05/30/15 - Biking Virgin, UT

To see the video of the trip click here: Adventure 2015: Episode 3, Virgin, UT
Or to see Drew's (better) video click here: Virgin Rampage

Looking toward Zion NP from campsite

When I left Green River I was feeling pretty good about my freeride capabilities.  I had done the biggest drops ever in my life, hadn't gotten injured, and had a ton of fun!  My bike needed some new parts and pieces, but I knew it wouldn't be much.  So I loaded up the car and headed out.  I stopped for gas and grub along the way and noticed my bike was leaning on the roof rack ridiculously.  Like at a 45° angle.  Upon inspection I noticed that my Thule crossbar had rusted out and snapped in half!  I shifted the bike mount over to span the break, moved my bike over to the other mount, and prayed that it would hold the rest of the way to Virgin.  With yet another item on the shopping list, and a long delay, I ended up in Virgin.  The next day Drew and I headed to Zion Cycles in nearby Springdale.  It was a tiny little shop and I was worried that they would not have all the parts I needed.  Despite the size, however, we had hit the jackpot.  I replaced my three broken spokes, got a new rear derailleur shifter, new cables and housing, and a new crossbar for the roof rack!  With my bike once again in working order we headed to the old Red Bull Rampage site to scope some lines and maybe do a little bit of riding.  After hiking around the site for about two hours my confidence in my freeride abilities dwindled substantially.  I would guess that 80% of the terrain there was totally unrideable for me.  Drew and I rode down the easiest route, but only from about half way up.  The

Old Red Bull Rampage site

jumps and drops and gaps of this place are seriously intimidating.  I have been watching the Rampage competitions for years, but watching this stuff on TV does nothing to impress the true scale on the viewer.  The pros make it look so effortless that the 20' drop over a 10' gap onto a 5' wide, two bike length landing looks rideable for mere mortals.  As daunted as I felt, and with minor healing wounds from Green River, I decided to spend the next few days doing some small jumps, but mostly just reading.  Once my body felt closer to 100% I decided to start to try to conquer some of the less intimidating features.  We found some super fun spine and jump lines that I warmed up on and started to get in the groove again.  I noticed that I just have no stomach for gaps.  I can only bring myself to do a 6' gap, max.  Drew had lined up some sizeable ones, especially one in nearby Gershon that crossed a road.  One day he had finally screwed up the courage enough to give it a go.  He parked his car right in the middle of the gap and hiked up to the top.  After a couple run-ins to gauge speed he was ready to go.  He started dropping in, he speed looked good, but about 20' from the lip he lost his nerve and hit the brakes.  Unfortunately, 20' was not quite long enough to stop.  His front wheel went off the lip and he nearly tumbled the 15' down to the road below, but managed to hold on!  After he took a few

minutes to regroup he hiked back up to the top.  Resolved this time, Drew took off the lip, soared about 20' through the air, over his truck, and landed perfectly on the far side!  Initially Drew was thinking he might give the jump a few tries, but after the one successful attempt, adrenaline pumping, relief mounting, he decided one was enough!  Back at the Rampage site we found a couple new lines that we could ride and had a ton of fun.  The more I explored the area, and the more pro lines we found, the more respect and sheer awe I am of what the pros are riding.  It absolutely blew my mind more than once.  The biggest drop I managed to do was about 15' and had a perfect landing, wide and without any gap to clear.  Feeling now like we had scouted all the lines we were going to be able to actually ride we got to the "serious" work of filming.  Drew is a videographer.  He is always thinking about the light and camera angles to try and make the best video possible.  Prior to this trip I had just strapped my GoPro to my helmet mount and rode off.  But after watching Drew's footage from Green River I knew I needed to step up my game.  I traded Drew some pain killers for his GoPro chesty mount and a unicorn helmet mount that sat out in front of my face and looked backward.  The unicorn mount was really awkward and

distracting.  The minor weight of the GoPro felt abnormally heavy on my head sitting 18" in front of my face.  But I gave it a try on one line and liked the footage.  I loved the chesty mount though.  Even a standard helmet mount feels awkwardly heavy, but the chesty has no such drawback.  There was one hip jump that Drew and I had hit quite a few times.  I felt really comfortable on it, and I started getting more air than I ever had before.  After filming the jump with the chesty, tripod, and pole mounts I decided to give the unicorn mount a try.  On my first attempt I landed very heavy on the front wheel, but managed to ride away.  I knew I could do better and I also wanted to whip my bike a little.  The second attempt seemed like it was going much like the first.  I knew I was going to land heavy on my front wheel again, but I thought I was going to ride away.  I was wrong.  After my front wheel hit I immediately went over the handlebars and straight toward the ground.  Having endo'd hundreds of times in my life I have learned how to land without hurting myself, but the unicorn mount caused me concern.  Idiotically enough, I tried to modify my crash landing procedure by going more to the side than straight over in order not to snap the mount.  My right shoulder slammed into the ground hard.  Way too hard.  I rolled through on to my feet and started trying to walk it off.  The pain in my right shoulder and clavicle region was only getting worse.  I felt

along the clavicle, hoping it wasn't broken.  To my intense relief, everything felt connected.  I continued to walk, feeling relieved that I wasn't seriously injured.  As the pain mounted, however, I started to move my right arm around and the sickening feeling of bone rubbing on bone was apparent.  My right clavicle had dislocated from my sternum and every time I moved my arm it would slide and rotate around.  Since I had done this exact thing to my left clavicle in high school I knew three things.  First, it was going to be excruciatingly painful.  Second, there was no surgery, so there was no reason to go to the hospital.  Third, I was going to be shelved for about a month.  Drew had run back to the car for a minute so I laid on the ground and waited for him to come back.  As soon as he saw me he knew something was wrong.  I was lying on the ground about 20' away from my bike.  I quickly told him what had happened and that I needed a sling.  He grabbed my bike for me, we walked back to the

campsite.  Drew generously gave me a couple of the painkillers I had traded to him just a few days before.  The pain was so bad that I couldn't breath properly.  The thought raced through my mind that I might have punctured a lung.  I knew that was one of the dangers of a dislocated collarbone.  Since I had also punctured a lung before I knew that the only cure was rest and that a hospital visit was still not necessary.  Of course I was gambling a lot here that there were no other internal injuries, but since I don't have health insurance, I decided to risk it.  Luckily the market in La Verkin had a sling so we didn't have to drive all the way to Hurricane.  As the painkillers started to take effect I was able to breath more normally and my worries about severe internal injuries started to subside.  Luckily I caught the crash on video!  After a day of nothing but sitting and reading and healing, Drew and I took a drive through Zion National Park.  The park is dramatic and beautiful.  We also saw, and got really close to, a herd of big horn sheep.  The next day I was feeling well enough to do a bit of hiking.  We jumped on the canyon shuttle and explored the Narrows, Weeping Rock, and the Emerald Pools.  The more we explored the more disappointed I became.  My original plan was to spend the next week rock climbing in this canyon with my friend Andy.  That dream will have to happen another time.  After another day of sitting around and reading I decided that my arm had healed enough that I would be able to make the 8 hour drive back to Vail.  Drew and I parted ways, hopefully to meet up again somewhere in Washington or British Columbia later this summer.  I was heading back to Vail for a week of rest and healing before spending a week as a counselor at a middle school Christian camp.