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Story time:
One day, many, many years ago (about 20), my annoying little brother was pestering me and a friend as we rode our bikes around the local neighborhood. No big brother likes their little brother bothering him all the time. I kept telling him to go home and leave me alone. He refused to listen. So I figured I'd try to ditch him by riding real fast and making a quick turn someplace. Me and my friend knew of a steep paved road where we could pick up some big speed. The road took a sharp turn at the bottom and I was sure I'd ditch my little brother on it. Surely he'd chicken out before getting to the bottom and we'd be free of him. I go flying down the hill. In my little 12-year old brain it felt like I was doing at leave 60mph. I bank into the turn and slow down to take a side street. I look over my shoulder to see if my little brother is back there. Sure enough..there he was approaching the turn. He was flying....but he was not turning. WHAM! right into the curb. Up over the handlebars he went. Instinct made him throw his hands out in front to catch himself. He tumbles to a stop about 20 feet from the bike. Of course I have to go see if the little twerp is ok. I look him over and see a massive lump on his left collar bone. Busted big time. He's bawling his little head off. So I drag him and his bike back to the house. What's the first thing my Mom does when she hears my brother crying? Asks me what I did to him. I got grounded for two weeks for getting him hurt. I didn't even want him there and I get blamed for it.
Flash forward to today:
I'm on vacation up in Minnesota (where I grew up and where my brother still lives). I have not seen him for more than 5 total days in the past 15 since I'm in the military and rarely get home. I drove up so I had my bike with me. My brother has a hybrid to get to work but I thought he might know of some trails in the area. He located one after asking around at a local bike shop (Erics). (Lebannon Hills was the trail). He drove by it to take a look and was so impressed that he decided to buy a used Kona Cladera from a friend of his so he could ride it with me. So today, after getting his bike dialed in, I took my little brother on his first singletrack ride. I was amazed at how well he did. he runs a lot so his fitness was not a concern but I was worried about the technical sections of the trail. I'm by no means an expert but I did my best to show him enough to keep him on the bike. We came up to a neat little descent packed with rocks. Round rocks, square rocks, jagged rocks...all sorts of rocks. I've seen worse but my brother asked me to show him how to descend through something like that without unclipping. So I eyeball my line and head down. I guess I wanted to look impressive because I chose an agressive line and had a little too much speed. I was almost to the bottom when my front wheel slid sideways and planted itself square into a rock and stopped me dead. Well, it stopped my bike dead. My body followed Newtons Laws of Motion and launched over the bars. We've all done it more than we'd care to admit but my brother had never seen anything like it. He'd done it 20 years ago on that curb but never watched it happen. Well I tumbled out of it pretty well. No busted collar bone but I'm minus a good deal of skin off a knee and elbow and some decals off a fork leg. Of course my brother was laughing his ass off as he came to see if I was ok. We'd not talked about the collar bone before the ride but he stated clearly "Now we're even!".
I guess we are. My knee is stiff as hell now but I'm all smiles. I re-bonded with my brother in the best way possible.
Just wanted to share with others that may understand the joy (mixed with the pain)
One day, many, many years ago (about 20), my annoying little brother was pestering me and a friend as we rode our bikes around the local neighborhood. No big brother likes their little brother bothering him all the time. I kept telling him to go home and leave me alone. He refused to listen. So I figured I'd try to ditch him by riding real fast and making a quick turn someplace. Me and my friend knew of a steep paved road where we could pick up some big speed. The road took a sharp turn at the bottom and I was sure I'd ditch my little brother on it. Surely he'd chicken out before getting to the bottom and we'd be free of him. I go flying down the hill. In my little 12-year old brain it felt like I was doing at leave 60mph. I bank into the turn and slow down to take a side street. I look over my shoulder to see if my little brother is back there. Sure enough..there he was approaching the turn. He was flying....but he was not turning. WHAM! right into the curb. Up over the handlebars he went. Instinct made him throw his hands out in front to catch himself. He tumbles to a stop about 20 feet from the bike. Of course I have to go see if the little twerp is ok. I look him over and see a massive lump on his left collar bone. Busted big time. He's bawling his little head off. So I drag him and his bike back to the house. What's the first thing my Mom does when she hears my brother crying? Asks me what I did to him. I got grounded for two weeks for getting him hurt. I didn't even want him there and I get blamed for it.
Flash forward to today:
I'm on vacation up in Minnesota (where I grew up and where my brother still lives). I have not seen him for more than 5 total days in the past 15 since I'm in the military and rarely get home. I drove up so I had my bike with me. My brother has a hybrid to get to work but I thought he might know of some trails in the area. He located one after asking around at a local bike shop (Erics). (Lebannon Hills was the trail). He drove by it to take a look and was so impressed that he decided to buy a used Kona Cladera from a friend of his so he could ride it with me. So today, after getting his bike dialed in, I took my little brother on his first singletrack ride. I was amazed at how well he did. he runs a lot so his fitness was not a concern but I was worried about the technical sections of the trail. I'm by no means an expert but I did my best to show him enough to keep him on the bike. We came up to a neat little descent packed with rocks. Round rocks, square rocks, jagged rocks...all sorts of rocks. I've seen worse but my brother asked me to show him how to descend through something like that without unclipping. So I eyeball my line and head down. I guess I wanted to look impressive because I chose an agressive line and had a little too much speed. I was almost to the bottom when my front wheel slid sideways and planted itself square into a rock and stopped me dead. Well, it stopped my bike dead. My body followed Newtons Laws of Motion and launched over the bars. We've all done it more than we'd care to admit but my brother had never seen anything like it. He'd done it 20 years ago on that curb but never watched it happen. Well I tumbled out of it pretty well. No busted collar bone but I'm minus a good deal of skin off a knee and elbow and some decals off a fork leg. Of course my brother was laughing his ass off as he came to see if I was ok. We'd not talked about the collar bone before the ride but he stated clearly "Now we're even!".
I guess we are. My knee is stiff as hell now but I'm all smiles. I re-bonded with my brother in the best way possible.
Just wanted to share with others that may understand the joy (mixed with the pain)
(well, at least I won't be catching bees anytime soon)
