Holy wipeout!

Right shoulder, wrong

After working diligently all day yesterday, I hopped on my bike late in the afternoon. I climbed a wonderful 1,300-foot peak called Spivey Mountain. As I've mentioned before, the ride takes 20 minutes to go up and two minutes to come down.

Yesterday, I was on pace to make it down in about 1:45. But in the end, it took more like 15 minutes.

I've ridden Spivey about 10 times now. Unfortunately, that familiarity made me think I could handle a wicked turn at about 31 mph. Nope. I came all the way across the road, skidded into a ditch, hit a two-foot embankment and flipped through the air.

Get on you bikes and... oof!

See the arrow? My speed drops for the left-hand turn, then I wipeout on the sharp right-hand turn. Everything after that is the drive home.

Luckily, my awesome wife bought me one of the best helmets out there, so even though I clearly landed on my head, my brain is fine. So even though I landed on my head, my brain is fine. So even though... uh oh.

My new headshot!

My right shoulder, however, is a grade-three mess. I guess I'll need surgery. Though I'm still hoping a miracle worker will shove it back into the socket.

After returning from urgent care, I sent a text to my friend, neighbor, and bike sensei, Jason.

All I said was: "I suck."

He was over five minutes later to check in on me. Jason was already aware of what happened, so it was great to talk about the details with an expert.

"Yeah, you came into that turn too hot," my sensei told me.

That's for sure.

Ironically, 48 hours prior to my wipeout, Jason was out riding in Pisgah Forest - an area many are describing as the new mountain bike mecca of the U.S. - when one of his friends went down hard. Dude broke his clavicle.

Yikes.

Big shout out to my new friend Jerry for refusing to let me ride out of there, throwing my bike in the back of his pickup and driving me home. He even wanted to take me to the hospital. 

That's what most people are like around here. They're not in a hurry, so they have time to help others.

The people are just one reason I love it here so much. Obviously, I also love the mountains. And I still love Spivey Mountain. I'll be returning soon, perhaps with a little humility, but for sure with 100 percent functioning brakes. We're not going to talk about that right now.