Your "How the f&*K did I just do that?" moments.

I have a good one from about 10 years ago. Riding an old Trek steel hardtail that I had just installed a Judy XC fork on. Riding in southern Arizona descending (way too fast) on a single track, I approach an off camber left turn. Mid turn I suddenly find myself diverted to the right and now bushwhacking down the steep side of the hill. Bailing is not a great option as the field is littered with sharp rocks and cactus. I decided to ride it out. At the bottom I notice a sand filled wash, figure that can't hurt too bad.....except for the three foot vertical wall across the wash. It is pretty narrow and of course I fly across the sand and the bike plants head on in to the vertical face on the other side of the wash. I have a firm grip on the bars and start to go over, feet over head, like a hand stand on the bars, somehow let go, rotate around and land on my feet. The downtube on the bike is broken as the fork was jammed backwards. It is unrideable but I am unscathed. My riding partners are at the top of the hill stunned that I am scratch free......how the f&*k did I just do that?

I used to get a lot of those, when I rode agressively. ...aided by my insistence on riding a fully rigid vintage XC race bike, which, to say are not very forgiving of rider miscalculations is understatement. One wrong move and you're in for harsh consequences. During a trail ride with a few friends (on proper AM&FR bikes) near Vail, I could see the three bounce points over & around a huge drop into a rock garden, but got corralled straight into it. As I realized I was missing the launch, and prepared for the fork-bending, collarbone snapping impact on hard jagged ground, I closed my eyes, turned my head to the side, and lowered a shoulder... a bit of a beating around, and then a sort of whooop, and I rolled to a stop up onto a road at the bottom. !

We just stood there for a minute and looked at the sheer scale of that section in disbelief. The line went around both sides of that sucker, I ran it right down the middle.

About a dozen regulars at the bottom kinda just stared at me like I had two heads. I got in a "eh, I could ride that with my eyes closed."

Speed cures all.

just about an hour ago i had that feeling....

kind of funny that i saw this today. i just got done riding a trail that is close to my house. i normally ride to the trailhead and today was no exception on the singlespeed. i needed to get out and ride because i have been laid up with a fever then a head cold for about a week and a half. but with an overcast sky and rain in the forecast, i should have been more thoughtful. i got to the trail and rode one lap, then on my way back out i decided that i had enough time to get in another. as soon as i started into the second lap the misting sky when straight to rain. i put the hammer down and rode as fast as i could. about half way, there is a technical area of skinnys, log stacks, and techy rock gardens. i have never once cleaned any of it EVER; dry, wet, singlespeed, geared, nothing. i managed to get to the part that always gives me trouble with no thought. i was too focused on getting home to realize anything else. the killer for me is a uphill, root filled, super tight (the trees and the turn) switchback with about a 3 foot high steep log stack directly after. my head was down charging uphill and i had forgot about it. i saw the turn and thought "oh ****, i'm going to fall." but i pulled my front tire up mid way through the turn out of instinct and mashed it out. i was so stoked that i did it and needless to say, in the rain as well that i never thought about the rest of the section and cleaned everything else. hopefully i can repeat it next time i ride but i am on cloud nine right now.

I had just started riding seriously this year again after about a ten year gap, and it's amazing how the instincts come back. At the end of the year I was at the local trail, and decided to go exploring a new section. After some rolly-rocky stuff along a ridgeline, the trail took a sharp blind turn and headed down a relatively short but steep and rocky slope. I was caught off guard and was going way too fast, but managed to navigate 3/4 of the way down in decent shape, until I came to a three-inch-thick root that curves up out of the ground about a foot before going back underground--basically a big spring in the the middle of the path. I saw it too late to veer to the side, and my front tire hit it, the bike stopped cold, and I started the predictable endo. Halfway through the endo, instinct kicked in--I squeezed the front brake and threw all my weight back, while the "spring" action of the root actually shot the bike and me backwards about three feet up the hill ... I landed on both tires (although my butt landed on the top tube instead of the seat) and was able to navigate around the root this time and roll to the bottom in safety. I will never be able to do that again (and I don't think I'd want to). How the F&*K did I do that?

just this last week i was doing a group ride... i'm a SLOW rider... rigid and fat do that for ya... and this was my 2nd or 3rd time ever on this trail... we regrouped before a nice mild DH section... lots of water bar drops on it... I've enjoyed it every time i've done it but am a bit careful... this time i was just so concentrated on keeping with the guy in front of me... that i didn't even realize we'd run though that section until the next regroup area... one on hand i was pleased with how easily i kept up with the group and how relativly smoothly i'd flown though that area... but i was disappointed that i didn't realy get to enjoy the speed and jumps ...

there have been a few other times that i've looked back at the trail and said... how the heck did i pull that off... but none as kewl as some of these guys...

This summer I was riding a ladder bridge I had successfully navigated many, many times before. Not sure what happened on this particular time but I had my right leg thrown way out for balance... I could feel I was losing it so I hit the brakes and before I knew it I had a one footed trackstand going on, on top of this bridge which was maybe 5 feet off the ground. I was still clipped in with my left foot. Don't know what I was thinking but next thing I knew I had hopped off the bridge, still attached to my bike, and rotated 90 degrees. It was far from a perfect landing but some riders who were watching said it was a pretty stylish bail.

It wasn't until I finished my ride and was chilling in the parking lot that I noticed I had a very deep gash on my inside ankle bone. Couldn't walk properly for several weeks afterwards..

Every once in a while I end up doing something mind blowing...it's always even more perplexing when you go to repeat exactly what you just did and fail miserably.

A few months ago I showed up at a super tech rockcrawling type trail with a bunch of drops and steep ups at the same time as another dude...We get into the trail a ways and he stops for a little break with maryj. Me who hadnt smoked in a good 6 mos can't say no. Turns out it was incredibly potent stuff that absolutely floored me. I kept on wandering along on the bike tackling all this stuff I wouldnt have dreamed of trying otherwise with no knowledge of what I was doing or a care as to why. The one terrible part was that every so often I would come into completely clear conciousness and perfect awareness right as I was about to drop or negotiate a big feature..."WHERE AM I?"..."OH SHIIIIIII...".