What's less fun and less safe than listening to music?

[marty]

We had a guide. His main job was to irrigate the wounds and apply Polysporin! Seriously he was a good historian and told us plenty about the Telluride railway and the mining history of the town. He also told us the story of Nikola Tesla's Ames Power plant, the first (for industrial purposes) AC power plant in the US (1891; still operating today) as we took a break while riding by the site located near the town of Ophir.

 

[Mobiusman]

It was truly a fun ride, except for when it was not! It was 14 miles, mostly downhill, but speaking for me and I believe Steve, we were still acclimating to the elevation, that I believe played a major role in my tumble and face plant into a large slab of granite. Had it not been a relatively smooth surface, it would have been much worse, with the worst part of my fail was realizing that a relatively simple 14 mile ride above 10,000 feet is not simple if you are having a high altitude senior moment, which probably caused me to lose focus and down I went. I was quite lucky that I went into the mountain, because the other way merely 24-36 inches to the right would have been a fall of atleast 1000 feet, if not 2000. While i am currently posting installments of my bucket list system, which has generated many life value thoughts, my thoughts on this adventure are it has been done, I was lucky, and thus I am glad I did it, but I will leave it with a check signifying that I am not likely to do it again.

 

[DaveC]

One thing about mt biking, the techniques for riding technical terrain and cornering are counter-intuitive. Even worse, your natural inclinations will often lead you to do the worst thing possible on the bike, while attempting to save one's self a beginner will do the exact thing that'll ensure an unhappy ending. Unlike skiing, often it's simply not possible to stop on a bike and there are points of no return where total commitment is required.

It's not a bad idea to get some coaching if you want to learn to mt bike. Lots of coaches are popping up these days too.

Also, Pinkbike has a compilation of crash vids and you can definitely learn a lot from them. 75% of the footage involves wheels leaving the ground combined with riders who have no idea what's going to happen and are making far too large a leap above their ability level.

Mt biking isn't easy but it's an amazing sport in so many ways. If you're going to do it, imo it needs to be part of your lifestyle, you need to ride often because it's not fun until your skills and fitness exceed a certain level.

 

[Folsom]

You have to look where you want to go, and forget about where you are

 

[mullard88]

I admire your sense of adventure and your guts to take on such an activity.

 

[Steve Williams]

You have to look where you want to go, and forget about where you are

when you're at an elevation of over 10000 feet biking along the side of the mountain on trails that were no more than 3 feet wide makes it impossible for me (fear of heights) to forget where I was.

As Russ Said, I also checked the box that says II won't be doing it again. I look at it that for me I had two rides that day......my first and my last

I thought that after 4 days we were acclimated to the altitude however when your pulse is well over 100 and your heart is pounding so hard that it feels as if your chest is going to explode. Reaching the valley floor for me was a wonderful sense of achievement but I must have depleted my entire body reserve of dopamine and adrenaline as it took me several hours to decompress

To DaveC, Bobvin and Folsom, I give you guys top grades and high 5's for your excellent abilities. If I were to stay on a bike for me, my choice would be a road bike and leave the acrobatics to you youngsters. Russ and I felt like Methuselah riding back in the van

 

[Folsom]

when you're at an elevation of over 10000 feet biking along the side of the mountain on trails that were no more than 3 feet wide makes it impossible for me (fear of heights) to forget where I was.

It's very hard to get use to, but staying on single track is pretty much impossible if you're not looking where you're going.

One time I took a "MTB class" at UM. The instructor stopped to take photos of us. Well I looked at him and the next thing I know I deviated from the single track just enough to have a leaning tree suck me off my bike!