Wilsons Sandbox

----- Original Message ----- From: Sarah Barwig To: Mcadv_Touring mcadv_touring@onelist.com> Sent: Monday, April 17, 2000 4:40 PM Subject: [mcadv_touring] FW: ride report 4-15/16 > Not exactly a trip report, more like a slip, trip and fall report, but it > should help wipe away the winter blues... > > long story short: > Sarah rides off-road. > Sarah falls in sand. > Sarah has sprained ankle. > ------------------------- > long story long: > > Saturday morning. Wake up at 6am. Put all items on list from last night into > luggage. Don't question list. List knows all. Add flashlight. > > Leave house at 7:15 (not bad was aiming for 7am departure). Slab to Tarzana, > get money at last Sanwa on the way out of town. 101 to 23. 23 north to where > it hits 126. Start the regular twisty route through grimes canyon, bardsdale > road, stink canyon (avoid the peacock), dennison grade, pass boccali's, now > we're in new roads. Continue on to the Vons. Grab Pop Tarts. Take a right on > 33. > > Meet up with the Cal Posse (KLR bunch) at the Deer Lodge. Have brekky. Get > back on bike and ride 1:15 up 33 to Songdog ranch. Manage to make it up the > dirt road to the top of the mesa. Luggage, not knobbies, and a violin > strapped to my back. Not falling. Not falling. > > Get up top. Unsling all luggage. Bike sniff. Make trail pack (water, tools, > clif bar). Bike sniff some more. Get Ron's bike down out of his truck. Go > riding. My limited dirt experience, and Ron's 2 month vacation from riding > make us fairly good riding buddies. We head off for the Ballinger Flats ORV > area. I take the lead, and we end up on a whoop-de-do loop. AAAAAAAA! > AAAAAAA! I only bottomed the forks once -- not bad for stock... AAAAAA! I > stop. Ron pulls alongside. He asks how I'm doing. I say AAAAAA! I suggest > something more fire-road like would be better. We head for what looks like > nicer dirt. > > We go up a hill, down a hill. I'm starting to settle into the adrenaline > rush. We see a sign that says single track. I'm feeling good. We start down > it. Ron is leading. He comes to a stop, I stop some distance back, walk up, > agree with his decision to not go any further up the goat track, we both > drink water, he helps me turn my bike around (really weird to feel the back > tire slipping, the hillside caving down, yet have it feel > semi-controllable), he rousts his out, we head back off the single track. > We're heading back to camp to see if anyone new has arrived (okay, i'll > admit it, i'm a wimp, and the adrenaline is starting to get to me...). I'm > having fun but I'm tiring rapidly. I go into a turn a little hot (still in > first gear), the sand starts to make my rear tire go, I don't remember > squidboy's sig (when in doubt, gas it) in time, and suddenly the KLR is on > top of my left ankle (which made kind of an icky pop noise -- but no crack > noise). I get out from under it. Wave my arms at Ron receding in the > distance. As his Big Gun goes over a hill, I shout "Help". Then I try > putting weight on my ankle and lifting my KLR. I yell > AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! for real this time. Ron said he heard > that over his exhaust. He started back. We got the bike up, checked my ankle > (well, everything's still inside the ankle, let's pack it back into the boot > and go back to camp). Ron offers pillion to me, but I think the ankle's not > that bad, so I ride the bike out. > > Back to camp. I'm still thinking the ankle's not so bad. After about an > hour, I realize that I'll be lucky to ride home on Sunday. At which point > Ron starts mixing martinis. Or maybe it was just straight vodka with olives > in it. Whichever. Dinner happened at "The Place" -- Toby contracted a $10 > plate of prime rib. And some wonderful zucchini casserole. Back to camp > again. Fire good. Violin came out -- I'm not good enough to play drunk > yet... Violin went back away. Others tried the plucking thing, but they > couldn't deal with the no frets deal. Ankle was a steady pain through it > all. > > Sunday. Woke up actually pretty good considering everything. Immediately > headed for the outhouse -- and by the time I'd hobbled all the way out > there, realized I had made a good decision in the first haze of waking up. > My options are a) leave the bike at songdog and come back for it next > weekend, b) try to get it into the bed of Ron's truck (which is too small > for _2_ klrs and the trailer he's towing), c) ride home with Ron carrying > all my luggage, or d) ride home with everything I brought. Option C is the > winner. But we took the straightest, dullest route out because I can't > actually upshift unless I remove the entire boot from the peg and use my > entire leg to pull the lever up. So we decide that 166 to 5 is the best > route to take. Ron dropped me off at Stefan's with all my gear. I collapse > on the couch and wait for either Stefan or Darci to get home. Which they do > after an hour or so. > > They take me to get a rental car, the KLR is living at their house for a > week, I've got Stefan's (dead) mother's cane (he refers to it as the dmc). > To the best of my abilities to self-diagnose, I've got a really bad sprain. > I've got a doctor appointment tomorrow to confirm that. I figure the > vibration off the KLR footpegs is a rough approximation of a tuning fork, > and it wasn't excruciatingly painful, so I probably didn't break anything. I > hope. > > Doctor says that it is indeed just a bad sprain. > > ---o&>o--- > Sarah Barwig > sarah@...