Neighbors Faceplant

Posted in Biking by Lets Ride on April 3, 2011

I had to write about this one… I’m sitting on my front porch in NH earlier today enjoying the nice spring weather, when I see my neighbor and his son coming down a side street on their mountain bikes. I’m envious you see, my bike is in storage right now and I am itching for a ride. The weather is getting nicer and the mountain biking trails are in thaw mode, primed for riding.

(New England is an incredible region to ride in. You’ve got hundreds of miles of trails in the White montains in New Hampshire and the Green mountains in Vermont. There’s also miles upon miles upon miles of seacost trails in Maine.)

So, it’s nice to see a father out for a ride with his son. I see that neither one of them are wearing a helmet or any sort of padding or protection though. Personnally, I never ride without a helmet at minimum, unfortunately it’s not a law and many people choose not to wear one, which could be a serious safety risk.

The little boy is doing very well, listening to his father and staying clear of the main road and really focusing on how his bike is handling and what it is doing. He seems extremely intrigued by how the gear shifter is working and watching the brake cables and pads as he brakes. I AM ENLIGHTENED…to see a 6 or 7 year old taking that much interest in the mechanics of his mountain bike. To top it off, he’s riding awesome. He’s leaning and shifting his wieght, as well as the bike, and pedaling just the way he should be.

I guess that’s about when I noticed that his father saw I was watching. And for some reason, he didn’t think he looked cool enough riding the way he was, so he decided to pull a wheely (I think). He pulled up nice and hard, went all the way vertical, and almost lost it backwards. With a look of fear he came back forward, apparently had pulled the front brake lever while in “vert”, hit the ground solid, and flipped forward into a digger faceplant on the pavement. OOF!! With his bike and body moving forward over his head dragging his face for a couple of feet. I dont know why he felt the need but…..thanks for the show.

Final Thought:

DONT TRY TO SHOW OFF!! Every one of us wants to look super cool on our bike but dont try to do tricks without safety gear or proper practice.

…or you might end up looking like this guy.

Isn’t this a great photo, when I found this shot I had to post it. I’m not sure what Georgey Boy did, but it looks like road rash to me. I don’t think it was time to take the training wheels off just yet.