I'm doing it! My 12 year old kid is ready and he is asking now every day. I would give it to him a heartbeat but I told him to tackle 5 big mountain bike rides and it's his.
He wants a bmx but I'd rather he be on a 26er so he can use those handling skills better on the mountain bike.
Ok, major setback. We snuck in a session at the park yesterday to get a feel for the bike. It's really light and fast. Moments after I took this video Miguel with new Spank bike at Calabazas - YouTube
he dropped in to the big side without brake checking. On the first jump, he endoed and crashed into the next jump. He was crumpled into the ground and was dazed. Nothing can really prepare a dad for that scene and I'm still having a hard time with it.
I thought he shattered his clavicle as we took him to the ER. Verdict is the outer tip of the clavicle is broken and the clavicle is stretched up a bit. No surgery for now as we'll let it heal on its own and do physical therapy.
He is now at home recovering with meds. Family is by his side and friends are coming over. Thank you for all the kind words in Facebook.
This is a setback for sure. Hope he comes out of it ok.
Oh no! Poor Miguel - I ate it the exact same way on those same little jumps and was pulling gravel out of my elbows for months.
The worst head injury I ever had was at Cali many years ago, when I wasn't much older than Miguel. Heal up, kid! We spilled the same blood in the same mud
Sorry to hear man. A similar thing happened to me a few months back at Z's, and I thought I broke some ribs or the sternum and my jaw. I did not get any confidence for descending, for a long time. I'm just finally getting my confidence back. Though, I won't take a jump now until I get the basics down.
I hope he gets better.
So, truth time....did the mrs. really lay into you? Just curious, I wouldn't hear the end of it, if it was my son, or worse my daughter. Fortunately, for me, it was just me and the mrs. didn't care that much, just another one of my billion crashes.
I hope your boy heals well and can get back on the horse soon. Reminds me of when I was a about 13 and got my first pair of stiff GS race skis ended up with a concussion on the first run .
Boy is good today. He had 4 visitors bearing gifts and I saw him two handing the xbox controller. Tomorrow, I'll take him to Bike SFO. His buddies were taking turns on his new bike.
If I can only STOP patting him on the bad shoulder, he'd be good.
Go Miguel! Best thing about being that age is they come back!
Personally, I hate what they did to Cali... I wish they left it with Hill, endo, the tree ride (worst head injury I ever had), nut... Cali was never safe, but I think it was safer back then.
Nice! That must have sparked a bunch of talk about biggest crashes. But....why does the dad have the biggest smile? Ear to Ear, lol! Dad's way too stoked!
Thanks for the well wishes. He is doing great as he's getting mobility back and is off the painkillers. Yesterday, at the show I think he felt the upside of his injury as he had a story to tell and all these dudes would make him feel at ease about recovery and welcomed him to the club. I think all the bike people just wanted to know that it was a bike injury.
Last night, we talked about biking and his return to the track and how we make some adjustments. And he asked if we would have gone to the trail today if not for the injury.
Injury update. The broken shoulder is healed! Miguel went to Calabasas every day last week during school break and he now has a little gang of hoodlums over there. His skill grows every day and he is turning the bars and whips the tail now when he jumps. He tells me how to do it but I have no idea what he's talking about.
Yesterday, we hit the trail and visited a local builder. It was good day.
photos:
Miguel at Calabasas
Miguel is rusty with cornering and climbing but his flight is good
ET phone home
We talked about a custom dirt jumper
This man may not be in to it.
It broke my heart when I saw him crumpled on to the ground the day that he fell. But folks fall and they need to get up stronger and wiser. He's been through a month of PT and we are more aware of our skills and limitations.
And he is happy as shown here in Hans Kellner's video last month at Krishna Dole's house.
Glad to see your son is doing better. Just to add to the pile on, a 20 inch bmx bike will do wonders for his mountain biking skills. My 9 year old wanted to try bmxing so got him a 20" intense on closeout from Jenson. In a matter of months he went from being a decent rider to having nearly the same skills I do. We road tahoe rim trail in October, he loves the rock gardens at Rockville and killed Chaperal at Joaquin Miller.
Nice comeback! I recently moved pretty close to Calabasas, so I've been riding over once a week. I really have no BMX skills, but it's fun to roll around and catch a little air on the smaller jumps. And there are some really fun big berms in the back of the park.
Just look for the older blonde-haired guy on a black Ibis that looks WAY out of his element! Hope to see ya out there.
Doug
And a question for the BMXers: I've been riding my Mojo at the park, but thinking about taking the SS, with 32/20 gearing. Does that sound like a smart move? Thanks.
I've never been to Calabasa's but, you might find 32/20 to be to slow to get enough speed for the jumps? I know at the Pleasnton Dirt jumps you have to pedal hard into the first jump or you wont have the momentun to clear it. An easy way to gear for dj/pump tracks is use half the teeth of the front chain ring and then adjust from there if needed. My last bike started at 32/16 then I changed it to 32/14 for a little more speed. I now run 28/13 on my new 26" Dj.
Sorry- yeah, it's a 26 (Tranny). I've noticed the lack of pedaling that the good kids/guys have. They don't waste too much energy! Thanks for the psi tip.
Keep working on the small kids' area. That is the best part there, specially when there's no people.
It's really unfortunate that place is built wrong. There is so much opportunity in that space, specially if there was a pump track.
Lock your fork, pump up your tires and keep your body level as you roll through those jumps.
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