By James Durand
You may have read about my Whistler trip last month. It was four days of trail riding on some pretty technical trails.
Normally, this would cause me no pain. I ride this type of terrain and style of bike regularly. My body is used to it and I rarely end up with sore or stiff muscles.
But on this particular trip, I crashed hard and ended up with lots of bruises and a broken pinky finger. Nothing major, but it definitely left a mark or two.
Last week we had another Whistler trip planned and this one was 100 per cent bike park riding. This has us riding up on a chair lift and blasting off as many laps of pure downhill as possible.
I don’t ride much dedicated DH these days and with three straight days of bumpy corners, big jumps, and steep rooty trails, I figured my body would be aching by week’s end. There was not much pedalling, but after even a few laps, your upper body will show signs of fatigue, so after 35 laps and still being beat up from my last trip, I was expecting the worst once the trip was over.
I woke up the morning after we got home and was pleasantly surprised to be able to pop out of bed with not one little ache. No sore legs or arms, shoulders felt great, and my broken finger and bruised ribs felt better than before the trip.
I was feeling young, spry, and maybe a little bit invincible again. Life was good.
The next day we headed out to run some errands and my son Regan was tired, so I carried him on my shoulders for an hour.
I woke up the following morning in agony. I could barely turn my head due to a stiff neck, lifting my arms over my head was impossible, and picking up anything over 10 pounds made me wince with back pain.
Invincible? Young? Spry? Maybe I jumped the gun on all that. I guess I should stick to what I’m good at. Maybe I’ll buy a wagon for Regan.
I’m James Durand and I’m Going’ Ridin’…