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July 17, 2002
cool scars today i went
cool scars
today i went to go ride the lost lakes trail on dave's mountain bike. i went and had it oiled up and got out of town a bit late, at about 1 pm. i road to the trail head and started up. i was about 3 miles up the trail when i came to an elbow in the trail. i followed it left, surrounded by thick forest and a very steep hill on my left. the trail dipped out left towards the steep and treacherous hill, and i attempted to follow it and then cut back right on to the wider part so that i could prepare for a right turn. well, i didn't quite make it to the whole cut back right part, and found myself falling off the edge towards the precipt. it was a surreal moment, i've ridden off of trails before but usually in the desert, not surrounded by green. after the first flip the bike and i seperated, and it stayed put only about 6 feet down from the trail. i however continued to tumble, scraping myself up pretty good in the process. i remember thinking that if i hit a tree it would be really bad. near the end of my rapid 25+ feet decent i managed to whack into a branch or a tree limb or something, opening up a 3 centimeter laceracion above my left eyebrow. this, as do all face injuries, began to bleed furiously. i came to a halt, checked myself to make sure that everything was still in working order, then stood up. blood was dripping down my face and onto my shirt, but i felt the wound with my hand and it wasn't too big. shakily i climbed up to the trail, pulling the bike back onto the packed dirt. i cruised slowly down the trail, stopping to ask some startled hikers how bad the wound was. they offered to take me to the hospital, but i opted to ride down towards a house where i'd seen some folks doing maintenence. they kindly offered to drive me to the hospital, after furnishing a towelso that i could wipe some of the drying blood off of my face. at the hospital i waited more then 2 hours, then the doctor shot me with a local and gave me 3 stitches. they estimated that i'd have to pay maybe as much as 500 bucks, which is shitty but not too bad. right now i'm at the library with some blood still in my hair and a big bandaid over my brow.
pretty exciting.
anyways, i'm gonna go back to camp now and rest, i snagged a cold compress out of the firstaid kit at the sealife center and i'm itching to slap it to my face. aaron ran into me and said that i'd prolly have a cool scar. i'm stoked.
hope no one else fell off a hill on a bike today. i'm ok, just glad i didn't run into a tree. desert mountain biking is much better, if i'd have been in nevada i would have had my fall cushioned by some nice friendly sagebrush. hehe.
Posted by bendan at July 17, 2002 06:56 PM
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