We get to the trail head and their are already 6 other cars there. I was a little nervous. I always get nervous. But hey we are girls and hardcore enough to mountain bike right?
So we start to climb on the trail. I am huffing and puffing thinking that the granny gear on this bike is not going to cut it. I put up with that for about 15 minutes when I come upon the wonderful knowledge that my crank has another rung. "Hallelujah!" I exclaim and blaze past Robin chugging along. That doesn't last long, the elevation brings me back to slow climbing speed again. We pass a couple of guys on the trail who are not sure where to go. One guy looking at the trail map says, "Let's just follow there girls they look like they know where they are going."
We continue to climb, I have trouble in a couple spots do the newness of the bike. Eventually it is smooth, slow sailing but sailing nonetheless. The scenery is beautiful. Possibly the best trail I have done yet. Scratch that, more like attempted to do. Soon we come upon this awesome ridge at the top of our 5 mile climb and the view is spectacular! We stop and take a couple photos. Robin is giddy to do some downhill and I am excited to see what this full suspension mountain bike can do.
I follow Robin down the trail, cautious at first, but not for long. I start to get the hang of the bike and am LOVING the trail. It was technical, fun and beautiful. I still lack the ability to keep up with Robin, but was still enjoying it. I let out a hoot and holler because I am having such a good time. I was in awe as these plops of granite rocks start to appear on the trail.
Shortly after that there is a bit of drop off that I don't feel confident in attempting so I stick to the right of the trail. These leads to disastrous results! There was a wedge of granite rock my front burly tire got stuck in launched me forward with immense speed! I thought in my mind "Put your arms out, put them out, put them out NOW!" But it was too late. Before I could react my face took the blow. It was the perfect recipe:
1 mountain bike
1 rider (perhaps in need of experience)
1 section of downhill
1 granite rock
Stir. Equals one good face smashin' time.
I am on all fours not sure what just happened. Instinctively I yell for Robin because I can't see her. No response. So I scream again. This time I spit out a tooth shard into my glove and think "I wasn't supposed to go to the dentist today." I see this cloud of dust as Robin coming running up the hill pushing her mountain bike. I look up at her and tell I fell. She looks at me in shock and says, "Oh my gosh, this is what I have nightmares about." Instantly the blood starts gushing, I can fell that one front tooth is knocked forward and down, and the tooth to the right is gone. My lip on right side has been punctured by that missing tooth. And the least of the damage is another loose, chipped from tooth.
Robin just sits by me and I start to cry. I tell her, "I'm never going on a mission. I just sent off my dental paperwork today to the Bishop." I pull my phone out of my backpack and ask her to call my dentist and see if I can come in so they can at least stop the bleeding. She calls. They ask her to put the tooth in some milk and then soon realize that we are in the middle of the forest. Instead she instructs us to bring the tooth along.
Now for the fun part, getting back to the car. We are 6 miles in. After attempting to drink some water and wishing I had a cotton T-shirt to wipe my mouth, we start walking back to the ridge. After about 5-7 minutes of walking I start going into shock and have a hard time breathing. Robin quickly takes my bike and backpack and has me sit in some shade. I have a GU shot in my bag and attempt to swallow some while trying not to vomit. Anything that touches my front tooth sends excruciating pains through my brain. After calming down we start to hike again.
Between 4 to 6 other mountain bikes pass us and ask if we are okay. We don't know what else to do then to get to the car so we just keep walking. Robin offers to take bike, but as buff as she is two mountain bikes on a single track in the sun is not easy. I hear her huffing behind me and take it back. Plus it gives me something to lean on. We eventually get to the ridge meaning we have 5 more miles to go, but it's all downhill from here.
At this point I am still bleeding. My mouth is throbbing and let's just say I was drooling a bit. If we keep walking it is going to take forever and I needed to get to the dentist sooner than later. So I saddled up the horse. I put on my helmet and rode back down. Thanks to the adrenaline it was a somewhat enjoyable experience with the occasional stop to drool.
Finally we get back to the car and I am pooped. We hop on the freeway only to be greeted by the lovely California construction; a one-lane road creeping at 25 mph. I start to get drowsy here, the adrenaline has worn off and I am feeling not so peachy.
After 70 minutes on the highway we make it to the dentist office. I sit in the chair from 3:30pm until 8:00pm. There was lots of blood, anesthetic, dirt and jokes invovled. With my makeshift splint, (it looks like I have braces on four of my teeth) I head to Robin's house.
With the combination of bruising, swelling, and anesthetic let's just say I will never have to get Botok. All things in moderation right? If you made it this far thanks for reading.
It's amazing how close the spellings of trail and trial are. Keep that in mind for your next Boggle session.
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