schleyer....wtf?!

[stephenmatthews]

To everyone who think that it has become way to easy and mellow, perhaps you're looking at it wrong. I suggest you find someone to follow through it, like Kovarik. If you can still see him by the 3rd corner, i'll be impressed.

[Stuminator]

Sorry to see Schleyer slowly but surely losing woodwork. Bang for buck, it's still my fave trail in the bike park.

[DirtySanchez]

stephenmatthews wrote: To everyone who think that it has become way to easy and mellow, perhaps you're looking at it wrong. I suggest you find someone to follow through it, like Kovarik. If you can still see him by the 3rd corner, i'll be impressed.
__________________
Twitter: Stephen_matthws
Instagram: stephen_matthews




You wouldn't by chance be Stephen Matthews, would you?

[Bryan]

I have a feeling that no matter what condition the trail is in, most would not be able to keep kovarik in sight for 3 corners.

[kperras]

Where is this trail?

[Timmigrant]

Originally Posted by kperras

Where is this trail?

It's on Vedder Mountain ... you wouldn't like it.

[morgman]

Originally Posted by DirtySanchez

You wouldn't by chance be Stephen Matthews, would you?

aka Richard Sizzler aka the Sizzler Diddler aka the Sizzler aka the man of your dreams.

[hypa]

Originally Posted by KenN

http://wemjournal.org/article/S1080-6032(12)00015-4/fulltext


Kn.

Hoe-lee shit.
While stories of quadraplegics and sucking chest wounds scare the hell out of me, It's nice to see that out of 19,000 yearly visits there were less than 900 bikers. And as HIBullit said, most weren't wearing anything more than a helmet. I'd love to see an update to this, if anything just to see how many more are wearing Leatts and extremity pads.

Originally Posted by HIBuLlitT

Interesting that only 5% of those injured were wearing body armor beyond a helmet.

Agreed.
There have been a number of slams myself or friends have taken with safety gear, and walked away with a sore arm and sore ego. But I think of the slam I took on Dirt Merchant a few weeks ago, and if I wasn't wearing elbows and my Leatt, I could be eating solids from a straw right now.

After dropping one of our crew off at the Medical ctr yesterday, I was questioning why anyone here would ever bitch about "making it more gnar, dawg". Go ride the fucking Chief if you want gnar. Or maybe apply spikes to the headtube for some real danger.

[HIBuLlitT]

Originally Posted by hypa

Agreed.
There have been a number of slams myself or friends have taken with safety gear, and walked away with a sore arm and sore ego. But I think of the slam I took on Dirt Merchant a few weeks ago, and if I wasn't wearing elbows and my Leatt, I could be eating solids from a straw right now.

After dropping one of our crew off at the Medical ctr yesterday, I was questioning why anyone here would ever bitch about "making it more gnar, dawg". Go ride the fucking Chief if you want gnar. Or maybe apply spikes to the headtube for some real danger.

I went into the clinic there a couple years ago to get my finger stitched up:


This was after a high speed sent me into a rock face (finger got pinched between the
bar and the rock and got split open like a grape being squeezed...not torn), then I got
bounced off the rock face and flung end over with my bike where I came to a sudden stop
when I flew into a ditch and hit the opposite facing bank. While I wasn't able to ride
the park after that due to the location of the stitches, I was fine with no scratches
or cuts and very little bruising (hips took a bit of a beating though).

In the room next to me a girl came in after sliding out on the shale section of Aline
and was getting drainage tubes inserted into her elbows and knees. She had major road
rash
top to bottom and was moaning in pain the whole time. While my body armor may or may
not have prevented a bone from breaking, it sure as hell did stop me from getting a
bunch of tubes in my body to drain the liquid. When I look at the jersey I was wearing
and the plastic on my helmet, elbow, shoulder, forearm and knee it was all gouged to hell
and I'm sure my skin would have looked way worse.

I used to downhill skateboard when I was young and got over 50 mph once all without anything.
Bare feet, shirt tided around my waste, and slippas on my hands, with my long hair the
only padding on my head. I was also very lucky I got away with only a couple broken ribs
a broken nose and a shit load of road rash over the years.

If WBP sees a big enough risk for people without compared to people with body armor, you
may see mandatory protection like you see mandatory helmets.

[hypa]

Geejuzzz man!!!
It's funny when you consider that the amount of momentum carried when we lose control is only used up in distance, or when it's transferred to another object. So hopefully you hit a series of movable bushes, as opposed to a rock wall.

After my buddy went down yesterday, my day was over. I got shaky, and a bit freaked out, and honestly thought "I'm getting too old for this shit". All I wanted to do was go home and hug my kids. That's truly a mindfuck, indeed.

[HIBuLlitT]

If you pause it at 1:40 you can see the rock on the right and the ditch on the left.
It's not me in this video (just a random off googles), but there's a alternate 2' drop
thing just before that 1:40 frame off the left that sends you straight into the berm and
you can just fly. Well, my rebound rod had come undone internally so I had varying degrees
of rebound at that point and it messed me up. LOL

YouTube Video

[semaj]

Originally Posted by hypa

After dropping one of our crew off at the Medical ctr yesterday, I was questioning why anyone here would ever bitch about "making it more gnar, dawg". Go ride the fucking Chief if you want gnar. Or maybe apply spikes to the headtube for some real danger.

Originally Posted by hypa

After my buddy went down yesterday, my day was over. I got shaky, and a bit freaked out, and honestly thought "I'm getting too old for this shit". All I wanted to do was go home and hug my kids. That's truly a mindfuck, indeed.

Thanks for calling patrol for me yesterday hypa!

After slamming hard off Dirt Merchant rock drop before the step-up, getting a concussion and thigh hematoma and various lacerations....I'm rethinking my soft shell TLD body armour. I hurt all over today, bad!

Although my Leatt did its job and has the helmet imprint to prove it! And amazingly my collarbone didn't shatter into a million pieces as some Leatt haters suggest.

Now I'm looking for a new helmet, maybe Moto? And some Leatt compatible hard shell armour, likely the Leatt suit.

I gave my 8 month old daughter an extra cuddle last night. Shit got real for me a second time in 3 years.

[Tmack]

Whistler has a funny way of making people feel like they rule at bikes and try shit they normally wouldn't try anywhere else. If that rock drop was on a trail at cypress you would probably stop and look it first, get the adrenaline up and go for it totally focused. Glad you're ok regardless, try to not let it discourage you from riding, it's what we all love to do.

[semaj]

Originally Posted by Tmack

Whistler has a funny way of making people feel like they rule at bikes and try shit they normally wouldn't try anywhere else. If that rock drop was on a trail at cypress you would probably stop and look it first, get the adrenaline up and go for it totally focused. Glad you're ok regardless, try to not let it discourage you from riding, it's what we all love to do.

Yeah but Whistler also makes you complacent at times. I've ridden Dirt Merchant and that rock drop 100 times without incident...but this time I ate shit hard. Humbling and reality checking at once.

[hypa]

Originally Posted by HIBuLlitT

of rebound at that point and it messed me up. LOL

I know that spot. It's just another one of those situations where you say to yourself, "how the shit did that happen?!?".

Originally Posted by semaj

Thanks for calling patrol for me yesterday hypa!

No worries man, it's the least we could have done. Especially considering the head injury. If it was only the leg, we'd have bugged you. But the head is soft and squishy inside and doesn't react so well to sudden stops.

I think back to the crash and remember that we stopped right after the drop. We waited for about 10-15 seconds there wondering if you had taken it. I honestly thought I'd see you hiking out of the hole with a sheepish look that said "I didn't go fast enough". Unfortunately, you know the rest of the story. Huge props to Tim, as the second we realized something was wrong, he dropped his bike and ran into the hole. Bruce was able to stop the train of incoming riders on the rock, and I picked up the bits and pieces.

The best part was when patrol put on the latex gloves, and Bruce said without missing a beat, "I guess you're going in to look for the rest of his seat".

Originally Posted by Tmack

try to not let it discourage you from riding, it's what we all love to do.

Good call Tmack.
The body heals pretty quickly, but it takes a lot for the confidence to get back to where it once was.