Having had the better part of a month+ to contemplate my own idiocy I thought I'd post it up here for hopefully one person to learn from.
As I have a somewhat unconventional working schedule I'm forced to do a lot of riding on my own. Mostly the Shore but with some Squamish rides, despite my advancing age I'm relatively new to MTBing coming from the road world.
A few weeks back I had a meeting midweek in the afternoon in Squamish in the late PM; great, that'll allow me to get a ride in in the late AM and have plenty of time to shower and eat in advance. I've done a fair bit of riding in Squamish this summer (mostly XC) so I thought I'd hit Half Nelson for a few rips, which I hadn't ridden since the late Spring. Hit the road in good time, got the mandatory coffee at Galileo, made my way up the road to the lot at the foot of Half Nelson. Beautiful fall day, cool but not cold, and the conditions are dry. In other words, perfect. Throw the Camelback on, and start the grind up the FSR to the trailhead.
Which is roughly where my memory ends.
I have vague memories after that. A frustrated ambulance attendant writing answers to the five questions I kept asking, over and over again, and putting the paper in my lap (think "Memento"). My wife appearing at Lions Gate, extremely concerned. Our friend Steve showing up for support (he's my usual riding buddy, and a critical care doctor to boot). A trip to the CAT scan to scan my head. Frustration and not remembering what happened, and at myself for worrying my family and kids. Damnit, I'm pushing 40 with three kids. What the hell was I doing?
What happened according to the people involved: I was found wandering Half Nelson in a daze (ironically by a couple of off-duty members of Squamish Search and Rescue). Martin and Katy walked me down to the foot of the trail, where I (wisely) decided I wasn't good to drive. Martin then kindly drove me in my truck to Corsa - apparently I suggested going there as I'm friends with Dave and Sandra. Typical, I crash and the first thing I want to do is go to a bike shop. Dave drove me to Squamish hospital, where they decided my brain was so fried I needed a CAT scan at Lions Gate (they have no unit up in Squamish, hence the ambulance ride). From there it was the trip down, the diagnosis that I got a good knock but no permanent damage (insert jokes here), and I was sent on my fuzzy-but-merry way to recover at home.
If I had to guess, my suspicion is that I hit the little whoops too hot. Not slow enough to ride over, and I lost control in the air.
The helmet? A Giro XAR (now replaced). You can see the cracks in the foam on the inside, as well as full dents on the side of the helmet. Definitely saved my skull.
Big thanks:
-Martin and Katy. Without them I might have been still be wandering the woods of Squamish, or even worse like an outtake from "Deliverance". I don't recall even seeing any cars in the lot when I left, so I'm lucky anyone was on the trail. Even luckier they were SAR.
-Dave and Sandra, who drove me to the hospital, held onto my bike, drove my truck back to the North Shore, and generally acted like family.
-The ever-patient ambulance attendants.
-The great medical team at Lions Gate.
-Steve, my buddy the doctor who was able to both comfort my wife and really explain what was going on.
-Jared from OGC, who was kind enough to help me replace my helmet ASAP.
-My wife and family. I owe them a debt of gratitude, for indulging this as well as even letting me ride again.
So learn from the mistakes of an old man. Ride with a buddy or at times when there's lots of people out there. Seems obvious, but we all take shortcuts to sneak rides in. Don't be me.
