I decided to take my son and a couple of his friends riding up in Palmer Park, Colorado Springs one day. A good place to take starters because it has a lot of rated trails for every experience level. Since I was taking my son's friends I decided to take them on a beginner trail to see how well they could handle the bikes before we would move on to better trails. We parked at the high parking lot and I told my son the route we were planning on taking because he knows the area pretty well if we got seperated, which I was planning on doing. I was leading on the trail for about 5 minutes when I decided to move a little faster to get ahead and get some pictures of them coming down a rocky downhill section. Well that was when it all started. At the bottom of the section I wasn't carrying enough speed and was to far forward on my bike when I was stopped dead in my tracks my a very small rock. Things went into slow motion as I felt the rear tire leave the ground. I felt like a cowboy on a bucking bronc leaning back trying to get the rear tire back down. Not even thinking about unclipping. I was pretty unsuccessful and did my best imitation of a gymnast doing a foward roll with the bike still attached to my feet. The bike finally detached itself from me and I layed there laughing at the mishap. My son and his friends crested the top of the section just in time to see me starting to get up. Not looking where I placed my hands I managed to find the only cactus cluster on the entire trail. Normally, this would be a minor setback but the spines where the small ones that you can't see but definetly feel. It took a little while for me to get most of them out of my hand.Back on my feet and bike again we decided to move on. Again, thinking there would be a good photo op later down the trail I pressed on a little further and just as I was about to fly down a rolling section of the trail my shirt sleeve caught a pretty thick branch and pulled me back. Being the tough man that I am I thought I would be able to power through it and snap the branch. Well, I learned that I didn't have enough power or the branch had more power than me. It whipped me back and off my bike and off the trail. My bike tried to continue on without me but because I was clipped in it only went as far as my leg would stretch. I got up pretty quick to avoid the chastising from the "beginners" only to find that I had ripped my shirt and had a pretty decent cut on my shoulder blade. Being used to giving blood on the trail I jumped back on my bike, thinking I'm glad the kids didn't see that one, and wondering how I was going to explain the blood and torn shirt when they finally saw me.
About 400 yards further down the trail, I was looking back to make sure I still had some time to get the camera out when I stopped to take a pic. I didn't hear them and it was pretty hard to see how close they where because of the trees and the width of the trail. I was pretty sure I had plenty of time to get off my bike up ahead where the trail mixed with an intermediate trail. My only obstacle was a 1 1/2 foot step up that I have never not cleared with ease. I got my front tire up with no problem like i've done many times before but for some reason my back tire didn't want to cooperate with me. Pedalling and leaning forward the only thing that happened was a good spin of the rear tire on the root that was the corner of the step. Again, I was stopped in my tracks and had a gentle roll to the side. Nothing major, just a simple and soft fall. Well, I didn't have as much of a lead on the kids as I thought and they rode up just in time to see me start my roll. I got up and explained to them that I was showing them how not to ride that section.
We all got something to drink and they were discussing which trail to take. Being a little more moody after my third fall, I decided to cut the ride short and ride up to the hardball and get back in the truck. They asked why we were leaving so soon and I told them they could ride some more and I would wait for them at the truck. I just figured that I wasn't meant to ride that day and didn't want to press my luck on a different trail if I was having this hard of a time on a beginner trail. They laughed and agreed with me and we rode back to the truck. On the hardball they finally noticed my torn shirt and blood and asked if that happened on the last fall. I told them yes, but my son being the ever so smart one looked at my shirt and noticed some leaves and said, there aren't any leaves where you just fell. So, I had to explain what had happened only about one minute before. They all started laughing and said I made a wise choice on quiting that day. All in all, I think we were on the trail for a total of about 15 minutes. Never to this day have I had that kind of experience on an easy trail. I probably just jinxed myself, so I will stay away from the easy trails. Oh, by the way....none of the kids fell the entire ride.
