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July 14, 2012
Bad Decisions
Well, two days a ago I decided to restart my social life; and called my friend (ironically my Buddy*) to just chill and hang out. A little later in the day, another one of my friends decided that they wanted to go mountain biking. I was working, and told them prehaps another day. Now I haven't mountain biked in quite a while, but didn't really care. I was just excited to go out on the track once more.
The next day comes and I have to work with my dad in the morning. So from more or less 7am - 12pm I was out and about working. While out, we met a rather interesting gentleman with a hotdog truck. He told us all the ins and outs of his buisiness, and my dad gave him some advice from an engineers standpoint to make his system more efficient. Either way, by the time I get back to my house it's about 1pm. My friend who mountain bikes, we'll call him Doug, decides to text me. He's just woken up and wants to go.It had just finished raining like not even ten minutes ago, so I check the weather for the rest of the day and get the all clear from my dad. I decide to get warmed up by riding over (it's like a few miles to the park), and we spot eachother across a river by an overpass. Well, I've been booking it to get to the park at this point, and have no idea in my mind of stopping.
Well after ten minutes of flicking eachother off, we finally get to the park. Regrouping at the front, discussion starts about how we're gonna attack the trails. Doug and our friend Joe have been killing trails all summer, while I just finished repairing my bike this week. We start riding to the trails and I get a call from my dad "Jake don't do anything too stupid. Also, call me when you're heading back home." I agree, putting my phone in my bag, and trying to have my friend close it. I forgot to mention we were riding uphill in the middle of the street while doing all this...
A minutes later, we're ready to start riding trails. Unfortunately I suffer from a dicease called "Situational Stupidity". Unlike regular stupidity, this disability impares judgement of the ailed when in the company of other sufferers. Side effects of it include but are not limited to:
-Bad Decisions
-Feats of Danger
-Loss of Morality
-Fearlessness
-Shamelessness
Fortunately, today the flair ups from this dibilitating sickness only included Fearlessness. Well anyways, it was decided that we were going to be running first the intermediate and then the expert tracks... The intermediate were harder than the expert in my opinion. The only thing is, you have to take a little more care when riding on the expert tracks, and my mind wasn't where it should have been. Riding on what was the last track of the day, I was feeling ballsy as ever. I took the bridge which both of my friends had refused. Dough made it in front of me where the optional bridge and diversion trail intersected, Joe rode behind us to make sure we kept pace. The trail took a climbing wind, we passed that with ease, and we started the desent. The ground went down at an angle of more or less 60 degress, with roots and rocks all the way. Doug slid down narrowly escaping falling on his face, I began to slide down, and braking, though my braking started probably a second too late. The bike had most of the weight falling in front, even with my standing back, and the front tire nailed a rock. I felt the front of the bike lift and dropped my handlebars, lifting my arms in front of my face in almost an "X". I Superman-ed over my bike, it flying with me, and came to land flat on the ground. My elbow digging into the trail taking most of the shock, while by body lifted and twisted a bit. The bike flew down into a tree, knocking down a branch; the branch coming to rest on top. Joe flew past, mouth in shock that I wiped so badly. He and Doug were being clowns though, and refused to help me get my bike out from under the tree. I got up, and brushed myself off. It's no time to be a pansy I'd thought to myself, getting reayd to lift the heavy branch off my bike. I picked it up, and hurled it onto the coarse; I quickly followed suit with the bike. I put down the kick stand on my bike, then threw the branch onto the higher ground inbetween some trees, so it wouldn't trip anyone on the track, and it wouldn't kill anyone who fell down where I did. I lost Doug and Joe after that, as my body had been sore from the crash. I couldn't find them on the trail, so I got off, sat down, and hydrated. Three minutes pass; Doug and Joe start worrying if I'd hurt myself and am still at the crash. They call me, and I tell them not to worry, I just lost them and pulled off the track early. We agree to meet back up at the entrance to the mountain biking trails. I pick up my bike, and head over to where I believe the front is. A quarter mile later, I came across a locked gate and a dead end. I start heading the other way, having almost a Friday the 13th moment. This is a heavily wooded area, and I can't escape the feeling that someone or something is stalking my position. I get the hell out of dodge, and head to the extraction point. Doug and Joe are talking about my epic crash, when Joe decides it's time we go. I agree, and we head outside of the trail area, passing one last epic trail before we go. We ride up the last manditory hill to get out of the park, and come across an incline that feels like christ himself. We're home free. I punch Doug on the shoulder and we made a plan to go riding on Monday and Thursday.
Now today, I went to hang out with my buddy, we'll call him Freddie. We spent a few hours shooting pool, and by God he is the best player I've ever known. He makes Bank Shots in his dreams, almost uses the 8 Ball as his que ball, manipulating it to open his shots and block mine. When we get older, he's definately coming to a billiard club with me.
Personal Reflection
I'd like to think that everyday I get older and wiser. I can see this in the long Journals I've posted from a while ago. Whether or not you read this once, or never read it at all, doesn't matter... It's just a time for me to write all my thoughts I guess.
 Your Uncle Grandpa · Sun Jul 15, 2012 @ 01:11am · 0 Comments |
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