I Did That on Purpose

Going from one trail to another via fireroad. No leg pads, just the arms as they’re pretty comfortable.

I got to put my new Sette Strike pads I purchased last week to use when I rode at Aliso. As I was coming down Rock-it I slowed down way too much and my front wheel got stuck in a gargantuan hole. Over the bars I went but thankfully into some soft terrain. Some people know this soft terrain as rock. The pads did a great job keeping me from getting all beat up. The pads did get a little dirtied from the rock but none the worse for wear.

Some people might think that I intentionally ate it just to test the pads abilities. These people would be absolutely correct. I am not the type of rider that falls down ever unless it is purely intentional. In fact, I only fall down when I want to fall down, and never before or after that. That is why I know EXACTLY when to put on the pads and when to take them off.

Right before I donned the leg armor again

Taking the pads off and on had a bit of a learning curve. I only tried to put them on once before this ride, when I initially received them from UPS. The first time I really got to put it on was at the top of the first climb before the first descent down Lynx. No mishaps on Lynx, as I planned it. At the bottom of the Lynx, I stripped off the leg pads as they were not conducive to climbing.

At the top of the next descent on went the leg pads. I dropped in and chose about the midway point of the rockiest section to test out the pads. Off the bike I went landing with a primal yell or was it a girly scream? Which brings up the question: “If a mountain biker falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make sense to tell everyone you ate it?”… or something like that.

After a quick check of the faculties I got up, dusted off the pads and jumped back on the bike to meet up with everyone else. When I caught up, a quick check of the pads showed that they had done their job, just like I planned it.

Showing off where my elbow crushed the rock