RR: san luis obispo epic

[Bryguy17]

there are two kinds if epic rides: long ass painful ones, and short ass brutally painful ones.

unfortunately, i have on of the latter today.

so a few of my friends and i decide to take as break from studying and hit the hills. ended up starting late, and took off. nothing bad for the first 12 miles or so, then stuff began to fall apart. one friend broke his chain twice, and needed to turn back and head down the hill. my other friend and I decided to keep going. during a short break, my other friend came within a foot or so of getting whacked by an intense M3, 2 IH sundays and a 7point. His bike was within about 6 inches of getting creamed. slightly sketchy, but it gets better.

we continue on and end up at the top, and begin our descent, admiring the plushness with which FS bikes ignore large rocks that are in the way. suddenly, i begin hearing a sis-sis-sis-sis sound coming from behind me, so i slow down. of course, i picked up a rather large thorn in my UST tire, and now there is stans shot onto the back of my bike. so i put the hole at the bottom of the tire and drown it in sealant, and give it a few minutes to solidify. Pump it up, then the stans just starts shooting out again. great. I threw in a tube since it was getting close to dark and we were still 10 miles from anywhere, and we get going again.

not a minute later, i hear another sis-sis-sis sound. another friggin puncture. thankfully i had another spare tube, so my friend and i went pit crew on it and had the tire fixed in about 5 minutes. back on our way.

So this trail has a large amount of fast, loose, tight switchbacks that need to be negotiated. the first of them were handled fine. no problems whatsoever. then, as I exit the last one, my front wheel washes out to the side of the trail, and i go flying another 10 feet down the trail. no big deal, i can ride it out. only 1 problem. as i'm adjusting my glove (which had loosened during the course of the fall) i realize that my finger is pointing in an odd direction. interesting. so i figure it dislocated, and need to walk a good 5 miles out to where i can meet my friend. in the dark. with no light. lions tigers and bears all around.

so, to top off this ride, i head into the ER to make sure my finger is fine and have them reset it. apparently theres a nifty spiral fracture in my left pinky, so i'm stuck off my bike for a good month or so

that pretty much sums up the crapiness of my day, but i had to rant somewhere. oh, i also got a picture of my finger:



peace out,
Bryan

[mtnbikerfred]

Ouch!!

[jeffj]

The second time I broke my hand (the bone behind the little finger), it healed just like that. I couldn't get my little finger from the back side of the other fingers (or vice versa) without putting it there with my other hand. Even squeezing a tube of toothpaste was akward.

(Weird story warning) It was like that for several years until I happened to start chatting with some guy at a hamburger stand late one night. He called himself a physiotherapist (similar to a chiropractor).

He said he could tell from looking at me that I had injured injured my right arm and never sleep on my back... Whoa........... Both absolutely true. I had blown up my arm pitching a baseball when I was 15 and NEVER had slept on my back.

I showed him my hand and he offered to "fix it" on the spot. Why, I'll never know, but I agreed to let him try. He did what I would call a couple of chiropractic adjustments and within a minute or so, my hand/finger were fixed. I no longer needed to move my finger with my other hand and it's been fine for 30 years since!

Next he offered to 'adjust me' so that I could sleep on my back. This made me laugh. I just couldn't imagine how he could do something like that, but since he had just fixed my hand with little trouble, I decided to let him try.

He basically adjusted my spine right there in the burger joint and my posture was immediately noticeably different and improved, but I still didn't believe I would be able to sleep on my back.

When I got home that night, my family noticed right away that my posture was much more upright. My posture as a kid was not great. My dad used to call me 'drinking bird'. Well, they asked me if someone shoved a stick up my ... You get the idea.

I told them about my strange encounter at the burger joint and they thought I had been sniffing glue .

None the less, my hand is still 'fixed' and ever since that day I have been able to, and prefer to, sleep on my back.

True life is stranger than fiction.

At any rate, the jist of this rant is that if they haven't got your finger back in the right position and working correctly, you may be able to find someone that can fix it for you. I just hope you don't have to wait several years and depend on a chance meeting at a burger stand to do so

[Bryguy17]

haha thats actually a really good story. I'm getting an opinion from an orthopedic surgeon later this weekend to see what he has to say. hopefully no pins. if i do though, i can say i have titanium in me...

[ghixon]

Good story Jeff. But, did you get fries with your adjustment?

[Kaboom]

Ouch!! What day. Did you feel like throwing your bike off a cliff afterwards?

[Bryguy17]

i half did after the second flat, but a large bush stopped it I love my bike though, so i'm not gonna hurt it too bad

[Bryguy17]

i'm amazed by how much this doesn't hurt...

[reflux]

What trail?

[Bryguy17]

calpoly, up shooters, down morning glory. morning glory is a completely different experience on a plush FS bike. its scary how quickly my bike picked up speed through the loose stuff up top. its only the really lame part i was going slow on towards the bottom that i died on

[reflux]

Originally Posted by Bryguy17

calpoly, up shooters, down morning glory. morning glory is a completely different experience on a plush FS bike. its scary how quickly my bike picked up speed through the loose stuff up top. its only the really lame part i was going slow on towards the bottom that i died on

Huh. Sorry to hear about the fall and break. Damn, and right before spring break too.

New bike or are you just borrowing? You and I are alike: I really enjoy that rocky upper section. The ST is great, but that upper section is money if you're in a groove.

Knock on wood, but I never had a bad fall on Morning (Mourning?) Glory. Pick and What on the other hand, completely different stories.

[Bryguy17]

newish bike. i've had it since early december, so i'm used to it. that top section really is cool if you're in a groove. All the sweeping right handers are tricky to rail though. they're all off-camber and loose

this was the first bad crash on morning glory though, but i've had bad luck with the trail in general. first time just climbing up, i bonked super hard and ended up taking a 15 minute nap on the side of the trail then proceeded to go OTB and scrape up my palm 15 feet down the trail

I'm looking forward to hitting up pick n shovel in 2 months after my finger gets fixed

[Solo]

I had the same break and finger when I was a kid, I came down on it when my hand slipped off my grips on a rainy day. The ER doctor reset it but said it was in the growth plate and that I had to wear a cast from my elbow to fingers for 6 weeks. No surgery, but my finger has never been the same since. It's fine when my hand is open, but still tries to overlap my ring finger when I make a fist.

Looking for the burger joint therapist now.