Ride #3 and a big mental error...

So ride three comes and I am mentally prepared to push my bike when need be.  I have exaggerated some of my XC techniques in the past couple rides to get over rocks and roots when I have minimal momentum on my side.  I have also carried more momentum in some areas than I am comfortable just to help with the next hill.  The past two rides... this has worked.

When I stared out on this ride, I determined I would follow the same route as last time, but got left at the second Y instead of right.  This turned out to be a better option, however I had to ride down roughly 50 wooden stairs that were unevenly spaced in every way imaginable.

All in all, it wasn't bad.  If anything, it was tough on my forearms due to the odd position I had to ride in for a while on those steps.  I was able to ride all the way to a road unlike last time where I had to Hike-a-bike.  So things were looking up a bit.

I ended up following the same "Blazed path" I did the ride before and followed the same route home.  However with no rain the prior few days, the clay was in much better condition, so I road the descent I skipped the ride before.

The bike and I were agreeing with each other a bit so I entered the downhill faster than normal.  Things were clicking as I just let the bike do its thing and eat up the drops and corners.  There is a section I have only cleared 1 time, crashed a few times, so I now just dismount.  After talking with others... it seems everyone dismounts and only a few try to ride it - unsuccessfully.  There trail is just washed out and the ground around it unstable.  So I dismount, jump over it, remount and continue...

The the bike walked up a bank a little higher than I wanted.  I have the muscle the bike back down, but was slightly crossed up, so the bike was sliding a tad sideways into the next turn... again, I let the bike roll up the bank too far and had to fight it back down... this time the little slide got bigger and the rear end snapped around... I was "ejected skyward"...  suddenly time slowed down as I was suspended over my bike...  I saw the bike continue on the same path I was on.  I reached for it, but it was just out of my range.  I saw it settle with the handlebar straight up... I reached out to catch myself, but was conscious of my fingers coming down into a spinning front tire and was fearing my knee would strike the chainset...  And then it happened.  I took the handlebar straight in the gut with my body weight behind the fall....  Immediately my right side went numb... Numb is better than piercing pain, so I hopped on the bike and road it out trying to get home before the numb wore off...  I crashed right before km 9.  So it is all uphill from here to get home...

I almost made it before the pain set in... but just as I was cresting the climb, numb went to hurt.  I basically limped the bike home hoping no real damage has been done.

Luckily, the bike is fine.  I seem to have given myself a "Hope" tattoo...