Shed the hard stuff

I was originally planning to do a Gambril/Shed ride on Saturday, but I forgot my shoes! So I ended up doing a ride with Matty, Mike, Ian, Jonathan,Harold, Brett and Donna.
Matty picked me up, and we actually made it to the Hamburg lot on time. There were a ton of people there, and we found out that the Michaux folks came down since there was a motocross race up there. They left when we got there. Jonathan realized he forgot his shoes, so he left said he would come back and meet us on the trail. Brett and Donna were some Michaux folks that came a little later so we acted as the tour guides for them.


We did an ok route, one that I wouldn't have picked, it was on the technical side. I was looking to get some good training in for the SM100. Ian and myself were pushing it on the climbs with Matty getting in there as well, Mike, Brett, Matt were riding the tech stuff well and did one Rock formation on Viper that was a little above what I normally do. Got hurt on the ride, with

1. Brett hit a branch that was against a tree, the branch(15-20 ft) then fell on me to hit me in the head. Was scary and I didn't get a concusion but it did remind me of playing HS football.
2. On rock candy I almost lost the ability to have children, damn front tire got stuck and I was able to shift the family jewels, but I still got a stem to the groin :-(
3. This was the most lasting one, a stupid waterbar hop up I went up it and then got caught up and couldn't unclip and landed in rocks which screwed up my elbow.

At one point when we were climbing up Gambril road I was behind, and I caught up with Matty, Ian, and Mike. I then pushed the pace and Ian was still riding behind me, I decided to go hard cause the worst that could happen is that I would ride back to Hamburg. I rode the climbs there strong and kept it up on the downhills. We came back via Deathmarch which is a fun downhill. We had to back up though, and once we got to the sand flats area my deraileur pulley blewup which then made my deraileur hanger break. So I walked down the hill we did and walked the road with Matty coming to get me eventually. We finished the ride up with some good Pizza in Frederick. I had the oportunity to get two Hamstring cramps at the restruant, I need to remember to take electrolites when I am riding.