Crashed on Sulpher Springs

Ya, ya. I know.

 

Thread delivers!

 

The swelling and numbness remains:

 

sucks

 

The bruise will continue to grow. Keep the camera handy.

Now for important things - did you fix the bike?

 

Not yet. Bike Shops uniformly prefer to open 1 hour after I leave my house for work and close 1 hour before I leave work for home. There may be nothing wrong with it, but if they don't tell me that my mind will convince me that something is misaligned.

 

I rode back to the scene of the crime last Saturday, a week after the crash. This is where it happened. I was coming toward the camera. I came down the hill that is just out of sight, came around the corner a bit faster than usual and was off my normal line when I went through the S bend and hit the rock in the center-ish of the trail.

I hit this rock (Riding away from the camera)

I hit the rock on left and landed in the rocks on the right. Still surprised and pissed that the bike didn't go right over it, though I have no illusion that it is anything but my fault.


The bruising got the point where my whole side was dark purple. The stitches came out but the puncture is far from healed and the scar forming around the edges of the still-wet center is growing thicker. I don't know how long it will take for the nerves to regenerate but my hip below the puncture is still numb.

That shit hurt.

 

Nice crash report. Good you weren't hurt worse!

Here's my "Sulfur Springs Experience"
* I've been riding for about 15 years, in 3 states....and put on 1-2k miles per year.
* In that time, I've broken 3 chains
* ALL 3, snapped in the same spot (literally within 3' of each other).....at the creek at Sulfur Springs

 

I went down in Marshall Canyon about two weeks ago. Had to patch myself up, replace a blown out tube and re assemble my front wheel, and ride 2 miles or so back to the car. The results were similar, got 4 stitches to the elbow, (just got them out Monday) Had to put up with all the haters (friends and family that just don't understand and presume to explain the foolishness of a 46 year old man hurting himself by falling off a bike!!!:bang Apologies if this is technically "thread hijacking" but I'm attempting to identify with a fellow STR member going through a similar circumstance, and at the same time I want to thank the OP and IDYcraig for explaining and/or demonstrating how to properly document the event for all "members" to enjoy (for when it happens the next time!!!):?:

 

No, I'm with you. I'm known around my office for riding motorcycles. So when I had to explain that a mountain bike is a bicycle (I thought that was common knowledge, by the way) they all laughed that I "got hurt falling off of a bicycle."

 

I had a branch jump out and pull my front brake lever while I was flying down Sulpher. Not only did the front lock up, the bar was pulled sideways. It felt like the quickest OTB in history. Good thing I am fat; I bounced - twice. I hit so hard my friend heard it and he was haulin' a** down the trail ahead of me. I figure the fact that I walked away means a major debit from my Karma account.

 

I'm gonna just hit that rock up there next time I ride through. Farking rock.

Heal up.

- shud

 

I was impaled on San Juan trail with a stick in the ankle 8 stiches I felt great. I am glad it did not rupture my spleen on the rock cropping. the helicopter came and check me out. It was Awesome.

 

Haven't been back on this site in a while. I think I started riding again a few weeks after this crash. About a month and a half post-crash, I was with a buddy and we were riding up Sulpher Springs. I've always enjoyed trying to make it up that last rocky climb before Shepard's Flat (still haven't). On my first attempt since this accident, I took a line that was a little too far toward the center (I go left). I screwed the whole thing up and ran out of momentum. I was tipping over to the right where there would be a drop of a few feet before my right foot would touch down in to some rocks. I thought about going over, tucking my arm, and taking the hit but decided that after the injury to my side, I wasn't sure that my mountain biking career could survive another injury.

So, I threw my right leg out and back and leaped from the bike twisting my torso right and reaching right and back with my left arm so it was kinda like a hurdler. I know what you're thinking: "Solid plan. Nothing could go wrong." My right foot landed in the rocks and I deftly ran straight down the rock face. I thought it may have been the most graceful maneuver of my adult life. Thank God I didn't just resign myself to falling and maybe getting injured.

About the time my right foot landed, I felt a sharp pain in my low back. I assumed I strained a muscle. I ended walking my bike up that last rocky climb and then we went left up and and over to Palo Camado and back down.

Fast forward to the following work week and my back is killing me. The worst is the 1.25 hour drive to West LA every morning. Excruciating pain. The only thing that will relieve it is getting out of the truck but I just got on the freeway in Agoura and I see nothing but tail lights. Once at work I'm walking around and the pain eases. At the time, I played tennis on week nights. I kept doing that until the pain became more severe ... and then a part of my left foot went numb.

I go to the Dr and tell him I have sciatica in my left leg. I tell him that the bottom outer left portion of my foot is numb. He says, "Uh huh. You wish you had sciatica." He says its a ruptured disc at L5S1. An MRI confirmed it. A surgeon in Westlake removed a 12mm by 18mm extrusion that was pressing against the nerve in the low back. I didn't ride again for another two weeks and then only lightly. So, even learning from the crash that was the subject of this thread, lead to back surgery. I'm just now getting back into it.

4 months after starting this thread, I am just now getting back in to riding in a way that I can actually exert myself. Yes, all of the weight I'd lost is back and my strength and endurance gains are long gone.

 

Glad to hear your back on the bike. I started riding due to bulging disc issues. I couldn't jog anymore due to the jarring on my spine. Luckily, shots got me (currently) pain free. Still tingles though. Get those pedals spinning and you'll get your fitness back. Any excuse to ride is a good excuse.

 

oof man. i've never been able to ride all the way up that thing, but going down it sure is fun

 

Ummmm...I'm glad you're better. You are better? Right? 8-[.