[peeperdacat]

I was suprised when I got to the park that I was the only one out there on a beautiful Sunday. I thought, “Fabulous, I have the place all to myself!” Got going on my favorite trail, and on a split second decision, decided to take an ‘advanced’ cutoff. I had ridden past it a ton of times, but never took it due to the large and intimidating rock garden. But this time, I said, “What the hell,” and veered off. Had no problem getting over the rocks. However, I was unaware that within about ten feet after the end of the rocks, there was a substantial wood ramp jump, which could not be seen from the main trail. It came as a complete surprise. As I wasn’t expecting this, I knew I didn’t have enough speed to make the jump. I had time to ride around it, but…decided to try to accelerate with what little distance I had to see if I could make it. As soon as I hit the ramp, I knew this wasn’t going to end well. The bike dumped me over the bars and the first part of my body that made contact with the ground was the left side of my face. I was momentarily stunned, like, “What the hell just happened?” I quickly jumped up as if to prove to myself that I was okay, not paralysed or anything. Then I looked at my Bell Helmet. It was split in two in front, right in the middle. Even though my face and head hurt like hell, I’d had a concussion before and felt as if I didn’t have one. The bike, of course, was fine…looking at me as if, “What’s the matter? Let’s get going!” I was pretty much in the middle of the trail and about 2 miles from the parking lot and my car, so there was no way I was going to walk back, so…I got on my bike and began to ride. Before I did, I took a selfie of my face. When I got back to the parking lot, I stuck my face under the shower to wash all the dirt and crap off my face. The instant the water hit my face, I was shocked: it hurt like hell! Took another selfie afterwards, then made a call to some friends to let them know what had happened and that I was going to drive home. A number of friends offered to come get me, but as it was a Sunday, and the park was out in the boonies, I thanked them but declined. Turns out I was okay, just ended up with a little scar above my lip. It was my pride that was hurt more than anything. The next day, I ordered a Bell Full Flex BMX/skate helmet. My Singletracks profile photo was taken a day or two after my f*ckup.

[peeperdacat]

Thank you for all of the great advice. I didn’t mean to imply that I would only be interested in WTB tires, just that those are the only ones I have any experience with. One more question: it seems as if the tires where you have more choices in traction (etc.) are the tubeless tires. Can I run them with tubes? Don’t I need special tubeless rims? If so, don’t want to spend $ for that. From what I’ve read, I can do this but they are more difficult to mount.

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