Broke-Neck Mountain

19 November - Today we celebrated the Vernal Equinox (i'm not completely sure if it actually was the vernal equinox because no mention of it was made on the day) with a downhill mountain bike ride on Mount Seymour. Ghostrider had sent a bunch of flyers around downtown with an invitation to all of the 'atta-boys' and 'way-to-goes' and a few people seemed to be showing a tentative interest. I expected it to be a drive up to the mountain and then some pretty heavy offroad riding around the place. It was a bit more than that. There was a smaller than expected showing but it still included a fair few couriers (me, Ghostrider (jeff), Dr Death (might have been derek), Mo (a kind of biker), Ozzie Andy, and a few friends. About a dozen riders in all. Herb the Muffinman came alongwith a huge supply of yesterday's Cobs bread nosales which were distribud to all of us and every other group we encountered. He was very concerned about my bad medical news and he assured me that his prayers where with me - he's a very special man. He does so much for the community, especially the biker couriers (a much maligned group of society), and we all love him.
I began to feel a little wary of the day's events when I saw the extremely high end bikes that a lot of the guys had and the fact that quite a few of them were clad in full body armour (full face helmets, breastplate, arm and leg protectors), it was like watching mounted knights in armour gettingready for a jousting event. Once we were all present and accounted for we were driven to the top of the mountain where we were left to get back down. Within the first few metres the trail shrank to a rough line that went down - i've never seen such a biketrail in my life, there were rocks heaped all through the trail, multiple drops of up to a metre, long suspended pathways not 30cm across, thick snow, boulders, riverbeds, long seventy degree slopes, and other features that were completely unrideable. I wiped out within the first 20m and several times afterwards. Afew of them were pretty hard but mostly I was going so slowly I could almost throw my bike out from under me and have a comparitively soft blow. It was pretty terrifying at times and I found myself carrying my bike for several longstretches on the ride - it was definitely way beyond my ability. Halfway down I saw signs showing that we were on a black diamond run, which did go a longway to explain my inability to stay upright.Despite a couple of other MTB riders of my ability The other riders in our group were for the most part expert downhill riders - they would ride down at breakneck speed the most precarious trails, doing jumps and stunts over obstacles I wouldn't eve dream of negotiating - it was like being in a Pepsi Max commercial or watching an extreme sports video. Despite the terror and frustration I felt for most of it there were some parts where I could ride down without too much trouble but it was still unpleasant for the most part - this was not helped by a constant excruciating running commentary from mo who just would not shut up until he took a massive spill of his own which completely knocked the wind out of him (at least for an hour or two). I was so relieved to get to the end and i'd decided I wasn’t going to go up again because it was just too dangerous. However, jeff told me there was a slightly easier blue run that came off the diamond and there was also the added advantage of BSP Cycles having free demo test rides for anyone wanting to go down the mountain. I was set up with an amazing Trek dual suspension mountain bike that went for about four thousand dollars and we were allowed to just drive it to the top with no supervision - the second time down was incredible. I still walked a few spots but the bike was amazing - it would take all the jolts out of the ride and I found myself taking one metre drop and extended near vertical runs over rocks and logs with hardly any effort at all. I constantly felt like I was about to be thrown straight over the handlebars but I would just lean backwards and bounce and roll all the way down. Still had a few small crashes but stayed remarkably upright. It would certainly have to be the most 'extreme' thing i've ever done. Was a little concerned about causing any injury prior to surgery but justified it by saying there was no way i'd be able to do it after the operation and hey, you only live once. When we got back I also had a go of one of the road bikes they had on displayand zipped around the carpark for a while - lots of fun too, but nothing like going downhill.
Upon returningto downtown I hooked up with Thane - my short lived trainee who helped me do a fair whack of work on my bike - very happy with the result although it took four hours (twice as long as he had assured me). He's a very good mechanic (if a somewhat hopeless courier) and he taught me a great deal about what I should do to keep my bike working better as well as how to do some fairly serious repair and modifications. Bikes really aren't that complicated when it comes down to it - they just need to be mothered a bit. Baby blue needs a lot of mothering. I really feel for Thane - his work problems seem to be sorted out at the moment but he's in a bad situation, absolutely desperate for cash (lives in a tiny student hostel) and gives everything he earns to his ex-wife so she will let him see his son. I paid him for the discounted parts and labour he put into the bike but he was just going to give it straight away to his ex - there's always more to every story than what's told but I can’t imagine how anyone like him could deserve to be in such a miserable position. I hope to hell that it improves soon.