Post here when you fall off your bike

Posted by: Ddean
Get the f’ing vaccine!!!!!

The vaccine is for wimps.

I did the same thing you did and went for the real deal. Better immunity that way, at least that's what I'm telling myself.

If you get a painful rash and you're in the demographic, get thee to a doctor pronto! Starting the antivirals quickly reduces the symptoms.

Alternatively, just get the vaccine and don’t worry about it.

Posted by: Ddean

3 week update since my last crash posting.

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME

So my Ladies hit was hard enough to cause a little nerve trauma in my lower back. It’s still hurting and I’m still a bit stiff but I’ll heal up fine shortly I’m sure.

But, as if the actual physical injury wasn’t enough, the powers that be dug deep into their bag of tricks and decided that something I’ve done in my past warrants stringing out the affects of this crash for as long as unreasonably possible. The nerve trauma mobilized a Lord of the Rings Auck-like army of virus particles in the damaged nerves and low and behold, lets give that poor soul just trying to have a fun rip on the Shore....Shingles.

Add that to your list of MTB injuries.

Shingles.

Get the f’ing vaccine!!!!!

I dunno, I've known three people that have had shingles and it looks like a LOT of pain, but somehow everytime I hear the name, I want to laugh :(

Can you check your PM's?

It hurts alright but if you’re no longer young and have been falling off MTBs for decades, it’s honestly not that much worse than average daily pain. 

Win!

Had a pretty good one on Asian Adonis of all places tonight.

Screaming along one of the straight bench cut sections and I either got too far towards the hillside, or my pedals weren't level, or something. Anyways my pedal caught something and stopped my bike dead while I was going 30-40km/hr. Flew off the bike and skidded along the trail on my head/shoulder.

No major injuries but it sketches me out, happened so fast on such a tame section of trail. I think I just wasn't paying attention. Certainly could have been worse due to the speed involved... I need to learn to manage my pedals better...

The worst crashes always happen on the part of the trail you don't expect (except when you do stupid drops etc - then it happens then). My wife was riding microclimate today in Whistler and cleaned everything no problem, clips her bar on a big boulder and is shot off her bike down a slope tearing the skin off her shin. Gonna leave a big scar - she jokes that her dresses keep getting longer to cover the mountain biking scars.

With regards to the shingles vaccine, one of my infectious disease doc friends informed me that the childhood vaccine is actually what is causing an increase in shingles in older people. As noted above, shingles are just chickenpox virus that live in your nerve cells for your life (after your first infection with chicken pox). Your immune system keeps the virus in check throughout your life. In the past our parents were all exposed to chickenpox recurrently throughout their lives when each of their kids had it. This would be the equivalent of getting a booster shot, your immune system is exposed to the viral antigens and ramps up production of antibodies that keep your own residual virus at low levels - preventing shingles (an increase in viral replication in your nerves). Kids these days don't get chicken pox because they get the vaccine instead so we don't get our own natural immune boosters.

Long story short, there is really no natural way to keep up your immunity to prevent shingles, aside from visiting ultra conservative families in Chilliwack or hippie families in Nelson and hanging out with kids who actually have the chickenpox.

Kenny did your AA crash happen whilst Fivering? 

I crashed on John Deer during my Fiver run. You know that big rock in the middle of the trail a third of the way down, before the climb? I was intensely focused on that, so I am not 100% sure what happened, but like Kenny I clipped my pedal, and went flying. I am totally fine, except for my knee pad sliding down and getting a decent gash there. I assumed it was just some road (trail?) rash, so hopped back up and finished my run, but when I looked at it I was certain I needed stitches. Did some parking lot first aid, then went to the ER. Not enough skin left to stitch, but they numbed it and then scraped it clean.

I always was a strong proponent for my knee pads (Leatt) and whenever someone else would complain about theirs sliding I would proudly proclaim how much I loved mine. Is knee pad sliding in some crashes inevitable?

I wasn't fivering but exact same scenario as you describe. I was focused on and lining up for one of the sets of doubles on one of the fast straight sections. I imagine I drifted too close to the upslope without noticing. 

And yup know that rock for sure. It makes sense. One of the few spots on that trail where you have a decision to make about whether to send it or ride around it. I'm pretty risk averse and only send it when ive ridden the trail very recently and know the landing is not super bombed out and/or loose. 

As far as knee pads sliding I think there's no perfect system, but I have ixs flow, and I think that style is best for keeping pads from sliding down because the strap at the calf is at a point where you calf gets larger as it goes down, so it resists sliding down. If you fall awkwardly enough that the force is in the other direction though they slide up quite easily.

Hopefully I learn from this and work harder to keep pedals level and away from upslopes on bench cut trails. :(

Posted by: fun-house

Kenny did your AA crash happen whilst Fivering? 

I crashed on John Deer during my Fiver run. You know that big rock in the middle of the trail a third of the way down, before the climb? I was intensely focused on that, so I am not 100% sure what happened, but like Kenny I clipped my pedal, and went flying. I am totally fine, except for my knee pad sliding down and getting a decent gash there. I assumed it was just some road (trail?) rash, so hopped back up and finished my run, but when I looked at it I was certain I needed stitches. Did some parking lot first aid, then went to the ER. Not enough skin left to stitch, but they numbed it and then scraped it clean.

I always was a strong proponent for my knee pads (Leatt) and whenever someone else would complain about theirs sliding I would proudly proclaim how much I loved mine. Is knee pad sliding in some crashes inevitable?

I think the knee/elbow pad sliding is going to happen to some degree no matter what.  That much force and speed on the fabric means it is going to shift under the load of a crash.  I presume this is why we have started to see some manufacturers going back to a hard plastic cap on the top of their armor. Allows the armor to skid rather than grab and shift.

Missed this thread last year when I had a crash in the Chilcotins in late July that put me out for most of the next two months. As with many, it should have been trivial - coming into a steeper downhill corner with two decent line options, hesitated, ended up going right through the middle on the poorest line choice of all with no speed, tried to crank the pedals around quickly to get over the rocks, clipped one of them and tipped over. If I'd tipped left I would have ended up on my ass in the dirt with a lightly bruised dignity. Unfortunately I tipped right, nose-dived about four feet over the bank, and landed square on two small tree stumps. One got my left quad, one the top of my ribs on the right side. Adrenaline and denial got me through the next 25km to our pickup spot, but once reality bit I discovered I had a broken rib and a quad contusion so large I couldn't walk for the next two days. 

Cut to last weekend and an exhausted pedal out on Danimal Middle after riding Into the Mystic and Lord of the Squirrels for the first time. I literally repeated the same crash exactly in an uphill version, landing square on two big rocks when I fell off the side of the trail. Delighted to only have bruises this time.

Fell while climbing No Quarter on Fromme this morning (dawn ride), coming around a switch back, lost the back of the bike and knee first into the retaining rocks below.  Coasted down to Lionsgate hospital for a tetanus shot and 4 stitches across my knee.  Small cuts all over my left side, abdomen, arm and fingers. 

Side note, St. Mary's is in fantastic shape.

Lesson learnt, I'll be climbing with knee pads on and not strapped to the pack for the foreseeable future.

Posted by: rnayel

Fell while climbing No Quarter on Fromme this morning (dawn ride), coming around a switch back, lost the back of the bike and knee first into the retaining rocks below.  Coasted down to Lionsgate hospital for a tetanus shot and 4 stitches across my knee.  Small cuts all over my left side, abdomen, arm and fingers. 

Side note, St. Mary's is in fantastic shape.

Lesson learnt, I'll be climbing with knee pads on and not strapped to the pack for the foreseeable future.

Dang dude, that sucks, heal up! I'm guilty of riding with knee pads strapped on top tube and gloves in my pocket even on single track... had a few near misses over the years where I mis-timed a move and barely got a foot down uphill... I should be thinking this.

They kept talking during TDF about how the slow speed crashes could be the worst!

Not a crash per se, but I am really considering leg guards with shin pads these days...