Wow, Did I Take The Wrong Bike

And my clavicle agrees.

I was about 1-1/2 miles from my house and 50' down the trail when I realized that I'd brought the wrong bike.  I was 100' down the trail when I laid the bike down the first time.  At this point I almost made the decision to ride back and get a bike with studded tires... but I was late.  I had opted for the fat bike because the trails had been so soft and their condition was unknown.  Ultimatly I decided I could do it and I'd just be careful.  It turns out a nice aggressively studded bike would have been an ideal bike for the day.

The lake crossing was fine, a little slick.  The climb on the other side, I walked, I probably would have anyway.  The trails after that were slicky and tricky with the ice laden overhanging trees grabbing at my helmet light often. 

Ice Laden Overhanging Trees

 At one point my front wheel was sliding down an icy rut and I looked to my left to see my rear wheel trying to accelerate past me.  A fallen tree grabbed my shoelace and came along for the ride until I'd had enough so I set the bike down, laughing.  Then a bad thing happened, the trail got better.  And better trails mean higher speed and more confidence, wrong!  So then I crashed.  It wasn't a terribly spectacular crash but I'd say it was a pretty hard one.

As I was on the ground collecting myself, trying to asses the damage I though "Shit" I just got a whole bunch of new cycling gear and I hope I haven't mangled myself too much to use it.  After a minute or so I was back up, picking up the pieces of my rear light and pressed on.  I even decided to cautiously take the trails the rest of the way.  I did say that they got better, and it's hard to pass up good winter riding.

Taking off my riding gear was a chore.  (It was about 12 degrees and 2 layers of sweaty jerseys don't come off that easy).  Looking in the mirror confirmed that my shoulder was F-ed (Fouled) up.  I spent the morning thinking it was dislocated.  I even tried a few things to put it back in - I stopped that pretty quick.  A trip to quick care revealed the real problem.

Stop Skipping Ahead to the Pictures, I'm Not Real Happy About This

I'll be off the bike for a few weeks and probably off slippery trails for a few more.  Shit.