Great Trail Ride Survey

[JTyre]

In our continuing effort to bring you the best Great Trail Ride experience that money can’t buy, please consider participating in the following survey.

1. Do you feel that Greg Fennell was a suitable replacement for Louise Fennell?
2. Did we drop Mikael just enough, enough, or more than enough?
3. Were there enough mechanicals and broken collarbones* to sustain your interest in future Great Trail Rides?
4. At the after party, do you think it’s right that Rolf eats 10%, 50%, or 100% of all the nachos and wings?

*Steve, please heal quickly. That was terrible, and we all feel for you.

p.s. Thank all (23) of you for making today such a memorable one!
p.s.s. Thank you Dolly for the ferry tickets, even though we all know that you've taken a cut.
p.s.s.s. Rolf for initiating the ride.
p.s.s.s.s. Alan for leaving early .
p.s.s.s.s.s. Prima Strada Cobble Hill for the amazing pizza and service (I'll write them and say so).
p.s.s.s.s.s.s. The weather.
p.s.s.s.s.s.s.s. Life.

[NickLosier]

1. No, we really need them both for a day like this
2. Yes
3. Not enough gear cable failure, too many collarbones.
4. None, because I get all of them

It was honestly a great day out there ( besides the crashy bit), thanks for everyone putting it together. Maybe next time I'll remember what spare parts I actually carry before riding 90Km on a single gear... Now to beg forgiveness from my knees.

[mashby]

Your message is important to us. We are experiencing higher levels of lactic acid than normal. Mark will respond to your message when he regains consciousness...

[Greg F]

1. (Greg’s answer)


1. (Louise’s answer)


2. Mikael was never dropped. He was merely foraging for materials to fix the next mechanical.

Broken frame? TIG-weld it with a sparrow feather and magnifying glass.

Ripped-open tire? Vulcanize some Douglas fir sap.

(apparently, one doesn’t bike across continents without pulling in some mad skills)

3. See above. The more mechanicals, the longer the Mikael Janson trail-side tutorial.
We can do without injuries that result in ambulances, however. (injuries that don’t require ambulances are fine!)

4. I’d give him >75%. He got the ride-ball rolling and ordered the pizza!!

(Thanks again all!!!)

[rduncan]

Rest up Steve. We want you back soon.

[Lund]

I posted something uncharacteristically nice here but the President called it "fake news" and took it down. What a dick (tator). Bloody Trump wanna-bes.

You can't silence me.

[mfarnham]

It's true, I fear. Steve posted a lovely response to all of you who aided him in during his trial on the trail. And I thought, "This couldn't possibly be Steve Lund...someone must have hacked his account." and deleted his post.

Actually, I just pushed the wrong (administrator's) button when trying to reply to his post. Sorry Steve. Steve assures me he'll repost later, when the pain from his last posting effort dies down.

Martin

[Lund]

Pain? Pfft. I have no idea what you're taking about.

It's a bit of a blur — being nice is new and unfamiliar terrain for me...like gravel biking, and look how that turned out — but I think I said roughly this:

---

Some silver linings from the broken guy's perspective:
- Riding a bike thru the forest on a gravel path is a whole lot of fun (though if anyone tries to tell you gravel is softer than asphalt, call me for a second opinion)
- The only damage (apart from a slightly tattered ego and the usual loss of about 30% of the skin off my left leg) is a broken chicken-bone in the weakest hemisphere of my body. I've scarcely noticed its absence.
- Claire now bathes, clothes, feeds and pampers (and sometimes Pampers™) me even more than usual
- It wasn't my bike!
- I've been learning mad new skillz. I've mastered the one-handed tire change, In fact, I'm fairly sure I can do it faster with one hand than some of you can do it with two. (Oops. That wasn't in the original version. Morphine must be wearing off.) Also, I can almost put on a sock by myself.

Sincere and heartfelt thanks to all of you who scrambled (or even grudgingly shuffled) to my aid, dusted me off and made sure I got the care I needed, and to all those who've sent words of sympathy and encouragement. It means a lot.

I'm on the wait-list for ORIF. Was hoping I'd get the call for surgery today but it's a no-go till tomorrow at least. I'll keep you posted.

I'm think I said something really witty right here at the end.

Calgary Steve

[GarthC]

Steve,
Sorry to hear of your crash and nasty collarbone break!
Hopefully once you’ve had surgery, you’ll be in less pain.
Too bad the ‘chicken bone’ is such an integral bone in the function of the shoulder.
You mentioned in your first post that we need to start a support group for all that are injured...there’s a few of us now

[Claire]

Steve was surgically reassembled today and is laying low at home for the time being (which, strangely precludes him from all manner of house chores but not from operating the barbecue...). He's sporting a high-end titanium reinforcement plate and anodized purple screws in a throwback to his days as an avant-garde 90s commuter hipster. At least, that's what the surgeon said was under the layers of saggy dressing, steri-strips and sutures.

He came out of the OR in good shape and now the healing (and commiserating - Garth, since you're farther along the process, maybe you should spearhead that support group) begins in earnest. Any tips on making indoor bike rides on gorgeous sunny days "fun" - and/or offers to orientate Steve on a torture device for said "fun" - would be most welcome.

Claire RN/GP*

(*in spirit only)