” They got me back upright and I was still smiling and ready to go. Elladee and Kevin just looked at me with this look as if to say, “ Dammit Tara slow down before you give us a heart attack!” Turns out I was only about 3 feet away from landing upside down in the freaking’ lake!! Oooops! I just looked at them, said I was sorry, and took off pinning it down the trail! Heehee.

That ride was the first time I have been off-road since my accident and even though it was a little different I still had a smile on my face.