One of my most memorable trips is my family trip to Big Bear, California. Big Bear is a beautiful wooded mountain village on the banks of Big Bear Lake. This trip is memorable to me because one incident brought us together as a family.
When we first arrived in Big Bear, we went to Azteca Mexican Grill, a local favorite. After lunch we headed to the cabin and unloaded our luggage. The rest of that day we relaxed and spent time watching movies with each other. In the morning my step-dad Josh, and I woke up and headed to another part of the village where we were going mountain biking. This required ski lifts taking us to top of the mountain and us riding down the mountain trails.
After signing several wavers, we started our way up the mountain at Snow Summit riding the ski lift. The scenery was breathtaking. From this elevation we was able to see the majority of Big Bear Lake and the village below. At the top we unloaded and started our way down the mountain. The trip down was a little harrowing and exhilarating. Riding down the mountain taking slight turns at high speeds was unlike anything I had ever experienced before.
Once we reached the bottom, we headed back up to go for another run. This may have not been our best idea. We took a different trail this time so that we could try out a new and more challenging path. Josh and I thought we were experienced enough to do it. We were wrong. On the way down we came across many stumps and sharp turns and immediately realized this was bad idea. After riding about a mile down we were getting more comfortable and starting to ride faster and becoming more daring. I was in the lead and Josh was following behind. We were flying through the turns and obstacles as if we were pros.
About a mile further down the mountain, I turned but didn’t see Josh behind me anymore. I waited for about five minutes to see if he had fallen behind. At this time there was still no sign of him, so I headed back up the mountain and came across him lying on the ground holding his left shoulder. We were both confident it was broken. Broken or not we still had to get down this mountain.
His front tire had folded practically in half and his shoulder was in severe pain. We sat for a minute trying to figure out how to get off the mountain. Josh got on the good bike. I laid his bike flat, jumped on the front tire attempting to straight the rim. The rim straightened but I would not call it straight. Josh began peddling up this trail holding on with his one good arm as I followed riding on the bike with a bent and wobbly rim. We had to walk through mud puddles and up steep inclines.
After a couple of hours and many minor accidents, mostly Josh just falling off his bike, we made it to the bottom on the mountain. I called my mom to pick us. When she arrived we immediately took Josh to the emergency room. The bike riding was over, but we still had much fun hiking and riding the Alpine Slide, where Josh wrecked again, but that is another story for another time.
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