Little Digger

One more story/tidbit - have a crash story from this week - a good one.

Enjoying the daylight after work, and warm weather after our little snow. Feeling good Tuesday, decided to do a quick little ride up at the Backbone. Coming down from the mesa, thinking about organizing group rides, happy I was making good progress over the rocks. Starting thinking about a guy at work who'd recently crashed badly on his road bike (he's OK) - thought about sending him a funny little message saying mtn biking is SO much safer!

Well, 2 seconds after that, I hit a rock wrong - on an easy section and it knocked me off balance and to the right. Went to put my foot down but happened to be riding beside a 2ft drop followed by a steep embankment. No foot spot. Flipped upside down and landed ~10ft down onto rocks and then rolled. I stopped and pretty quickly started feeling nauseous from the impact. I just laid there for 10-15 minutes, weakly saying "help" a couple times. Mostly to make me feel better. Pretty sure nobody was out still. There were only a couple cars at the lot when I started. Pretty sure I hadn't broken anything. Took my watch off b/c I was afraid my right wrist might start swelling, and I wasn't sure if I'd pass out. Thinking it woulda been nice if I'd grabbed my cell phone. Thought I was hearing air come out of my tires - wondering how in the heck I'd pump them back up, but it was just my head making sounds.

Eventually my body started feeling better. Got up. Things seemed ok. Knowing I'd be sore. Bike was upside down but intact. Actually rode my bike back down w/o too much difficulty. Had planned to go to the grocery store after riding, so did that.

By the time I was done shopping, pretty much had no use of my right arm or hand. Smacked the tendon or ligament on my right arm so hard, couldn't bend it very far. Thumb couldn't move either - hurt too much. Had to turn the ignition with my left hand and also use it to operate the stick shift driving home. Get home and it took a while to do critters and put groceries away. Couldn't get out of my clothes. Decided I really LIKED wearing what I was wearing :)

Called mom for a little sympathy :) Now I'm better matched to her - she recently fell off a horse injuring her thumb. And my boss, who just came out of knee surgery after hitting a tree skiing - with me (although we weren't actually together at the time). I think I'm actually in better shape than both. Have some nice color on my hand. Fingers on my other hand are also a little sore. And knee and arm and back where I rolled and hit rocks, but the rolling part really saved me.

Thinking it would be smart to start carrying a cell phone and/or telling someone where I'm riding if I go alone. But all is well. That's my story! Hopefully I won't have too many more of those.