Holiday Ride With Don and Robert

Don Burke prior to the drop of death











My sweet KENDA equipped Titus FCR















Robert about to enter the last drop he may ever do


Today I met Robert and Don for a "quick" ride through the Santa Monica's, traversing Westridge and climbing Sullivan Canyon. Much like the classic hit tv comedy "Gilligan's Island," it quickly turned in to a three hour tour. Everything started well, with good weather and little traffic. It would quickly change. About two thirds of the way up the canyon, there is an eight foot cliff-drop off the trail and into the canyon bottom. It's scary at first, but easily handled...most of the time. First up was Robert, who saw it at the last second and just committed (the right choice, usually). He cleaned the drop, but swung off line due to the "g-out" effect and launched over a rock, augering into a dry creek bed and taking a wicked shoulder roll. He was fine, and so was the bike...so far so good. Don was next, and I was actually thinking he had taken the low side trail around the drop. Yeah, not so much. Before I could yell "You Gonna' Die, Foo!" Don sacked up and rolled the drop. He had done it before, and succesfully, too. This time? Not so much.
Don's front wheel cut (slow speed stall at the lip of the drop) and the rear wheel followed. Front cleared the jagged boulder, rear...again, not so much. With a yelp and a cry, and rock in his eye, "BIG DON" bit the big red enchilada witha mighty Paul Bunyanesque thump. As the leaves settled and the birds began to chirp again, Big Don was in trouble. Helmet paint chips lay akimbo on the forest floor, as did Don's carcass. The shoulder was real bad, and the bike's front wheel made the term "taco" seem like a vicious understatement.
Robert and I took a large rock and beat the everloving hell out of that wheel (which was cracked, by the by) top get it to just look tacoe'd. With about a mile of steep climbing to go, Don was on foot. The wheel was actually cracked in half, being held together by the tire's bead. Nice. we made it to the top, then I lunched a brand new $70 dollar XT rear derailleur. Yay. A bike ride with your pals, 10 dollars in gas. A new Titus bike? Thousands. Watching your riding partners make their wives into widows? PRICELESS!

Chris