Outdoor and Sports Blog

The old television show “Rescue 911″ ruined mountain biking for me.

Maybe you remember the show. Hosted by William Shatner, it was an early example of a reality-TV show that used recordings of 911 calls, interviews with paramedics and other emergency responders and re-enactments to tells stories of various kinds of emergencies.

One of the few episodes I watched concerned a mountain biker in Texas or some other dry desert-y place. The cyclist tried to negotiate a sharp curve on the side of a hill, braked hard and ended up flipping over his handlebars. He landed on his neck and was paralyzed.

The vision of the guy flying through the air hasn’t stopped me from mountain biking. I’ve concluded there are risks associated in just about any outdoor sport, and just because one person was hurt on the trails doesn’t mean that it will happen to me. It does make me tentative and cautious when I’m biking out in the woods, and those qualities do not make for a superlative rider.

None of these thoughts crossed my mind as I somersaulted down the side of a hill recently at the Underdown Recreation Area near Irma. But William Shatner’s face appeared through a dizzy haze after I came to a rest in a thicket, as I attempted to disentangle myself from my bike and took stock of my head and my limbs. All this occurred while a thick cloud of mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds nose-dived for my arms and legs in search of their next meal.

My friend and colleague Jake and I had been yearning to ride Underdown for months. We have been regulars out at Nine Mile County Forest Recreation Area in Rib Mountain, and heard the Underdown was more challenging and “swoopy” from other riders.

That sounded great to me. But I forgot that these riders are really, really fit. And they are skilled regulars at mountain bike races across Wisconsin and beyond.

I dismissed the warning on the Lincoln County website: “Bike trails located in the Underdown Recreation Area have sections that are very challenging and are not for the novice rider.” After all, I thought, I’m not really a novice.

But I am.

Only my pride was sprained by the somersault fall. I continued on, often tipping over on tricky turns festooned with tree roots and rocks. I simply gave up and walked many of the areas. Jake would ride ahead, then stop and wait for me to catch up, yelling back, “You all right?”

Jake, I must point out, is 15 years younger than me and rides with a natural grace that’s a pleasure to watch, just as it is enjoyable to watch a deer bound through the woods.

Meanwhile, the mosquito hoard grew more aggressive, and we weren’t quite sure where we were. After an hour and 40 minutes of heavy riding (and falling), we blundered back to where we started. There wasn’t any “Rescue 911″ drama, but we weren’t sure if we had fun or not.

We can’t wait to go back.

Keith Uhlig can be reached at 715-845-0651 or kuhlig@wdhprint.com.