Mel & Pinkie's Weekend Adventure. AKA how the Chaparral Bush saved my life!

So, you can probably guess from the title that I had a little mishap this weekend. I was in the east bay this weekend visiting David and Gypsy. We had planned a bike ride for Saturday but instead did some crosstraining. Peter, Casey and Callie came over and we went for a hike in Tilden Regional Park. It was pretty warm but much of the hike was in the shade so it wasn't too bad. Callie enjoyed getting into water every chance she got. We hiked about two hours and then went back to David's for some refreshments. We chilled out for the afternoon enjoying David's famous mojitos and chips and salsa. Then I enjoyed a nice nap. Needless to say, the abstract didn't get worked on.

Sunday we went for our planned ride at the Carquinez Strait Loop in Martinez and Crockett. This is a two waterbottle ride that is 18.5 miles with 1200 feet elevation gain according to the book. We parked at the Bull Valley Staging Area and took off for our ride. It was a bit windy and cool but the scenery was nice. We rode along the Carquinez Strait on Carquinez Scenic Drive. Part of this road is closed to car traffic due to damage from slides or something. There are barricades you have to go around at 3 spots, and one side of the road is basically a cliff. We came upon the 2nd barricade at mile 4 and I thought I could ride around it rather than get off the bike (mistake number one). As I tried to maneuver around the barricade on the cliff side (mistake number two) I realized I wasn't going to make the turn and my shoes were stuck in my clips. I fell over my handlebars into some shrubs. I fell about 8 feet and was just lying there on my back practically upside down. I was holding on to the branches of the bush to avoid sliding further down. I didn't have a camera but googled an image of the plant that broke my fall and kept me from falling further down the cliff

Unfortunately, it was cohabitating with this plant

In a flash David was there to see if I was ok. I told him I was, and to get the bike first and then help me. The bike was stuck in the bush so he had to yank it out and then came to help me. It was pretty steep and my shoes didn't give me any traction. Fortunately David was able to reach down, grab my hand and pull me up (despite his reluctance to touch my poison oak-covered body :)

Amazingly I came through the fall with a few scrapes on my legs, a sore neck and back, and a slight headache. I will have to wait to see how much I react to the poison oak! I had to pull pieces of it out of my chain and handle bars. Later, when I showered , I had plant material in my clothing as well.

After a few sips of water and checking out my bike to be sure it was ok, we got back to the ride. It was a bit tough as I seemed to get more sore as we rode and even felt a bit sick to my stomach for a while. I am not sure if it was the fall or the climb! Overall, we rode 18.5 miles, average 10.4, max 34.8 mph (that was fun but a bit scary after the fall). The altitude readings were +1578, -1497. The maximum grade was +11%, average 1%. That is the most climbing I have done to date.

As the day went on it really hit me that I was very lucky, and if it weren't for that bush breaking my fall I could have tumbled to my death or been seriously injured. Needless to say I won't try to ride around difficult obstacles again!

I will let you know how I feel in the morning.