Responsible Dirt Biking

Interesting article: Tread lightly!’s Tips for Responsible Dirt Biking

People who ride at TM, please don’t throw your trash at the trail entrance. I would go down with Knut and a sack and pick up the rubbish myself but my time is rather tight right now. Maybe I’ll do that when I come back from Boston.

TM trail ride 1 Jun 2008

I’m blogging from my sis’s laptop now. It has bluetooth! Therefore we have photos!

Today I had my first encounter with a steep climb and a dropoff. I crashed a few times (as usual) but did not break anything 🙂 However my back hurts now…. and I have lots and lots of washing up to do.

If you go trail riding, it’s worth it to invest in a pair of MX boots. Today my leg got trapped under my bike and I rolled a few times before stopping. If I hadn’t been wearing MX boots, I’d probably have a bad sprain or a torn tendon. Instead I was able to walk away from the bike and later get on it, start it and continue riding.

Here’s a photo of lonely Knut. I didn’t include the photos of the rest cause I didn’t ask their permission.

Call for donations: SATan’s off-road fund

SATan needs:

A pair of MX pants (she’s already torn her jeans, burnt her calf, think it’s time to get a pair)
New glasses (no I mean really)
Goggles
MX Helmet (to fit the goggles)

Knut needs:

Front brake lever again (buying 2 of them) $14 each
Needs to get his headlight looked at

OMG

One of the guys who was riding with me today broke his collar bone

Cause I went home after the first round and they decided to go in again after lunch on a more challenging trail… and since I was a newbie I ‘zi dong’ go home, then now I received news that he got injured.

Hope he’s alright.

TM trail 24 May

Damage:

Knut:

• fuel tank fairing thing came off when I banged into a tree. Is tied on with cable ties now.
• Brake lever was twisted, now has a crack in it when helpful friend tried to bend it straight again.
• Because of brake lever, brake light is now perpetually on.
• Headlight is either high beam, or nothing,
• Signal lights couldn’t cancel, but was solved with a bit of RP7.

Me:

• some bruises and scratches
• broke my glasses beyond repair. Am now wearing nerdy spare glasses.
• helmet has some minor scratches, meaning that it has sustained some mild impact.
• Tore my jeans
• Injured my tongue. I don’t know how.
• Now will have a nervous breakdown every time you mention the word “sand” to me. IHATESANDIHATESANDIHATESAND take that sand away from me nooooooo 😦

Memorable crashes:

• In soft sand, flew over the handlebars, tore pants, broke glasses, scratched helmet, scratches and bruises, injured tongue(?)
• Banged into a tree, forced fairing away from fuel tank, screw broke.

Memorable incidents:

• Major jam on SLE. Accident. Could see smoke and smell funny smells. Ended up riding on road shoulder.
• Friend was 1hr late… but never mind la. There were many other bikers around to talk to.
• Rode through a path that had cattails growing on both sides, was really beautiful… looked like a scene out of a movie 🙂
• Found a secret beach! Lovely clear water, no other people in sight, even has a plastic chair to sit down on… mmm. Unfortunately, that also means theres a lot of sand 😦
• Met A LOT (line seemed to go on forever) of 4wds on the way out. The people looked comfortable in their vehicles. Unfortunately they were all stuck and not moving, cause I dunno why. I wonder how fun that is, following the bum of the car in front of you and ambling along at an extremely slow speed -_-

Would upload the pictures if it wasn’t such a pain in the ass. (My com doesn’t have bluetooth)

The whole brake lever story

Last Sat: Twisted front brake lever while trailing on Saturday

Mon: Bought $6 “cheong” brake lever from Ah Boy. Salesman said it would fit.

Thurs: Felt well enough to install brake lever. Tried to install brake lever. Brake lever would not fit. #$#$%$!!!!

Fri: Went to buy a replacement brake lever from Ah Boy again. Went for the original one this time. Cost $18. Did not return first brake lever cause it was somewhat damaged by all the frustrated banging.
Went home: Brake lever still would not fit! Nabeh! Went on Internet and found that they had given me the part for Honda MBX125 instead of Honda XL200. Nabeh cb!

Sat: Am going back to change or at least get a refund for original brake lever. $18 leh no joke knn. They better give me a refund or an exchange.

Polyclinic visit

THE THUMB IS NOT FRACTURED!!!!

Polyclinic doctor didn’t give me antibiotics, just gave me wtf… painkillers?!
Eh hello, I’m carrying a helmet. If I rode there with all those wounds I obviously don’t need painkillers.

Ok anyway, the burn looked a lot better when they dressed it. Burnol is magical LOL

$6 ‘CHEONG’ FRONT BRAKE LEVER WILL NOT FIT… THIS IS DEPRESSING… ARGH

Injury update

All right! All right! SATan is going to the polyclinic tomorrow!

Just realised my burn is just big enough to be considered as a severe burn

All right! All right! SATan is not going trailing this weekend!

…sigh 😦

Update on injuries

The blister on my leg (around 6cm long and 3cm wide) is not healing as quickly as expected. I am thinking of putting honey on it, but I can’t think of a way to allow the honey to stay on without flowing all over my bed.

The thumb is distinctly less purple, but still stiff and can’t bend without pain. I have taken to applying “zheng gu shui” on it every time i remember.

If this goes on, I might not be able to ride this weekend? 😦

Update on the thumb

Thumb seems to have improved significantly (is still a little stiff and painful when I bend it though) so I’m guessing it’s not fractured. I’m going the “self-medication” method: Lots of “zheng gu shui” and a splint

Bought a front brake lever for $6 yesterday.