Rick Hogge was recently in a dirt bike fall that was definitely a close call. Rick told us his story about how he was biking near Crested Butte, fell off of a cliff, and into the water. He thankfully got himself and his bike out with no injuries.

Although Rick Hogge isn't from Colorado, he lived in Colorado for six years and then moved to Texas. He says it's a near and dear place to my heart, despite what happened.

Rick's fall happened on Wednesday, September 4th around noon. It happened on Schofield Pass, which is a pass between Crested butte and Marble. Rick was on what he described as a deep off road, in a technical area.

According to Rick, he goes on an annual trip to Colorado with 15 of his friends, last year it was Ouray, and this year it was in Crested Butte. Rick and his buddies were in the same area s the day before and he actually planned to take it easy.

He said that these are typically pretty easy off-road trails, but as you can see in the video, this particular portion at 5:15, is more difficult, especially on a bike. Rick says it's all about keeping your momentum, but he didn't have enough of that, his bike shot left, combined with the throttle caused the fall.

Rick says he has no injuries, just some lingering aches. He landed square in the middle of Devil's Punch Bowl and immediately thought he was going to drown. Adrenaline didn't allow him to feel the temperature of the water.

People were going hypothermic trying to recover his bike and after several attempts. Rick hired some people from historic ghost town Crystal -- home of the iconic Crystal Mill. Rick is very grateful to all the people in the community who helped him and are still helping him. Even though he's a complete stranger, a fellow Coloradan let Rick keep his bike at his place until he could ship it.

Rick is 50 years old and has been riding for about 25 years. He says being on a motorcycle is nothing new and obviously he shouldn't have been on that trail, but he's not some newbie.

He knows he'll fall off of a motorcycle again because he says it's just a part of riding.  But, he will stay away from high exposure places, a challenging trail next to an exposed place is a no-go.

Rick will be back in Colorado soon, he's going to a show at Red Rock and a Rockies game too. He's got mad love for Colorado and is still planning his annual Colorado trip for next year, maybe he'll even make a trip near Grand Junction next.

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