We made relatively quick work of the climb and stopped in at the shelter for a snack. The descent off of the ridge to Club Gap is a great one, interspersed with enough rocks and roots to make you focus, but still chill enough to be able to charge through everything.
Our goal for the day was the descent of Avery Creek. The top of Avery is pretty technical and requires some decent moves, but we stayed upright until it opened up a bit more. I was chasing Brad down one of the fast sections and saw him have a massive high speed wreck. Bike and limbs were everywhere tumbling and I thought for sure that he was going to be pretty badly hurt. In mid wreck he catapulted his bike, and the only thing to show for this spectacular crash was a bit of a scratch on his forearm. He laid there laughing on the ground for a bit while I checked on the bike, everything was golden.
We got back on and I was following him again and witnessed what seemed to be a simple over the bars wreck. When I got there, though, I realized it was not. Right alongside the trail where he wrecked was a downed tree and his hip took the full brunt of his weight. When I got to him, he was in pretty bad shape and I had the fear that he may have broken his hip. After a few minutes of panic trying to decide what to do, he convinced me he was okay by standing up. The rest of the descent was a smattering of walking and coasting the smoother sections. We finally made it to the gravel road by the stables and I took off back to the visitor's center to grab the truck. I thought for sure that he was done riding for the weekend when I saw the hematoma on his hip, it looked like someone hit him with a baseball bat. BUT, he rode again on Saturday...and Sunday!
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