So I attended a mountain bike clinic yesterday. It was held by a local company called Total Body Fitness. They run cycling, running, open water swimming and triathlon clinics and events in the Sacramento Valley. A friend has coached for them in open water swimming, and she's helped with their mountain bike clinic, so they came recommended.
There were two levels: Mountain Biking 101 and Mountain Bike Trail Riding. I signed up for Mountain Biking 101. I have been riding a bike for a long time (lots of road riding), but just recently started mountain biking again after a more than 20 year break. My first mountain bike was a fully rigid Gary Fisher Hoo Koo E Koo from 1990. This year I bought my first full-suspension bike: a Marin Hawk Hill. Prior to purchasing, I rented a full-suspension bike in Tahoe, and also borrowed a friend's bike a few times. But really, I don't have much idea of how a full-suspension bike is supposed to ride or handle, and mine feels hard to handle. I have been feeling in over my head on many rides, so I thought I should get a lesson on the basics and hopefully gain some confidence and be safer that way.
There were only four people in my class: a teen-aged boy and two men who were probably early 30s. I was the old woman of the class, haha. The teen-ager had his dad there watching. I was worried at first that that would distract the coach; but there were actually two coaches for our small group, and they did a good job of distributing their attention.
After going over the basics of fueling and hydration, body position, gear selection and cadence, we did some braking drills. The coaches kept talking about people not using their front brakes. I don't have that problem, but it is Mountain Biking 101. We did a drill where we hit only the rear brake really hard and felt the rear tires kid. Then we practiced emergency stops. It was a challenge for me to actually do this! The first few tries I kept rolling through after braking. I ride clipped in, and one of the issues I've had with my bike is keeping it controlled after a sudden stop and dismount. When I finally did stop completely, I didn't have my weight back far enough and felt like I would go into the bars as I dismounted. Finally, after much encouragement and multiple tries, I got my weight way back, stopped completely and dismounted over the back wheel. That felt really good, balanced and even graceful. I will have to practice that again soon.
Next we worked on cornering and body position. Everyone seemed to have trouble getting themselves into the proper position. We were on a loop with a slight incline. I felt like maybe we weren't being extreme in our positioning because their wasn't a need on that terrain, but I don't know. There was lots of one-on-one coaching. I didn't quite get the feeling that my bike was taking the corner itself (described by the coach as being really fun), but I think I got the idea of not turning the bars. But I know this from road riding, especially on descents, you never want to "turn your wheel" much.
Then we went to a loop with a steeper ascent and descent, and practiced descending and cornering there. That was all fine, and I was getting really confident, until boom! I went down hard on the top of the ridge. Not sure what happened, but I'm sure it had to do with my front wheel. I was cornering right, getting ready for the descent and another right corner, when I got thrown off the bike to the left. I landed on my left side. I hit my left thigh and my head (helmet).
Nobody really saw me fall, but there was a deep hole, probably less than a foot wide, at the top of the ridge, just before the right turn to descend there. I had seen it when we were doing the loop in the opposite direction. When we switched to descending the steeper side, I lost track of the hole because we started the descent in stages (starting below the hole). The time I fell was the first time I was going around in the new direction without stopping at the top. Nobody really saw me fall (although the coach behind me heard my helmet hit). But I think I must have hit the hole and not had my front wheel straight when I hit it. Ouch.
I didn't lose consciousness, but I really hate the sound of my helmet hitting. And although I didn't think I had any broken bones, I could tell from the way my leg felt that I was going to have lots of swelling and bruising. The coach wanted me to ride the corner and descend one more time, to end on a good note,so I did. I put ice on my leg for a bit, and then we worked on wheel lifts. I was happy to learn the technique for these, because I had been trying on my own but really wasn't getting it. I couldn't lift very far, but at least I know the technique now. I tried rear wheel lifts a little, but my pedal settings are too loose, and I was also feeling a little shaky. I also discovered that in the crash, the attachment point for the tightening mechanism had ripped off the body of my helmet, so I actually couldn't tighten my helmet anymore. I called it a day.
I drove the 50 minutes home, but ended up going to urgent care,because when I got home I could barely walk with all the swelling on my quad. Xray confirmed no fracture. The young doctor scoldingly told me that this was "why you have to be more careful when you get older!" I AM more careful!
So today, I have the typical post-crash feeling of all-over soreness, but my quad actually feels much better, and I can almost limp without pain. I'll be staying off my bike for the next week or so, and I'll be replacing my helmet, but I hope to be out there again soon.
Sorry this is such a long post, but I don't have much else to do while elevating and icing
.