“You Take the Lead, You’re Faster Than I on the Downhill”

I said "You take the lead, you're faster than I on the Downhill" a lot this summer since my primary riding companions were in their early twenties. CWO1 Curt Howell, a new pilot just back from school, my cousin PVT Payton Largent, just out of his initial National Guard training for helo repair, SGT Bullard, and SGT Schumacher two 25th Army Band members who work full time at the DTS Helpdesk, but they aren’t nearly as geeky as these credentials would indicate.

On 23 Sep, SGT Schumacher and I got off work about 45 minutes early and set out on the Corrals/Freeway trails- one of our favorite after-work summertime rides that with the extra 45 minutes of light we had- could be done in late September. The SGT hadn’t been on his bike much in the last month or six weeks, but we made it up the paved section of Bogus Basin without resting- a mark of reasonable fitness. He had bought a used Rockhopper hardtail this summer and then made a few upgrades including most recently replacing the cassette and chain. This was its first ride with the upgraded drive train, so we switched bikes for a mile or two on the trail. His bike is all aluminum, but it has a traditional top tube length (not the new elongated kind), and it has one of those fancy small shocks on the seat post. I found it to my liking- it fits me and has a smooth feel.

We stopped where just a couple months ago I called out to SGT Bullard at the top of the hill “You take the lead, you’re faster than I on the downhill” as we started down the entry onto “Hard Guy Trail”. Within 15 feet of taking the lead he hit a small jump, landed wrong with a wheel on each side of an clay ridge in the trail. He went down hard, breaking his helmet, getting some road rash on his belly, but protecting his expensive new full suspension bike with his body which he used to keep his bike from getting any scratches as they slid down the trail together. His doctor now claims SGT Bullard likely suffered a concussion and separated two bones in his inner-ear that are giving him vertigo. SGT’s Bullard’s doctor is still testing him out before allowing him back on the bike. It was SGT Schumacher’s first time to see the site of Bullard’s wreck- on a not very technical rise that wrecked this guy who enjoys the technical side of mountain biking.

As SGT Schumacher and I crested the biggest hill on the ride, I called out “You take the lead, you’re faster than I on the downhill”. I lost sight of the SGT for a couple minutes, and when I came round a corner saw him standing somewhat stunned beside the trail with his bike lying in the tall grass. His tracks leaving the trail into the high grass were obvious. He’d traveled through a ditch, that had apparently been dug this spring in the clay. He entered the ditch on its slopped side, but he hit its 1.5' vertical wall with enough force to severely taco his wheel which couldn’t be turned by hand even when the front brake was released. The portion of the shock that feeds through the steerer tube was significantly bent, both at the top and bottom, so the wheel was truly “under the bike” instead of slightly in front of it. I can't tell if the steerer tube (part of the bike's frame) was bent. I’d read that a severely taco’d wheel could sometimes be partially straightened by hitting the warped portion of the wheel on the ground- hard. I did that a couple of times, and the wheel was straight enough we could force it to turn when put back on the bike. Tightening the headset was next. Just then John & "someone" rode up and asked if we had what we needed. We asked for a spoke wrench. "Someone" took charge, hit the wheel a couple times on the ground in the same way I had, and started the loosening & tightening process on the spokes with his spokewrench. I haven't mentioned that the SGT had his butt behind the seat when he hit that ditch. The force of his lower torso hitting the seat tore the seat off its frame. “Someone” had a quality 3" crescent wrench he used to bend the seat frame enough we could stretch the seat back on. I have a similar sized crescent wrench on the Bianchi, but it's made of pot metal and would never take the pressure “someone” put on his steel crescent wrench as he bent the seat frame back closer to its original shape. Where is my camera when things like this happen?

It was a slow trip out of the foothills, with only rear brakes for the SGT, but he was able to ride, and we were glad of that. We passed the draw where earlier this summer I’d called out “you younger guys are faster than I on the downhill, take the lead” and where shortly afterward PVT Largent endo’d putting what I'll describe as a deep stab wound in his knee- ending his almost two weeks of riding while he stayed with me during his Annual Training. Earlier this year SGT Schumacher had his first endo of the year near there there while he and Bullard “took the lead”. Despite CWO1 Howell’s taking the lead on the downhill with the younger guys, he escaped injury this summer.

I hate to say it, but in my opinion SGT Schumacher’s bike is totaled, or would be from an insurer's point of view. The SGT seems to share a flaw of mine, and really likes his bike that fits him well, so he may repair it. We’re hoping for a quick repair plus a doctor’s release for SGT Bullard so we can do one final fall ride before SGT Schumacher departs in mid October for a military school that will have him gone until winter.

Happy cycling for fun, fitness, and transportation!

Steve