Just hit the dirt trails for the first time in a while. I had been thinking about it, then the night before on Saturday, I bumped into old BMX friends I hadn’t seen for a while, and they totally talked me into it. So there were Mush and Takuma at the trails following that night, as well as Shoichi who just showed up there. All of these guys have been around in Hokkaido at some point and now are living in the mainland. I really should have taken some pictures of these guys and a bunch of Sapporo locals riding and digging together. I also brought a young gun, a skier I just made friends with recently. My bad habit was full on and left him unaccompanied while I was riding, but he seemed to manage it and have fun, so I was glad.
I was riding well, but the highlight was seeing great things from various riders. Notably Takuma, a top-notch flatlander, was super good at dirt jumping and I felt really inspired. As a result, we both ended up charging a big four-set line, and ate it as early as at the first landing, both of us. Some other guys were doing the line nonetheless, some to the third one, and I was reminded how good these guys were, including Mado who seems to have been progressing consistently for a long time since I met him, Keisuke who may not adapt to the society well but does to the trails damn well, and Makoto who is just coming back from a manhood-threatening injury. Real good stuff.
So I crashed, laughed, came back, took a shower to wash off itchy mosquito bites, took a nap to ease my crash-exhausted body, made ramen and ate, and am now coughing out some blood. It seems like the same old broken rib and traumatic pneumothorax, or in laymen’s terms, “broke a rib and it punctured the lung.” I’m not feeling as much suffocation as the last time, however, so my guess is it’s minor enough to be healed by just doing nothing and taking a rest. Here are other factors as well: doctors are less than decent and bills are ridiculous at night; if a rib is broken there’d be no putting it back in place or anything therefore no need to hurry; and if there is problem I haven’t noticed, they, at the late night/holiday hospital, may well overlook, so it’s pointless to go. Although, this is just my personal opinion on this specific case that I’m rather familiar with, and I don’t recommend you to do the same.
Since the left side of my torso hurts, I’ll have the right side work more for a while. I’ve had to work out more on the right side anyway to negate the imbalance of muscles anyway, so the timing is great. I also have a lot of desk work to do, so I’m not against not doing much physical activities for now either. Now I’m going to have a good rest with a good dream knowing I at least tried hard at the trails.