Sand Pit

As mentioned in previous posts, back on May 8 I slid down powering out of a sandy rut and injured my knee. It was the rear I lost, not the front. Anyway, the injury was an MCL (Medial Collateral Ligament) Tear. Well, over the last couple weeks I've been working back up to my regular trail. A couple weeks ago, we rode dirt/gravel roads, last week I was in ONF on their sandy roads...Monday I gave the Sand Pit a try.

There are two "Sand Pits" here in West Central Florida, maybe more. One is a mile long stretch of deep sugar sand on Graveyard Road in the Richloam WMA. The other is the entire Croom WMA! If you want to practice your sand riding in West Central Florida, head to Croom, east of Brooksville. Not to be confused with the nearby Croom Motorcycle Area; I'm talking about the Wildlife Management Area (WMA).

Okay, one confession that I need to make is that I wasn't as gear up as I should have been when I got the injury. It's just so freaking hot here in Florida that sometimes you just role the dice and that's what I did that day on May 8. I wasn't wearing my high boots, knee or elbow guards, neck brace or even a long sleeve shirt. Would any of that helped? Not sure, but being off gave me some time to think about my gear.

The only item that I thought about was better knee protection. My knees are quite exposed when upright and on my side. Specifically something that protected substantially all the way around. My injury (MCL) was to the inside of my knee; that's what Medial means. So I found some EVS knee pads that seem to be the ticket. EVS Glider Lite Knee Pads...$44.10 @ Revzilla.

These type of knee pads are preferable over the knee/shin because I wear high motorcycle boots. They're also preferable because I can fit them under my motorcycle pants. Otherwise, they have an inner sleeve for a tight but comfortable fit and three velcro straps to keep them firmly in place. They're definitely light, but I'm not going to kid you, in 85 degrees sitting on an air cooled dual sport in the woods, you're gonna be sweatin' under there. Glad I got them. I will continue to consider my gear. As I get older I may need alternative stuff.

So back on the Sand Pit, well, it really didn't go that well. I was alone and became a little tentative. The way through sand is with the throttle and speed and being tentative don't go together well. So I decided to cut it short and come back (hopefully) this weekend with my son. If he's there then we can keep track of each other, game on.