Maddog
Well-Known Member
I'm white and have a trailer; BOB trailer that is! And it made me crash! It was on 2/20/16 that I took the BOB on its maiden voyage. It's an 8 year old trailer I bought off Craig's List so after a new tube and tire and cleaning off a little rust, I loaded up my gas brush cutter, fuel and McCloud, strapped it all down and hooked it up to my Intense Tracer 275.
Now the Tracer was not my first choice to haul the trailer but since BOB does not make an axle wide enough for my Trek or a used trailer big enough for my cheap steel framed 29er, I had no alternative but to buy a Robert Axle Project axle and use my 4 month old Intense as the beast of burden! The first task: work day on the Acton Trail! Just 3 weeks prior, I had hiked in to the work site with all the gear in a bag over my shoulder. 2 hrs up and 2 hrs down 4.3 miles each way. I vowed never again and started shopping for the BOB.
The climb was brutal especially since I hate climbing
! I had to walk the short steeps at the base of the climb, nearly all the dips and sharp curves and could only pedal about 45% of the trail. Finished only 15 min. faster than my hiking time!
Had a great, long day trimming brush so the rest of the crew, hill^billy, BikeMonster and his 2 anonymous trail elves could dig out more trail. But I knew the trailer would really pay off with a faster descent and a lack of sore, seldom used hiking muscles for the next 4 days!
So I loaded the BOB and started heading down the trail
! I walked all the sharp turns near the top of the trail and kept it slow and easy to get used to the feel of the trailer. I gained confidence with each yard consumed under all 3 wheels
! Things were going well when I anticipated my arrival at a possibly troublesome obstacle: the small, maybe 10" high tombstone rock that kind of splits the trail jutting out from the uphill side of the trail. "I'll just slow down, go wide towards the edge and squeeze by! No problemo
! Well that didn't happen! That pesky rock moved left about 4" striking the edge of my trailer and pushing the tire off the trail! "I can save it!" thought I as I swung my right foot out and down to plant firmly on the trail. But my foot only caught air! The 40 lbs of crap in the trailer and gravity had taken over! I'm going down
!
After a perfect inverted 360 with a tail and trailer whip
I landed gently on my back with my bike and trailer below me on the real steep hillside! You people who have ridden AT know the spot. It really was a soft landing on rain-moistened, deep soil with a thick grass landing zone! A small scrape on my elbow was the only damage! Bike and trailer were still hooked up with no visible problems
! Now, how to get out of this! I could see where the crew was working on the trail and expected echoes of laughter to cascade down from above at any moment. But none came! They hadn't seen! Just like when Ralphie shot himself in the eye unobserved I started making my plan to escape from this predicament undetected
! I unhooked the trailer and got the bike back on the trail. Now the trailer. Maybe it was more than 40 lbs! I couldn't budge it! Too awkward and heavy to heft up that steep hill solo so I had to seek assistance and deal with the fallout!
So I swallowed my pride, took a deep breath and yelled for help. BikeMonster was the first to arrive and after realizing I was ok scrambled down to carry the back (downhill) end of the trailer while I got the front. That dude is strong! With no damage to bike or trailer (everything stayed strapped in too! Brilliant use of bunjis) he helped me hook the trailer back up. By then, hill^billy arrived (after all the work was done
!) and after seeing me and my rig were ok, started the good natured mocking
! "How did you do that???" "You are one lucky sob!" BikeMonster joined in a bit too and considering the circumstances, I had no retort!
Then hill^billy generously offered to be my wing man for the rest of the descent in case a similar event occurred. He was a welcome safety measure back to my truck! I walked most of the same sharp curves and dips on the way down but got back safely. Thanks to BikeMonster and h^b for their help and mostly to my gracious God who put that grass and soft, deep dirt in just the right spot! Now if He could only move that rock into the hillside about 3 more feet!
Now the Tracer was not my first choice to haul the trailer but since BOB does not make an axle wide enough for my Trek or a used trailer big enough for my cheap steel framed 29er, I had no alternative but to buy a Robert Axle Project axle and use my 4 month old Intense as the beast of burden! The first task: work day on the Acton Trail! Just 3 weeks prior, I had hiked in to the work site with all the gear in a bag over my shoulder. 2 hrs up and 2 hrs down 4.3 miles each way. I vowed never again and started shopping for the BOB.
The climb was brutal especially since I hate climbing
! I had to walk the short steeps at the base of the climb, nearly all the dips and sharp curves and could only pedal about 45% of the trail. Finished only 15 min. faster than my hiking time! Had a great, long day trimming brush so the rest of the crew, hill^billy, BikeMonster and his 2 anonymous trail elves could dig out more trail. But I knew the trailer would really pay off with a faster descent and a lack of sore, seldom used hiking muscles for the next 4 days! So I loaded the BOB and started heading down the trail
! I walked all the sharp turns near the top of the trail and kept it slow and easy to get used to the feel of the trailer. I gained confidence with each yard consumed under all 3 wheels! Things were going well when I anticipated my arrival at a possibly troublesome obstacle: the small, maybe 10" high tombstone rock that kind of splits the trail jutting out from the uphill side of the trail. "I'll just slow down, go wide towards the edge and squeeze by! No problemo! Well that didn't happen! That pesky rock moved left about 4" striking the edge of my trailer and pushing the tire off the trail! "I can save it!" thought I as I swung my right foot out and down to plant firmly on the trail. But my foot only caught air! The 40 lbs of crap in the trailer and gravity had taken over! I'm going down! After a perfect inverted 360 with a tail and trailer whip
I landed gently on my back with my bike and trailer below me on the real steep hillside! You people who have ridden AT know the spot. It really was a soft landing on rain-moistened, deep soil with a thick grass landing zone! A small scrape on my elbow was the only damage! Bike and trailer were still hooked up with no visible problems! Now, how to get out of this! I could see where the crew was working on the trail and expected echoes of laughter to cascade down from above at any moment. But none came! They hadn't seen! Just like when Ralphie shot himself in the eye unobserved I started making my plan to escape from this predicament undetected! I unhooked the trailer and got the bike back on the trail. Now the trailer. Maybe it was more than 40 lbs! I couldn't budge it! Too awkward and heavy to heft up that steep hill solo so I had to seek assistance and deal with the fallout!So I swallowed my pride, took a deep breath and yelled for help. BikeMonster was the first to arrive and after realizing I was ok scrambled down to carry the back (downhill) end of the trailer while I got the front. That dude is strong! With no damage to bike or trailer (everything stayed strapped in too! Brilliant use of bunjis) he helped me hook the trailer back up. By then, hill^billy arrived (after all the work was done
!) and after seeing me and my rig were ok, started the good natured mocking! "How did you do that???" "You are one lucky sob!" BikeMonster joined in a bit too and considering the circumstances, I had no retort!Then hill^billy generously offered to be my wing man for the rest of the descent in case a similar event occurred. He was a welcome safety measure back to my truck! I walked most of the same sharp curves and dips on the way down but got back safely. Thanks to BikeMonster and h^b for their help and mostly to my gracious God who put that grass and soft, deep dirt in just the right spot! Now if He could only move that rock into the hillside about 3 more feet!
! I'm sure I'll do it again though! Anything to get that trail punched through! Next time I'll walk around the tombstone both directions
or maybe bring a couple sticks of dynamite