Labor Day Weekend-Man Down!
Tue Sep 2, 09:01 AM
It’s been a good one here in the Flathead! Saturday was a ride from town into Haskill Basin, then up the Summit Trail to the top of the Big Mountain. The goal was to check out the new downhill trail that opened a few weeks ago. With Greenburg, Pippo, and Halpin pushing the pace, I got left in their dust on the climb. Only when the trial started pointing down the hill, did I have to wait for them. It was a solid four hour ride that set the stage for the rest of the weekend.
Sunday was a trail run with the FVCC cross country team. This was an early season run that was supposed to be pretty casual, but had a few racy moments. We ran on the river trail out of West Glacier along the Middle Fork and had a pretty good time.
Monday was the crown jewel of the weekend as we planned to ride Alpine Trail 7. This is the ridge top trail along the Swan Range. We rode from about 25 miles from Goat Creek to Wire Creek, then down to Bond Creek. The weather was the first issue of the day. It was raining in town, and snowing on the trail. Living up to our motto, “You’ve got to be tough when you’re stupid” we hit the trail at 11:15am. We had a solid crew of Owen, Doug, Halpin, Pippo, Dustin, and Laurel. We all found that the cool weather, snow/rain, and mud were slightly miserable some of the time and tolerable most of the time. This was evident in the “perma-grins” that we all had riding down the trail. This ride was billed as the epic ride of the summer…and it did not disappoint. There were hike-a-bike sections of trail, stellar single track, steep technical climbs and decents, mud, snow, blood, but mostly smiles and high-fives. We knew it was an epic ride, we just didn’t know how epic it would be…
Just after five hours in the saddle is where my mind goes blank. I remember riding the Wire Creek trail, the final eight mile downhill. I remember getting most of the way down the trail, then I remember the CT scan at the hospital in Whitefish.
I have a big lump on my head, and the right side of my body is pretty torn up. I don’t know how I wrecked and I must have been out of sight because my friends don’t know what happened either. Doug’s story is that we were about a mile from the car when I went down. I vaguely remember the Whitefish hospital, then I remember texting my boss Paul to tell him that I can’t work in the morning.
I have a level two concussion and have an appointment at the doctor later today. The word now is that I can’t ride for a month-that is something I will have to negotiate with Dr. Erickson, as September is prime mtb season and the beginning of cyclocross season.
I am currently at home, catching up on some sleep and some tv. I should be back working and resuming normal life tomorrow or Thursday. I will post pics of the ride shortly and keep you posted with the progress of my dome.
