Turning 40 has both its good points and bad points. Reaching this advanced age has allowed me to add more life experience to an already imposing intellect invoking awe and wonder for those who know me. It also has its bad points. Jimmy Gallant and I took our boys out to a local trail to ride about two weeks ago and at some point during the ride I demonstrated the proper use of the rear brake on a dirt bike to slide through turns. The point of this exercise being that this enables you to take the turn faster. I am firm believer that if you are not trying to ride faster, then don't bother to ride at all. I successfully demonstrated this maneuver to Austin a number of times, then let him back on the bike.
Some time later, Austin wrecked the bike on a back trail. I heard the bike stop, ran over to investigate and found him sitting on the ground next to the bike. A quick physical check revealed no problems, but the bike was a little worse for the wear. There were big clumps of dirt covered the throttle controls, and once cleaned off, the bike looked fine. I started the bike and the throttle was stuck open. I had overlooked the broken throttle cable. When I put the bike in gear, it immeadiately wheelied on me, and I had to shut it down. Jimmy and I figured out how to adjust the throttle cable so the idle was normal. A life lesson that I learned from my Dad is that once you wreck a bike, the best possible thing to do is get back on it, even if you don't want to. The idea being that you must not be afraid of a motorcycle. Respect the bike, but don't fear it. With this mantra in mind, I told Austin to ride it back to the truck. He told me that he was having trouble bending his hand and could not grip the throttle. Fearing further injury, I told him to walk back to the truck and I would check the bike over under power. We talked about the wreck and we looked at the scene. There was a dried rut in the trail, he had hit it going too fast and the bars were turnd on him. Once this happened, he went down. I explained to him that wrecking while you are going too fast is how you learn to ride. This is how you get faster.
On the way back, I did one more power slide through the last turn. This turned out to be a bad idea. I was going too fast and the small motorcycle slid out from under me. My reaction was to put my left leg out to steady the bike and my shoe grabbed something on the ground. I felt my knee pop and I stopped the bike. Please note that the bike did not fall over. I was unable to put any weight on the knee for awhile, but the pain quickly went away.
The next morning, all was not well. I could not walk without a limp, so I went to the doctor to get it xrayed. No broken bones, but I had a pull anterior ligament. Ice, Ibuprofen, and a couple of weeks would take care of the problem. Two weeks later, I am fine. I still can't run on it and I had to cancel the triathlon I was planning to run next week, but there is always another one.
For the record, Austin's hand was merely sprained and was fine by the next day.
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