DAY 3; PAGE 1 MONDAY 17 JULY 2006
West Rim Trail
9 miles one-way
Level
Easy
Running entirely along the rim of the gorge; amazing views of Taos Plateau, Sangre de Cristos and the gorge
Access: North trailhead is at the rest area for the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. South trailhead is on Highway 567 on mesatop above Taos Junction Bridge .

Leaving at 0800 for mountain biking the west rim of the rio grand Gorge.

The day was perfect: bright and sunny, (I did slather on 50 spf sun block before leaving the motel)--Hot when stopped, cool breeze while riding. The trip is 9+ miles one way, ending on the floor of the Gorge.

It was an awesome ride with spectacular views.

About 7 miles along while negotiating a trickey (of course) gully, I took a spill, landing hard on my right nside. My head banged the ground quite hard but my helmut prevented any injury there. However, my posterior lateral right rib cage was very sore initially. Also, there was a significant sore spot the right upper outer aspect of my pectoralis. I lay still for a few minutes, angry with myself, and doing a self evaluation of my injuries. Leigh was just ahead of me. He and Ed came over to do an evaluation. After a few minutes the pain subsided somewhat and I caught my breath. I was able to disentangle myself and get up unassisted and we continued on with the ride.

I did discover that during my fall, my digital camera's LCD display screen was fractured, and no longer functioned. What a bummer :-( I guess I'll have to purchase a new camera.:-)

The last leg of the ride was a steep switch back descent to the gorge bottom on gravel road, I did plenty of braking and made it down without incident. The crew had prepared a picnic lunch for us which we enjoyed at a covered pavillion.

The rear discomfort has lasted for 3 weeks and I'm surmising that I may have cracked a rib, but It didn't stop me from enjoying the rest of the trek. FR (the pharmacist) provided flexoril and naprosin for me each night and I took 8hr. tylenol during the day. I only had pain when I coughed. (Non-productive)