My First Endo

Today was historic, and not just because we as citizens of the United States celebrated our country's independence. For me, personally, today goes down in the record books as the day I experienced my first endo (short for "end-over-end") riding a mountain bike.

The event took place in Park City, as my brother and I descended Holley's trail to The Canyons Resort. We were nearing the end of our ride, having started at Park City Mountain Resort where we climbed Spiro to Mid-Mountain. I was in the lead and everything was flowing nicely until the trail crossed a ski run. The fact that we were cutting across a run was nothing new; we'd done the same thing before on Spiro. What made this particular section of trail different was the small stream of water that ran down the middle of the grassy run, turning the trail, and the surrounding area, to mud. Until that moment the trail had been dry, quite dusty even, so the thought never entered my mind that the mud might be soft. Or deep. I slowed, not wanting my tires to kick mud onto my bike, and started to roll through.

Unfortunately I only made it a foot or two before my front tire literally dropped out from underneath me, sinking up to the hub into the mud. While my bike's forward momentum was abrubtly halted, my body continued onward and my personal endo experience began. My back tire came up while I moved forward and I landed on my right side. When my brother arrived on the scene a few seconds later, he said that my rear wheel was still spinning as I lay on the ground.

Under normal cicumstances an endo might prove painful, but since I had fallen into a bog of mud my landing was quite gentle. In fact, the only damage was to my pride and personal cleanliness. My right arm was completely submerged, as was my right leg. Upon standing, my right shoe disappeared into the mud, instantly transforming the finish of my previously new pair of 2008 Specialized S-Works Mountain Shoes from silver & white to a glistening, rich brown. My right grip and brake/shift lever were also completely buried in the mud.

Looking back I wish we'd remembered to bring a camera as my brother was in a perfect position to take a picture. Those we took later, as I cleaned up with a hose a the house, just don't do the event justice. This was, in all seriousness, probably the dirtiest I've ever been in my life!