Sean Holley
The Ride of Hurt
A young mountain biker is coming down the trail when he finds something he didn't expect
As I'm laying on the ground, my bike on top of me, all I'm thinking is How did I get here? Well, I don't really remember that. That's basically the premise of my story: my first concussion.
So, I'm in Sedona for my Osprey Week and I'm super excited I'm like oh it's going to be sick, one of the first rides the season, I’m so excited with all my friends. What could go wrong? I mean nothing could go wrong, right? Taylor had a liter of Mt. Dew before the first ride, and he barely made it, but he’s still here today.
We're on this trail, so just imagine we're in a wash, you've got steep walls on both sides of you and you've got these narrow slickrock rollers that you have to come down. I don't how many of you guys know what slickrock is. Just know it’s not slick at all, you land on it and it takes off all your skin. It's like the destroyer of souls, it's terrible stuff. Great for traction, terrible for falling on. We're coming down, I'm in the back, I'm one of the slower riders in this group and there are only two people behind me, Nick and Brian. They've stopped to get some water and eat some snacks.
I want to catch up with the group. I didn't really have a chance of doing that anyways, but I was going to try. So, I'm going as fast I can, pedaling through the slickrock rollers, having a blast, and then I come up into this open wash area. There's a tree up to my right and there's a couple up there eating lunch and I'm coming down. So, what I see is a stretch of slickrock and thinking oh this is going to be another super fun roller, but what I don't notice that the actual trail is over to the right of this canyon. So I'm coming down pedaling and all I see is skidmarks. I'm like I wonder why people are skidding. And I just see nothing after the rock. I slam on the brakes and I'm sliding, I'm going everywhere, and then I hit the edge.
I go over the handlebars, my front tire hits, my head hits and then my back hits. and so I stand up I'm like, I can't breathe. I just want to get a breath in. So, I'm standing up, now looking around I'm like, what just happened, why is the trail right there and why am I here.
The couple comes down, asking if I'm ok, and I'm still trying to catch my breath. I'm telling them I know who I am: “I'm Sean, I'm in Sedona with my school, it's Wednesday” or whatever day it was, probably should know that. And so I'm standing there I'm like “I think I'm going to be OK.”. I take off my helmet and look at it, and the helmet doesn't look good. I have a big crack going right down the middle of my helmet. There's blue paint on the rock from my helmet. I’m like well, I think my bike's OK so I pick up my bike. Well, then Brian comes down the trail. I'm yelling “don't come here!”. I'm still a bit out of breath I'm still telling him “don't come here.”. He’s asking what happened and I'm like I just fell off this. He’s like the trails right there. I say “Yeah I see that now.”. He’s asking if everything was OK I'm like “yeah I kind of landed on my head and my rib hurts a little bit, I think I'll be all good.
I pick up my bike. I try to spin my tire I want to make sure everything's ok, such as my tire being straight, but the tire doesn't move. My tire’s supposed to be straight, but my tire looks like a snake. It's a problem, I can’t be moving very far with this so Brian takes the front tire off and starts hitting the bent end on a rock until it's straight enough I can get it to spin through the fork. So I'm like oh ok I'll be all good, so I keep biking down. I'm just watching the front tire just weave in and out of the fork. What should be spinning through it's looking more like a snake slithering through the front fork. I was hurting the entire ride, but we were going to do another double black. I can't breathe still. My rib is hurting like I cracked it. This was one of the most painful rides I've ever been on.
The lesson I learned is that you have to commit fully to everything. Even if you don't mean to do it. The way to drop a cliff is to pull up in your front tire and push the bike out in front of you. I did the opposite and I just slammed on the brakes and did everything I could to stop moving. I should have just kept pedaling forward and picked up my tire, and I probably would have at least landed on two tires. I don’t know if I would have landed or stayed upright but I wouldn't have broken myself and I wouldn't have missed three weeks of the mountain bike season.
So, I'm in Sedona for my Osprey Week and I'm super excited I'm like oh it's going to be sick, one of the first rides the season, I’m so excited with all my friends. What could go wrong? I mean nothing could go wrong, right? Taylor had a liter of Mt. Dew before the first ride, and he barely made it, but he’s still here today.
We're on this trail, so just imagine we're in a wash, you've got steep walls on both sides of you and you've got these narrow slickrock rollers that you have to come down. I don't how many of you guys know what slickrock is. Just know it’s not slick at all, you land on it and it takes off all your skin. It's like the destroyer of souls, it's terrible stuff. Great for traction, terrible for falling on. We're coming down, I'm in the back, I'm one of the slower riders in this group and there are only two people behind me, Nick and Brian. They've stopped to get some water and eat some snacks.
I want to catch up with the group. I didn't really have a chance of doing that anyways, but I was going to try. So, I'm going as fast I can, pedaling through the slickrock rollers, having a blast, and then I come up into this open wash area. There's a tree up to my right and there's a couple up there eating lunch and I'm coming down. So, what I see is a stretch of slickrock and thinking oh this is going to be another super fun roller, but what I don't notice that the actual trail is over to the right of this canyon. So I'm coming down pedaling and all I see is skidmarks. I'm like I wonder why people are skidding. And I just see nothing after the rock. I slam on the brakes and I'm sliding, I'm going everywhere, and then I hit the edge.
I go over the handlebars, my front tire hits, my head hits and then my back hits. and so I stand up I'm like, I can't breathe. I just want to get a breath in. So, I'm standing up, now looking around I'm like, what just happened, why is the trail right there and why am I here.
The couple comes down, asking if I'm ok, and I'm still trying to catch my breath. I'm telling them I know who I am: “I'm Sean, I'm in Sedona with my school, it's Wednesday” or whatever day it was, probably should know that. And so I'm standing there I'm like “I think I'm going to be OK.”. I take off my helmet and look at it, and the helmet doesn't look good. I have a big crack going right down the middle of my helmet. There's blue paint on the rock from my helmet. I’m like well, I think my bike's OK so I pick up my bike. Well, then Brian comes down the trail. I'm yelling “don't come here!”. I'm still a bit out of breath I'm still telling him “don't come here.”. He’s asking what happened and I'm like I just fell off this. He’s like the trails right there. I say “Yeah I see that now.”. He’s asking if everything was OK I'm like “yeah I kind of landed on my head and my rib hurts a little bit, I think I'll be all good.
I pick up my bike. I try to spin my tire I want to make sure everything's ok, such as my tire being straight, but the tire doesn't move. My tire’s supposed to be straight, but my tire looks like a snake. It's a problem, I can’t be moving very far with this so Brian takes the front tire off and starts hitting the bent end on a rock until it's straight enough I can get it to spin through the fork. So I'm like oh ok I'll be all good, so I keep biking down. I'm just watching the front tire just weave in and out of the fork. What should be spinning through it's looking more like a snake slithering through the front fork. I was hurting the entire ride, but we were going to do another double black. I can't breathe still. My rib is hurting like I cracked it. This was one of the most painful rides I've ever been on.
The lesson I learned is that you have to commit fully to everything. Even if you don't mean to do it. The way to drop a cliff is to pull up in your front tire and push the bike out in front of you. I did the opposite and I just slammed on the brakes and did everything I could to stop moving. I should have just kept pedaling forward and picked up my tire, and I probably would have at least landed on two tires. I don’t know if I would have landed or stayed upright but I wouldn't have broken myself and I wouldn't have missed three weeks of the mountain bike season.