Rumors were running rampant………The Wisconsin DNR are going to close down the "FUN" half of the COGGS Mont du Lac trail!
This is the day, Tuesday, July 2^nd, maybe my last chance to ride the whole trail before they get up here and block it off.
What a great day this is, Sunny and warm like its been all week, so the trail has to be hard and fast.  It's the counter clockwise direction today which is easier and faster I say to myself as I begin the accent up the face of the Mont du Lac slope.  The Cannondale Super V is going great today, much better than my new Giant XTC goes.  It seems to be more balanced and agile as the steep accent is almost over.  Here's the chairlift and I'm not gasping for air as bad as I normally do at this point.  Great ride so far!  Down the hill, now the sharp left and up that steep rutted clay accent to the top…. Its dry and hard as a rock and ZING, I'm up and over that with out getting off my bike!
That's my first time ever that I've made it all this way without falling or getting off the bike!!
Keep 'er going I say to my self as I'm just flying down the single track, its hard and fast like I thought it would be.  I'm really bookin' now and its great fun !  Here's the top of the hill that drops down to Mai Tai Bridge.  I'm going faster than normal because its one of the rare times I've been on the trail this year when it hasn't been damp, wet and soft, soggy , slimy, slippery, sluggish , or surprisingly slow.  (Maybe the trail's been fine and I've just been slow, slimpy, slimy, soggy, sluggish, or just out of shape).
I'm going fast and I end up on the left side going down and it doesn't look good.  I always go down the right side when I run the track this way.  I'm too far down to change over to the right and I know if I try the roots will flip me over like a Croatian pancake.  SO LETS GO FOR IT!
BAD DECISION!  By the time my mind sees the problem it

already knows its to late for me.   My mind can do that now because its over 50 years old.
It's a rare known fact that when you are over 50 your brain works much faster than your body can.  No one knows this unless they are over 50 and find out the hard way like I'm going to do AGAIN RIGHT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW !
DOING…the Lefty front shock bottoms out, BLURRY AIR is all I can see, and THUD is all my ears can hear as the ground pounded my left shoulder to an instant numbness that I haven't felt since I wrecked my right rotator cuff a couple summers ago doing the same thing.  I was numb all the way up to the back of my head down my arm and down my back.  I was lying in the creek at the bridge when the cool water brought me back to my senses.  I've just been massacred at the Mai Tai I thought.
I knew from the last time that if I get going I can get out of here while I'm still numb and ride the bike.   I also know that once the numbness leaves the pain will be far to bad to be able to even pick my nose, much less ride the bike.
The rest of the trail was great I thought as I went as fast as I dared with the Grimace on my face.   And it was.  I made it all the way back through the single track and down to the bottom and only fell one more time.
My mind was working fast again and not paying to much attention to the Doctor as he said both shoulders are not too good, and this one is definitely worse than the other one, looks like you could need surgery on the rotator cuff………….go see an orthopedist……….I don't know if this was……………………………………..
I can't hear him now as my mind is linking up to the internet to the body parts web site and I have just found the body of a 25 year old mountain biker that my brain will fit into…….its only $99,999,900 plus tax.  Installation not included.