Wow great read, SP2!!
Lots of nuggets in there from the OP and the rest of the gallery.
Kinda hit me at the right time too since I just had a very sketchy situation that happened to me on , of all places and things , a dirt bike.
Some of you may have known that I recently accquired a dirtbike after a great experience at the American Supercamp.
So for my first trip I went to Metcalf with a friend and two "squids". These guys have only been riding dirt for a couple of months. They're obviously pretty much ahead of me on the learning curve when it came to riding dirt. These guys ride like they have nothing to lose and it truly shows. At first I was admiring them because of their balls but my friend was quick to point out the difference between talent and stupidity. He kept telling me to ride my own ride and keep my ego in check.
A couple of things I found out while riding a dirtbike, #1. it's not a street bike and #2 it's not a streetbike. I found myself in situations where I knew I was in over my head, steep hills and the motocross track come to mind. I was doing relatively fine but I probably shouldn't have been riding as aggresively as I was. More so cuz I didn't know jack shit about my bike yet and I didn't know jack shit about riding in the dirt. I had more oh shit moments in Metcalf that day than I ever did in all of my combined street and track riding on my supersport. I managed to stay alive and injury free that day though and had a ton of fun. It's only dirt , right? Very Reckless indeed.
Fast Forward one week later and we were out at Angels camp with the same friend and the same two squids. We got there at 8am and were on the trails at 8:30. The day went on with the 2 squids doing crazy shit and with me trying to go mano a squid. I noticed that my friend , who's had 30+ years of experience, kept to his own pace and joined in very selectively to our continued shenanigans. As a result I must have fallen off my bike a good 4-5 times. No injuries , just wounded pride.
Towards the end of the day we came up to this rock quarry that was blocked off by big ass boulders. The squids proceeded to hump their bikes over the boulders and so of course Mr. CANNOT BE OUTDONE, had to follow. We proceeded to ride like asses and pulled wheelies and did donuts. Someone had a bright idea to do a little drag racing. Oh cool, let's do it. We did 3-4 little drag races and on the last one of the day, I was feeling tired at this point, we lined up with me being on the farthest left. 1,2,3 GO!!!
The squid on my right (Mike) gets a holeshot on me and left a big cloud of dust in my pathway...It was a good secod or two til I got a clear vision of what was in front of me, as my view cleared the first thing I saw was Mike almost directly in front of me stopping very, very abruptly and veering left to my path. I was going to TBONE the bastard going at least 30-40 miles an hour!! My next reaction was to slam on the brakes and veer right , I barely cleared him , clipped his right side with my left handlebar and the next thing I know , I was off the bike and landing on my ass, sliding towards a big ass rock sticking out from the ground. I managed to roll but I still hit the rock with my chest and knocked the wind out of me.
Immediately , I felt excruciating pain on my right hip and my tailbone, I was sure I broke something. FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!! As I lay there on my back , the only thing I can think off is my wife and how she is going to freak the fuck out because her worst fears will have been realized. The next thing I thought about was the helicopter ride and the agonizing wait for it because we were out in the middle of Deliverance Country. The first thing I did was count to 10 and move my toes, cool it's wiggling. I moved my fingers , check! Got a feeling of my neck. I got my camelback hose and sucked some cold water and that refreshed me more than anything in my life. Long story short I was able to get back up on my feet after getting my breathing back to normal after 10 minutes of just laying there. After taking inventory of my body I was convinced I didn't break anything. And oh yeah, the CRF230F , fired right back up! Awesome bike BTW! I was able to ride it back to our rallypoint but my tailbone and hips were sore as hell. Every bump was excruciating.
Mike, BTW,didn't even fall off his bike even after I clipped him, he was completely stopped at that point and didn't even see me almost split his body in half. He was truly apologetic. I asked him why he made such an abrupt stuff. His reason: He saw some broken glass and didn't want to go over it :rolleyes. Mind you the quarry was filled with broken glass and other shit that we've been rolling through the whole time . Another story for another day then.
I rode like an ass that day and I paid for it. I target fixated among other things and rode way over my skill level because it was only dirt!! My ego got the better off me and I paid for it. I could've killed this guy or I could have been paralyzed had I hit that rock with my head or my spine . I realized that the biggest squid that day was ME! The whole day was leading to a big cluster fuck and it's fortunate that it only cost me a sore hip, bruised tailbone, a gearshifter and a handle bar. It could've been much, much worse and it all could've been avoided.
However, I will never forget laying there looking up to blue skies, knowing I broke something major, and thinking that my wife will have to look after me , an invalid dumbshit squid. Man, I never want her to go through that and knowing my wife, she will take care of me for the duration. That's just not right.
