Monday, March 5, 2012 - Blog on a Log

Wild Adventure of the Month - "Mexican Mishap"

Every month, Wilderness Supply features one of our customers who's had a wild adventure, and passes on some free gear to help them through their next undertaking. Whether on the road, trail, or water, the most difficult experiences always make the best stories...and the most enjoyable vicarious living!

March is all about St Patty, and the luck of the Irish.  We asked for your stories about when luck saw you through a particularly sticky outdoor situation.  Our favourite entry came from Penny of Manitoba, whose first adventure into Mexican mountain biking was nearly her last!

It went down like this...literally.

My husband Paul and I have been outdoorsy people for many years and Paul thought it would be fun to race mountain bikes so (if you can't beat him join him) I entered into my first race and never looked back. As we began this new sport together it became clear that it will be something that will keep us on the trails for a lifetime.

2012 was to be our 25th wedding anniversary. I began my search in the early months of 2011 to find the perfect guided mountain bike trip in the hot sun to celebrate. After many internet searches and a lot of hum-hawing about what trip would best suit us I decided on Mexico. We had never taken a Mexico trip and those all inclusive resorts just don't look appealing to Paul and me.

The trip was decided and I booked an 8 day all inclusive mountain bike guided trip in Mexico.  I was quite excited but also nervous about what was to be expected on this journey of ours. We had a very good start to our trip and had engaged in some great bonding with 8 other cyclist from around the world. The weather was spectacular and the scenery of jungle and ocean was incredible--though I never thought that riding a bike through the jungles of Mexico we would have encountered some similarities to Manitoba (wood ticks and noseeums!).

On the 6th day the plan was to mountain bike to a 17th century Mexican Hacienda and cycle into silver mine caves.  As it got late into the afternoon the group decided to head back to town. As we headed up the mountain bike trail we had come up a pretty steep elevation, and there were rock faces to the right of me and jungle to the left. I was unaware that behind that jungle to the left was a 30ft ravine.

Can I let you in on a secret?  I'm not the best at staying clipped in my pedals and am known to have had a few spills into some pretty prickly Manitoba escarpment. As I unclipped my pedals from my bike to walk over some rocks that day I noticed my feet break through the underlying trail and I began to free fall down...down...down. I was in panic mode and managed a few choice words as my body smashed against large rocks and jungle growth. It had to be Luck for sure, sitting down at the bottom of this ravine with only a few scratches and one badly bruised rib. All 9 people and two guides said "You are so lucky to be alive!".

No doubt about it - January 1st 2012 has to have been the luckiest day of my life!