Win Custom Painted Allsport OH2 Carbon Wrist Braces 66

sspomer
5/24/2012 7:28am

Allsport Dynamics is giving you the chance to win a pair of custom-painted OH2 carbon wrist braces! All you have to do is tell us about a gnarly crash you had in the comments. If you have photos or video of the crash, be sure to include them in your story. Allsport will review your tales of carnage and will pick a winner.

Allsport wrist braces are worn by some of the best riders in the world. Above are custom painted braces for Steve Peat, Matti Lehikoinen, Sam Blenkinsop, Justin Barcia and Cedric Gracia. These riders use the Allsport wrist braces as part of their daily kit to prevent injury and stay healthy throughout demanding race seasons.


The best MTB crash story in the comments wins!


 Curious what the OH2 brace is all about? Watch and learn in this Vital Tested feature.

66 comments

View replies to: Win Custom Painted Allsport OH2 Carbon Wrist Braces

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sspomer
12 years ago
Wow, you all did not make this easy! It wasn't easy because there were so many good stories, but also because the judges could only read a couple at a time before getting nauseous : ) In the end, the judges agreed that Mojojojoaf and his cattle-smashing-trampling-almost-dying story takes the win and the wrist braces! Thanks so much for playing and SERIOUSLY, be careful out there...and watch out for hippie chics and ice skating.
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bullrider
12 years ago
im just gonna put it out there and say the guy who hit a cow at 30+ mph only to get stampeded on wins...best story by far.
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mojojojoaf
12 years ago
Thank you but I don't know - there are some horrific stories here for sure and lots of wrist injuries, makes me wince every time I read the stories.
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rfrerichs515
12 years ago
I had a big crash in February this year at the 1st National Cup of the year.
It was supposed to be my first year racing all the nationals, and I podiumed at my first national ever last year, so was looking to come in and have good results right off the bat.
Qualifying, and I was on an awesome run until the final table top, where I changed my line from practice.
I realised I was going too fast too late, the next thing I knew I was endoing onto the flat.
Got up and remounted to finish the run, but as I crossed the line I saw my left wrist sticking out the wrong way.
Trip to the hospital and i had broken 2 bones, dislocated it, and torn all the ligaments on the dorsal side.
Had a quick operation to save the one nerve, and a second operation to fix the bones and ligaments.
14 weeks, 20 stiches, 4 pins, 1 screw later, and I can only move it 20 degrees each way.
Missed almost our whole season here in SA, and the first World Cup in my home country, also had to cancel my trip to IXS in Innerleuthen.
But hopefully with an allsport brace I can race the National Champs and protect my right wrist at the same time.
Some pics. Doesnt look as bad as it is though, all the damage is inside. basically I only had tendons and the skin holding the wrist together.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150986497801055&set=a.46388313…
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alessandro.scatto.9
12 years ago
My big crash was few years ago, during the Regional Championship of DH in the 2nd run final in the famous track VAL DI SOLE.
Result? Big crash filmed and in slow motion, a wrist broken and a few scars.

check it out the video!: (me at 2.50 minute)

ale val di sole crash
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Christian_Wilson
12 years ago
A couple of years ago, I was riding the Teton Pass trails. It was the end of my first year of riding downhill. I came into this hip a little to fast, over shot it and smashed my face into a massive rock. I broke my jaw and got a pretty bad concussion

I went back to the same jump the next year and hit it with no problem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4eN2h8WkRo
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mojojojoaf
12 years ago
Bovine ballet meets a Samoan brother from another mother!

Ok so I have to admit as soon as I saw this contest I knew I wanted to share- thought I might even have a chance of winning but man you guys have really tweeked yourselves good. Sorry no photos as this was 1993 pre-cell phone/gopro camera days.

August 1993 Payson Canyon Utah- we had just completed an early morning ride and we returning down the MT Nebo Loop on the canyon road with one of our friends in the truck following us. Myself and one other friend were really flying down the road (fast) when we came across a herd of cattle. Not cows, cattle. Shoulder high on me and I am 6 foot.

Anyways we tried to move to the middle of the two lane road and pass between them as they were lined on each side of the road. Well, they got spooked and the cattle on the left side of the road freaked and went to the right and the cattle on the right side of the road freaked and went to the left....cattle all over the place (imagine bovine ballet). My friend who had been in front of me did the smart thing and laid his bike down and slid on the asphalt. I decide to weave in and out- wrong wrong wrong.

I had no sooner decider to swerve around my friend then I smacked one of the larger cattle right in the shoulder, I had enough time to blink, compress, flip- see the sky and ground come into view a few times, then hit the ground and THEN get trampled on by the rest of the herd.

Hitting the first cattle compressed my body folding me and collapsing right my lung, breaking two ribs and separating my right shoulder. I landed on my head- knocked out. Trampled by at least two cattle (confirmed by friend in truck behind us) broke my back- I had 1 broken pedicle on the T8, minor fracture of the T8, fractured T9, T10, T11 was broken in half front to back, T12, L1 and L2 fractured, hemorrhaging in the Caudal canal (its what surrounds the spinal column). My sciatic nerve in my right leg had also been pinched and I couldn't feel my right leg but could move toes and foot.

When my friends got to me I wasn't breathing, had turned gray and they thought I was going to die. When I did come to one of my friends who was kneeling beside me could only say "Dude, Dude, Dude....."

They got me stabilized but I was going into shock which really freaked them out as I stopped shaking and started to feel really sleepy, they tried to keep me awake until they got me in the ambulance which was an adventure. They used this type of gurney called a scoop- it splits in the middle length wise and is then locked together when they get it under you. I was in between a few boulders so they used the scoop and when they lifted me the lock came undone- I screamed for a few minutes not ashamed to say.

I under went 6 hours of surgery 5 days later, was in the hospital 11 days, I have 7 screws and two rods that pin together my T10-T11-T12 and hold on the broken pedicle on the T8, AND the trauma had eaten my body as I could encircle my thighs with my hands where days before I had at least a 6 inch gap. I was down almost 20lbs and because they had done a bloodless surgery (no transfusion they were ready but the doctor didnt want to have to do if it wasnt needed) I was anemic. I would pass out if I moved even one of my arms to quickly.

Any ways long story short the surgeon wrote off $25,000 in bills and told the insurance company I had met my full deductible and 30% out of pocket so all my other bills, ambulance, anesthesiologist, general practitioner, every pill, bandaid, towel, sheet and piece of toilet paper I used was considered paid for in full. He fixed me up so well and healed so fast 10 months later I broker two more ribs....but that's another story for another time.

Thanks for reading guys- my wife asked me how fast I was going this time as I wrote the story as she has heard it hundreds of times and says I change how fast I was going every time....but just so you know the friend in the truck said he was doing about 30mph on the road and had a hard time keeping up with us as we could take corners faster the he could.
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nehuen93
12 years ago
This was not my worst crash, but it is by far the most humorous.
Last year, my friends and i were riding in our local bikepark and we decided to go to the 4x to run a little race between us. We were 4, so it could be good. In the start i took the lead, and for a good part of the track i continued leading. Until in a very fast rythm section with big jumps, I landed awkwardly and couldnt hit the next set of triples. As they were little I decided to manual them, but on the third one I pushed too hard with my legs, and hit the third knoll and kind of started doing a backflip. I let the bike go and fall on my back pretty hard. The guy that was behind me dodged me. But the third guy, that was way back, instead of starting to break or dodging me, just started shouting "MOOOOOVE". Obviusly I couldnt move as I was still rolling in the middle of the track with my bike above me. So he jumped the triple and hit me really hard.
Consequences: broken fibula for me, not due to the first crash, it was when the other guy hit me. In his case, only a few scratches...
We'll never forget that crash, and we still tel him "moooove" for any reason hahaha!
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Sam93Hughes
12 years ago
This is going well.. Right?

Literally about a week ago, I was riding some local downhill trails with a friend and on one run, there is two sketchy 6ft drops straight after each other.. with the second clearing over a stream. It was wet. So wet, that my pristine white riding gear, was brown. Some might say.. the dirt was 'Crimp'! After a few swings at it, and backing off, I finally went for it full tilt! I came out of the corner with a grin.. I felt good, what could go wrong? Well. The first drop came up and nailed, I came down so smooth (still grinning) and thought the second would be fine! But in the short run to the next drop, i got that feeling we all know and dread! "Oh dear.. My front wheels going on an adventure!" I washed out on the slick mud, just at the perfect moment before the lip- Now, for some reason.. I refused to let go. Apparently it looked as if I was scrubbing off it but instead of bringing it back.. I continued going round! I cleared the stream, and landed full on HEAD FIRST into a tree stump just off the trail! I heard the thud and then a bang- my bike joining in by landing on me!! My mate was wetting himself also.. Now, the crash was funny, but the result after- of stuttering words, getting general knowledge stuff wrong and basically having 2 testicle like lumps on my head were the highlight!
Bike was a little bent, as was my head.. but it shows, if you see a line- do it. You might fall, but it'll be a hell of a funny for your mates!! And to draw an even bigger positive.. My helmet didn't even get a scratch!! Stay Unclipped.. Murk.
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blackohio
12 years ago
Well, I don't have any super amazing bike crash stories but I do have a rather humorous tale of blind dates, ice skating and how horribly wrong things could go.

It's probably 1995/6. I had been working a at record shop in Columbus OH with a buddy of mine. There used to be this silly hot little hippy number that he was friends with that came in all the time, now imagine it's '95 I'm in fullbore I go to hardcore shows mode, choker, tattoos, basically all of Boston.. The was a brunette domestic short hair, great curvy little body but still slender and fit. Im sure the inside of her pants probably looked like the black forrest though but I never got quite that far.

After some time of hemming and hawing I finally asked her out, having not spoke to her much it's basically a gamble. She's a hippy and I hate hippies. But She has something I badly want so Im willing to cast my ideals aside and go for it. My buddy tells me that she had recently talked about wanting to go ice skating. Im game if it'll get me somewhere and having played youth hockey I thought I can do this no problem. Herein is where the problem lies. It's been almost 14 years since I've stepped onto a rink.

We get to the rink, were flirting, playing grab ass. Im locked onto her ass like a great white after injured seals. We start playing tag. Somewhere deep in my man brain the competitive desire to win take over. Not just to win but to see my enemies driven before me and to hear the lamentations of their women.

As she's chasing me, in manbrain this happens, "slide stop, she'll shoot right past you." In reality, I simply pile drived the side of my face and skull into the ice like it was a icebreaker in the arctic sea.

I'll take this moment to fast forward to the parts of the story I have recollections of. I distinctly remember, coming to boarded of on a stretcher soaking wet, I fondly remember ordering fast food in the back of the ambulance and having the doctor tell me about how my brain was swelling and they would have to relieve pressure. back to sleep tough guy.

Now i'll jump back to the ice and why I was soaking wet. As Conan here drove his dome into the ground I guess his brain went all bouncy ball inside the skull knocking him out and giving him a severe concussion. the ice bitching slapped my zygomatic bone in half and blew the side of my head/temple open. The end result of all these things was a massive amount of blood. So I guess (as she told me in the hospital) I began to have seizures. Kinda like the scene in Alien when they beat the android to a pulp. So here I am flopping around like a fish outta water in my own blood and puke while everyone on the ice rink gather to watch the last moments of someones life ease away.

At the hospital, after being given the news of the seizures by said girl and hearing doc tell me about the drilling of my skull (potentially) hippy chick stands up and says to him "I dont even really like him that much." and exits stage left.

A long evening and day in the hospital being scanned and checked on, im released with a good amount of narcotics and a head that looks like Eric Stoltz in Mask.

I trying calling girl a few times to just say im alive, I get no answer. She subsequently stops talking to my friend and ceases coming to the record store. We all laugh it off.

About a year later leaving some sea monsters house at 5am and staggering home as I see none other than hippy chick jogging. From about 20 feet I see the moment she recognizes me and panics. Her cadence get fucked up and she looks immediately down.

I make sure to laugh out loud as she passes.
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Tom_B
12 years ago
On 1st September 2011 I was out riding my local jump spot as usual with my mates, sessioning a new line we had finally got dialled in (video below):

Line

However one run down here did not go well at all. After successfully hitting the berm, small hip and then the set up double, I got massively bucked over the big step down.

I have no real recollection of what happened other than being in a huge cloud of dust and wondering what had happened. I got a friend to take of my full face and get me some water and that’s when he told me to look down at my arms.

I had completely shattered both my wrists, badly. After about a minute I passed out with shock and when I came round again the pain was excruciating, not the kind of pain that makes you cry like a kid, but pain that makes you physically sick.

My friends called the ambulance and with one person under each arm we began the mile long walk back to the road. This was the most excruciating experience of my life, bar none.

When the ambulance finally arrived (40 minutes later!) I was on the gas and air straight away and I got through 2 canisters on route to the hospital! On arrival I was put under pretty quickly and my wrists were manipulated to a straighter position. After this was when I had my first set of x-rays. Bearing in mind this is after manipulation, it gives you an idea of bad they were.

Left
Right

Following this I spent 1 week in hospital where I had 2 operations on my left wrist and 1 on my right. I then had to start my second year of University which was far from ideal coping with two broken arms!

Left Post Surgery #2
Right Post Surgery

After nearly 10 weeks in cast it was clear that the left one had healed badly and so another surgery was on the cards. After some intense and painful physio my right was back to normal but there was a long wait to get my left one properly sorted.

I finally had a titanium plate, screws and a bone graft done just after Easter and I’m due to get my cast of next Friday!! (1st June)

After 9 months off the bike I really can’t wait to get riding again and I can’t believe how much I’ve missed it! Also being able to go to Fort William in 3 weeks time should get me pumped up more than ever to get back on the bike!
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evancd
12 years ago
As part of the result from the crash was 3 weeks of amnesia, I'll let my good friend Lacy Kemp's article in March 2012's Decline do the telling for me ("Dream Destination: Peru"). My version is a bit fuzzy to say the least. I have been back to riding a little less than 2 months and feel great. I owe every bit of my recovery to my friends, family, supporters, and the biking community as a whole. So THANKS!! If you're riding in the PNW or the WBP, look for the big dude shredding in an eye patch and say hi for a high five. Everyone's love is something I will never forget.
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bullrider
12 years ago
i was riding at freedom bike park in williamsburg va and i was doing just fine hitting the doubles and reg 5 foot dropoffs there and i came around a turn to hit a little 4 footer and didnt come off it right shortly after saying shit out loud i lande on my head and kinda scorpioned myself into a front roll. after shaking off the dust and telling everyone i was okay we kept riding for another 45 min. after i finished the trail we went home and had beers etc and my neck became pretty sore. ive had whiplash plenty of times so i thought it was just that. the next day i woke up and my neck was rrrrreeeeallly sore. so i decided to go get it checked out at the local doc in a box. this is where shit gets wild because my radioligist comes running into my room with a neckbrace and backboard and was like you need to get on this right away! to my surprise and hers i had broken my neck!? so i fractured my c1 c2 c4 and c5 and kept on riding...after 4 months of a halo and a neckbrace im back on my bike and getting at it again....can you forward this to leatt if i win? i need a a dbx collar!
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b-lec
12 years ago
Dude, where's my parachute?

A base-jumper buddy of mine and I are on a group ride in Moab. We're on the LPS section that rides along the side of a 500' cliff over castle valley. He goes over the bars on a steep roll in and lands face first in the dirt. We all see the crash, but it didn't seem bad at all so the group doesn't even stop. Me an another guy wait while laughing as he spits some dirt out of his mouth and re-adjusts his helmet. After a few secs we're riding again with him taking up the rear. I can hear him back there riding for a while, but after a few miles I've dropped him but think nothing of it. I meet the rest of the group at the overlook and pull out a snack as we wait for my buddy... and wait. After like 5-10 minutes I realize that he must have had a mech so I'll tell the group that I'm gonna ride back up and help him.
I ride like a mile back up LPS asking everyone I pass and a group says they saw a dude back up the trail and he seemed fine but he was off his bike to the side of the trail just standing there. I'm puzzled but when I get there I can see what they meant; he is off his bike and like 5 feet off the trail - looking out over the cliff to the valley below and doing nothing else. The bike looks fine, no flats.
"What's up, you ok dude?"
"What happened" he replies looking at me funny
"I don't know man - you tell me - you're bike ok?"
"Where's my parachute"
"What?!"
"Where the f%$* is my chute?!" evidently he thinks he came all this way to jump but forgot his chute.
As I get closer I can see that he is rattled - his eyes look hazy, he keeps shaking his head back and forth and it's obvious that he has no idea who I am or what day it is.
"We're riding bikes man - we're NOT jumping!!"

While I walked him out to the road he must have asked me 15 times where his parachute was, if he crashed, where he was.... It was like his mind reset every 5 minutes and he was starting over. I was just glad we were walking away from the cliff. It took him a few weeks to recover and get his memory back but now all is good!
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ben.mcneilage
12 years ago
My first thoughts were confused. I could not understand why my little finger was sticking up at a funny angle – with my other hand I began trying to straighten it out, but it was floppy and not interested in going back to where it should have been – The other thing confusing me was the crunching and cracking noises coming from the elbow of the arm trying to straighten my finger.

The cloud of confusion began to lift. OMG. I am a 40 year old dad of two standing in the middle of Dixons Hollow, which is in the middle of a forest, with confirmed broken bits and there isn’t a living soul to be seen. Thank god I did bring my mobile……ah f*#k, ‘no network coverage’. Tried to pick the bike up, no chance. By now I noticed there was a good trickle of blood puddling round my feet, I couldn’t see where it was coming from but later found out it was from the chunk missing from my chin.

The next feeling after confusion – was anger. I was absolutely god damn furious – shouting expletives and kicking every available stone I trudged up the hill to try and find some signal. As I passed back through the start gate, the one I should have never gone through in the first place, I got a bar of signal! 999…’Ambulance’….’Dixons Hollow’….’um’…’Dalby Forest’…..’er’…..’in Yorkshire’…’er’…. then, that particular bar of TMobile’s invincible super network with a twist of Orange dribbled away – and the nice lady who seemed to have no idea where Yorkshire was, was gone…

the bottom line was an operation in Scarborough to pin an open fracture of my left little finger, a broken nose, broken right scaphoid, an operation in York to remove the end of the radial bone in my right elbow and replace it with a metal one and alot of gravel rash!

Moral of the story – Mountain Biking is bloody great, but when it goes wrong it can go really wrong – be careful out there people!!
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LukeTrek85
12 years ago
My best crash was on my DH bike 2 years ago. I had my Trek Session 88 about 6 months & was so pumped to ride our local trail. At the time i was in between jobs so every day was spent riding till i ran out of daylight. My GF at the time would come out with me incase anything ever happened as she said. It never did, until the day she didn't come with me.

I was fairly new to the sport of DH but my confidence got the better of me on the occasion in question. I was ploughing down our local trail that runs through an old quarry, the hill is a pretty consistent 45 degree decline, i approached this jump, i don't even know what it would be called, our jumps are just bush throw together jobs but boy did it KO me.

The idea is to just ride off the end of it or roll & use the decline of the hill as a down ramp. Pretty simple, well thats what i thought, so i approached it to include in my run, now as i hit it i was going way to fast & all my weight was to far forward. I immediately went straight over the bars,travelling airborne head first down this hill & landed on my head a good 20-25 ft down the hill where it flattens out. As I've landed I've put my right arm out to brace the fall.

Once i came to from being unconscious for god knows how long i went to pick my bike up but my right shoulder was not moving well & hurt like hell, so dragging my bike down to my ute (500mt) with one arm & a head that was ringing louder than a church bell, i made it finally to ring the GF. She immediately drove out to pick me up & take me to hospital, leaving my poor ute & bike out abandoned at the track.

Basically got an X-ray on my shoulder, i had broken my collar bone which was my first broken bone in 25 years. So spent most the night in hospital sorting all that out. Now i must add that it was Valentines day this evening & we had reservations for a restaurant, the GF was pissed but soon sympathised with me. Go back to the hospital 6 weeks later for follow up xray after seeing a physio due to restricted movement . Xray later diagnosed me with dislocated ACL joint that was missed on the initial X-ray the night of the accident. Dammm was i pissed.

Finally after physio & excersise i was able to avoid a operation & my shoulder healed well. Now i stay on the bike a lot more & love riding more than ever.
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denver d
12 years ago
I feel sorry for whoever has to sift through all these stories of gnar....

This isn't my worst crash, but my most memorable and humorous.

Mine was just after I graduated high school in 1995. I had a very high tech Alsop suspension stem (the GOOD one with the squeaky bushings and coil spring that kept the travel in a linear motion, not radial). This was the first major upgrade I was able to afford as my dad had grown weary of it when he got his first set of Rock Shocks.

I had been riding DeLaveaga Disc Golf for years, but never had descended the face of one particular hole, or basket. I really wanted to hit this natural halfpipe drainage, that ran down the hill below the last hole before "Top of the World".

If you have ever played Disc Golf, you know what a stoner sport it is, and I was a regular on the course, as were all my friends and their friends. We even made a bench in the trees below the tee for the hole I was talking about, for pre-game preparations.

On this day, I was riding with a somewhat inexperienced riding friend and pedaled away from him and made my descent down the hill that turned out to be way more rough at speed than walking up hill while stoned would have you believe. Add to this fact, that the tee is a flat spot carved into a steep hill. When I reached top speed in my biggest gear, I realized:
1) I was going WAAAAAY too fast to do anything fun on the drainage walls
2) I forgot about the tee-pad
3) suspension is not supposed to "Suspend the Rider, not the bike(TM)"

I hit the tee, and nose-wheelee-ed across (nose manuals are on purpose, done by people with skill) the tee pad in a sort of slow-motion, over the bars flip, at about 30mph. I had just got the back wheel under control when I hit another drop, OFF the tee pad that put me over the bars. Over the bars real good.

My riding friend had stopped half way down when he sensed that I was going to eat shit in a big way and he wanted to see it. He thought I had killed myself as I soon as I hit the ground, but I had tons of adrenaline and was convinced he was right behind me, so I jumped up with my shattered bike and body, and got out of his way. I looked up and saw my friend who seemed shocked that I was standing, but before I could even take stock of my bodily or bike damage, I heard a familiar voice coming from the stoner bushes.

"DENVER?!"
"F*&cK........YEAH?..."
"BWAHHAAA HAAA HAAA HHAAAA!!! THAT WAS GNARLY, DUDE!!! BWWWAAHHHAAAA HAA HA HAAA!!!!.......................................................................................................dude....Are you ok?"
"I think so"
"BWAHHAHAHAHAH HHAAA HAHAHAAHAHA!!!!"

Turns out some friends were starting a round of DG and burning one in the bushes and just happened to see one of my best wrecks ever. When I realized I was pretty OK( minus the slight concussion and massive dirt rash all over my back and destroyed knees and elbows), I limped over and heard them re-play my crash to some other stoners who missed it.

I was in so much pain, I didn't realize my tube had popped out of my taco-ed front wheel without popping. I heard somebody say " Whoa! check it out! That's so trippy!"
It was so thin it was translucent and when one of the stoners touched it, it blew up in his face, knocking him on his ass.

I still ride this area frequently, and every single time I have to laugh and picture what I must have looked like to a bunch of super high kids, blasting into their view, and exploding into a high-speed tumble weed of carnage......
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travis.sims.7
12 years ago
This one happened to me when I was 12. I was racing BMX at River Vally BMX track in WA. The first jump was a good sized step up. The gate dropped and off we all went. I had cleared this jump plenty of times but on this race I tagged the landing sending me over the bars. The crazy part was that some how I ended up between the seat and rear tire of the kid next to me! No broken bones but I did end up with the worst tire burn across my back.
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xeric13x
12 years ago
My first and last run down Sugar Mountain in NC and I don't remember it. Thursday July 8th, 2010, I got out of class and my friend Chris picked me up to hit 4 downhill trails in the area. We went and got my car from my apt. First, we went to Beech Mountain and got kicked off because it wasn't open yet to bikers. Then, we headed over to Sugar Mountain. This next bit is what I remember. We parked my car in someone's parking area outside their house and left a note on my car to let them know we will be back for it. I got in Chris's car and we head up the mountain. My next vague memory after getting in his car to head up is asking which trail we are taking when we were on top of the mountain. And then I woke up strapped to a board and collar staring at a hospital ceiling. My friend Chris was standing to my right side and told me what happened, my parents know what is going on, and his exact words were, "Dude, your right wrist is f*cked." And I asked him how I'm gonna, well use your imagination. He made a phone call to get me a female hookup, but I ended up moving back home for the summer, so it never happened. Both bones were severely fractured and dislocated and would require 3 surgeries, lots of hardware(plate, screws, wires, and pins) which luckily is all out now, and bone grafting. My helmet cracked and bike suffered a bit as well. I asked Chris to video them reducing my wrist, but the nurse kicked him out of the room and he cursed her out. They put me under to reduce it, so I don't remember him calling the nurse bad things... Chris told me his part of the story. He heard a LOUD horrible crash and came running back up the mountain to find me about 3-4 feet in the air wedged in between two trees. There were two pot heads hiking up the mountain to get high. They actually saw me crash. They helped Chris, who is a WFR, get me down and stabilize me. He said I was in and out of consciousness on the mountain. He called 911, and my parents(who were in DC for the weekend). My mom answered the phone, Chris told her I had been in an accident and then the call dropped. The ambulance drove out on the mountain and took me to the hospital.... I spent the weekend up pretty jacked up from pain pills and actually drove to class on Monday on Oxy's. That was my last class of the summer.... I didn't get my first surgery until about a week after the crash since I came back home to Charlotte to see a top quality hand doctor. When he looked at the x-rays, he told me I'd never ride any bike again from this. I literally cried when he left the room not even caring that I'm a graphic designer and that's how I'd make after school. I finally could afford a new FS bike March 2012 and I wear the brace my doctor gave me for after the cast came off when I ride. My pain doctor told me I have trauma arthritis now and I'm on pain mgt now. 26 and I have arthritis. It sucks, but at least I'm not a vegetable and I'm obviously back on the bike. It's kind of funny that riding my bike actually helps take the pain away, but working on my computer hurts a lot. I can write way more, but I know by now you are tired of reading. The pictures below tells the best story. And yes, I was on an HT.




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imbetterthanu
12 years ago
Well i drank a redbull before my race run and it made me jitter and i ran into a tree and broke my wrist
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devin-m
12 years ago
As a kid i thought i was made of rubber, and for 19 years I was. Growing up on Vancouvers North Shore led me to pursue riding which entailed going bigger, faster, and higher than i ever had. Some will even agree that given the amazing opportunities and riding i had growing up, that they would have the same goals for riding, and made the same mistakes. I slowly became the park and DJ kid when wooden stunts and loam wouldn't satisfy. Deciding that trail riding was for wussies, i went on a hell bent rampage for that next trick, bigger extension, and new maneuver that gave me the rush that going from A to B at break-neck speed could no longer satisfy. A wise man once told me that riding hardtail MTB's was "the Poor Mans Dental Plan" and "Its not a matter of if you'll get hurt, but when" ... this man had impeccable foresight. in 2010 a month before my 20th birthday i was doing my park rat-shoulda-gotten-a-bmx thing when an over-cooked 180 ended with my ankle rolling over, shattering my ankle bones, part of my fibula and tearing all the ligaments. Years of hitting gaps, racing downhill and multiple laps of the bike park had never ended in an injury like this; but a simple injury would ruin a summer. It was a wake up call. 2 surgeries, 2 years, and greater intelligence has led me to get back into the flow of riding trail, to get my stoke from finding new lines, ridding downhill runs, and heckling buddies on group rides. Gone are the days of learning tricks, and hanging out at the skatepark like an infection. Do i miss my DJ/ skatepark days? sure. But my love of riding bikes has created a need to self preserve; lets be honest we would all rather ride our bikes than ride the crutch life! So ive gotten smarter, faster, and am having more fun on my bike than i ever have, I still have a hardtail, but it only gets busted out for commuting and pumptrack... listen to your wise elders kids. Thanks for reading my tale of Woe!! if you yourself are recovering from injury, than i wish you the best of luck.. time flies you will be on the bike to shred another day! X ray photos are around somewhere, but my scars live on forever. -Devin
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2wheels4life
12 years ago
I'm Tamatea I'm 35 I'm from Tahiti French Polynesia a litle island in the south Pacific, I ride on bike since my 6 years old, first on bmx until 1993 then on cross-country until 1996 then on freeride until 2000, after that years of teaching skills I began competition in XC, DH, Enduro and Dual. In 2006 with 3 friends of mine we decided to go on a road trip in New Zealand, the closest place (and the cheaper) where we could ride on holley trails! So it was on march 2006, for me it was the first time I go outside to my country for a MTB Trip with friends, after we landed in Aukland we rent a campervan and rode to Rotorua, why Rotorua? we don't know .... we arrived in Rotorua at 11 night, it was rain and cold, we tried to find a place to park the campervan but nothing, we decided to park somewhere I cannot tell you where? but at 4:30 at the morning the rain stopped, it was so cold that we couldn't sleep well (here in Tahiti it's 28°C at night in this period) I went outside the campervan and realized that we were parked into a beautiful private residence close to a lake at a place where campervan is forbiden to park. I was so excited to discover the arround place so I build my bike a Kona DH Suprem, after that as my friends stayed relaxed on the campervan I decided to visit the arround place, a few minutes after I met 2 guys riding their DH bike to a place, I questionned them but I didn't understand exactly everything I only remember they talked me about a DH race close from there, I was so excited that I returned with my friends and tell'em about the race somewhere! we packed all and searched for that place, half an hour after we saw a big wall ride at he bottom of a mountain, designed by Red Bull we thought that was the race place but people told us that no, the DH race was a few kilometers further. Overthere we found that race, so much riders from everywhere, we found pro riders too, Red Bull Monster cars, excitation was at its peak, we registered for that DH race that we don't know, on a place we don't know! so we took the truck to go up to the mountain for the training sessions it was 9 o'clock in the morning, I met Sabrina Jonnier, Sam Hill, Cedric Gracia, Fabien Barel and many other pro riders. The start of the race begun on a truck platform (first time for me) and we had wind in front, track was so beautiful, panorama too! so let's go for a run, my bike and me loved that track, that first section on high speed with some woops and natural jumps then droped in a beautiful spring wood (it was at 1/4 of the track) I was so nice that I stopped at a section where pros jumped over woops, for me I thought I could do it so I went at the top of this section, I took some speed and jump over these woops but I didn't realized that there was a tree and pros landed very close to it, at this time on the air I realized in a second that I will hit that tree, head first , I just turned my handle bar at the left and my right shoulder hit that tree hardly, my bike continued his ride a few meters away and I was suffering on the ground, I couldn't breath so an official person came at me and I heard him laughing after me with other persons, I told him "breath"... "air"... "no"... so he hit me on my back, he didn't stop laughing I don't know why! after a long minutes on the ground I couldn't move my right hand, pain was very hard, I think me and the official took an hour to remove my jersey and protections, after that I told him why he laughed after me he answered me that many riders hit that tree but I'm the first man who hit and moved it ! I wanted to laugh too but I I've got so much pain ... so this is my first day, first crash story in New Zealand!
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nathaniel.ferro
12 years ago
Riding the local trails in south east pennsylvania on my 26" DJ bike i was hitting a couple big doubles. Hit the first set and came down through a tub and back up the 7' lip. The takeoff was under construction and had 3 different lips to it. Cross rutted between 2 of them and started scrubbing into a invert tabletop immediately. The lip to landing was 15' but i went 20 right onto my wrist. Shattered my radius right at the wrist, blew the ulna to pieces and broke my scapphoid and another hand/wrist bone like peanuts. Had to get a metal plate and 9 screws in the radius, a screw through the scapphoid and the other ones pieced together. My wrist was mangled. Bent my bike frame. End of the season but i was progressing every day so the set back was just as painful. Reinjured it twice since then to the point where i swore it was broken again and even got x-rayed to double check. Really wish i had the before pics to show the intensity of the breaks. Looked like my wrist was beaten with a sledgehammer. I would love to be able to feel completely confident in wrist protection with custom Allsport OH2's for DH, DJ, and every other type of riding i love to do. Heres a xray picture of my surgically repaired wrist
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.564539476560.2105730.35900420&…



i made the photo public so the link should work even if were not FB friends
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nathaniel.ferro
12 years ago
Riding the local trails in south east pennsylvania on my 26" DJ bike i was hitting a couple big doubles. Hit the first set and came down through a tub and back up the 7' lip. The takeoff was under construction and had 3 different lips to it. Cross rutted between 2 of them and started scrubbing into a invert tabletop immediately. The lip to landing was 15' but i went 20 right onto my wrist. Shattered my radius right at the wrist, blew the ulna to pieces and broke my scapphoid and another hand/wrist bone like peanuts. Had to get a metal plate and 9 screws in the radius, a screw through the scapphoid and the other ones pieced together. My wrist was mangled. Bent my bike frame. End of the season but i was progressing every day so the set back was just as painful. Reinjured it twice since then to the point where i swore it was broken again and even got x-rayed to double check. Really wish i had the before pics to show the intensity of the breaks. Looked like my wrist was beaten with a sledgehammer. I would love to be able to feel completely confident in wrist protection with custom Allsport OH2's for DH, DJ, and every other type of riding i love to do. Heres a picture of my surgically repaired wrist http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.564539476560.2105730.35900420&type=3#!/photo.php?fbid=874855725310&set=a.564539476560.2105730.35900420&type=3&theater
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Manutea_Maurin
12 years ago
I`m from Tahiti, and got for my 16th birthday a trip to Whistler.
Spent 2 days riding crazy, and of course you give it everything you have on the last ride. Late afternoon, on the 2nd day (which happened to be my bday), I was riding the bottom big 4X track, that was basically closed for public. Completely jump one of the biggest jump with too much speed, my rear shock hit its max, and the rebound made the bike front flip. From that point I don`t remember exactly what happened, but I think I might have pushed he bike away and tried to protect my head. I hit the ground, felt unconscious and was brought to the Whistler hospital.
They had to transport me by helicopter all the way to Vancouver because the injuries were too bad. I broke my femur and 2 vertebras. After 12 days, I had to go back home because of the cost of the hospital and surgery. Went back in a wheelchair. Didn`t know if I was going to walk again. I am really lucky to be able to walk and ride again.
I am 20 years old now, and love riding my bike more everyday.
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Sheryl_Senczakiewicz
12 years ago
I am a female XC racer and have been riding for about 2 years. Last July I decided to race the world cup at Windham mtn race course. Coming out of some gnarly single track I descended a man made ramp and hit the open slope pretty fast. One foot unclipped and I hit something (I am still not sure what it was), went over the bars, slammed into the ground with my bike on top of me and slid about 20 feet. The on course spotter thought I was going to need medical attention I hit the ground so hard. I unknowingly broke my wrist but still finished the race and rode a 40 mile XC race the following weekend. I ended up needing surgery which included a bone graft and a titanium screw to hold everything together and treatments of ultrasound for about 2 months after the crash.... Even though I hurt myself it was some of the best trails I have ridden on and the descending was sick.
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Jonathon Simonetti
12 years ago
Went over the bars on a 20ft stepdown in Whistler just after crossing Schleyer at Crankworx on the Candian open dh, got up immediatley and fell down, found my way off the track and couldnt do much because of the pain. A couple hours later discovered I had shattered my T6 vertebra and compressed my T7. Out for 3 months in a back brace for the rest of summer.
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motocrosser12
12 years ago
Well, I've had a fair few crashes now and some have been a lot worse than others. One of them was a serious neck injury which left me off the bike for over the year, how ever I have had 1 very interesting crash that caught pretty much everyone's attention at a race towards the start of this year. In this crash I was in the first 20 seconds of my second race run giving it my all as in my first race run my chain snapped which caused me to finish in second from last place, when I was going down the track I was feeling pretty fast, and I was coming up to a very fast corner where you have to do a 20ish foot jump straight after and then land very quickly and turn sharply left around a berm to go down a rock garden section. Just as I was coming up to the jump I thought I was going way too fast for the jump which would make me over jump it and so I went to press both brakes, but somehow neither were working at all! This made me panic to say the least, I started to nose dive (there is a great picture of this nose dive on the rootsandrain website but I can't post it on here for some reason) and then I landed around 2 ft into the berm and then suddenly both feet came off the pedals and my right foot wrapped around my forks and then went through them and then my shoe got trapped in the front rotor for my brake and this caused my foot to bend the wrong way which hurt an awful lot and in the end I crashed by going over the bars and lying on the floor with dust everywhere in a lot of pain. I went to hospital and it turns out I almost completely broke my foot and snapped my right big toe in half and fractured my ankle. There is a great video of it that my mum filmed but I don't know how to post it on here, so here is a picture of my foot getting in a right mess instead! Not the clearest of pictures but you can see how I messed my foot, toe and ankle up! I finished the race somehow thinking all I did was break my toe and twisted my ankle, turns out I was wrong! My mum was not pleased when she had to take me to hospital!
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t.martin
12 years ago
I experienced my gnarliest crash just this year. It was a compilation of several small mistakes leading up to a fantastic display of urban carnage.
Some of you may have already seen this in Pink Bike's coverage of the 2012 Valparaiso Cerro Abajo. (link below, footage starts at 2:13)

2012 Valparaiso Cerro Abajo on pinkbike.com



If that ddin't work, the video link is: http://www.pinkbike.com/video/243989/

Mistake #1: The bike. This race is held at the end of the race season in Chile. Being in South america it falls at the beginning of our spring in February. I didn't have a ride sorted out yet so my girlfriend loaned me her rather new Turner DHR so I could make the trip. Having ridden the bike before I accepted and boarded the airplane and headed south. My mistake was not fully setting up the bike; a) for my style of riding; b) for my weight. The cockpit was set up very low with flat rise bars and zero stack stem. Great for raging fast, loose corners but not so great for steep rough descents. The suspension was slightly under sprung for normal riding conditions and very under sprung for the demanding urban course. This was my third trip to this race and I was prepared to make it happen regardless.

Mistake #2: My impatience. Valparaiso Cerro Abajo is a single day urban downhill race. That means there is no practice or even a full course to inspect until race day. Most of the ramps are assembled the day/night before the race so other than the stair sets and select drops, there is nothing to inspect. When race day rolled around I was shaking with excitement. The course has historically been a blast to ride with features being improved every year. With the first run out of the way and all of the features successfully completed, I decided it was a good time to tackle a stair gap.

Mistake #3: The stair gap. This section of course was a long, very long set of stairs. Due to lack of strict building codes, the stairs are fairly free form and inconsistent between sets. 'The set' that I wanted to gap was near the end of the stairs. The set of is about 20 stairs with a gap of around 15 feet. The set you land on is nearly twice as steep as the set before it with four more consecutively steep, small sets that fallow.

The time advantage for jumping these stairs is not very big, maybe a second if done cleanly. It was my second practice run and I did not intend to attempt the gap. However after feeling good in the stairs above and gaping other smaller sets I decided not to slow my momentum and just go for it.

The gap went well, I cleared the set and landed just where I wanted at the top of the set. However once I hit the steep transition at the bottom of the set to the next landing I was positioned poorly on the bike and got bucked forward a little as I headed down the next set. At this point I knew I was in trouble and knew I just had to hold on and get to the bottom. The bucking motion continued to worsen as I attempted to recover from each occurrence. One set to go and by this point I drifted off line and towards the stair rail. My right hand, still gripping the bars, landed on top of the metal rail pulling me into it. The front wheel hit a vertical post and at that point I hit the eject button. Over the bars, tuck and roll between the rail and rusty building, then miraculously I was on my feet, sliding backwards in the direction I was traveling in.



The execution of this fall went down as well as it possibly could have. Despite folding the front wheel of the bike, bending the rear break lever and crushing my right index finger I was unscathed. My finger, the one that slid down the handrail while gripping the bars, had a good gash in it and I was unable to straighten it. The tendon that crosses the knuckle up from the tip had split in two causing the disability.

Once I got myself and bike out of the course, I was surrounded by spectators who where cheering enthusiastically as I had probably just given them their most exciting moment of the day. One spectator, a very nice lady, ran inside her home, about twenty feet away, and returned with some gauze and a bandage and wrapped me up.

Justin Schroth (Lucent Productions) happened to be filming at the time and captured the footage in wonderful HD. Moments after my crash, While I was a few feet away, Justin was hit by another rider that lost control exiting the stairs. (that footage is at the end of his video above) He walked away with some bruises. Big thanks for capturing the footage and enduring the risk. I'll be back to Valparaiso again, a little better prepared next time.
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manumcbike
12 years ago
Last year, the month of August. I was doing one of my daily training on a new track. It was the first time I get down. More or less at the beginning of the circuit, there was a steep rocky slope where he must jump. As it was my first run, instead of jumping, I decided to go down, and the problem was that at the end of the descent was a rock wall that was, is, that there would not go down, could only jump. Upon arrival, I hit the rock and went flying off the bike and I fell on my knee against another pyramid shaped rock. The bone of my knee ruptured and I began to swell so much. I went to the hospital where I was finally a week. But not yet over, a week, returning to home, I had to come back with a knee orthopedic boot because he was not yet healed. I was with that boot for five months. When I took it off, I began to do downhill again.
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Stuart_Cross
12 years ago
Was September 2011, last day of fort William uplift, sun shining, which is a rare site at ft William. Rode the track many times that year, was my first time down since taking the bars in my groin which left the most amazing bruise and made doing the deed a tad bit interesting. Run 3 it all went wrong, landed bad on the mid section and came off with my left wrist bent forwards my wrist stopped dead and my arm wanted to keep going meaning a dislocated and broken wrist, off to ft bill hospital to be given morphine and have a team if 8 medical students cast me up, then an ambulance ride to Inverness to spend 3 days there getting external pins put in then 2 weeks later to get them out and 3 plates put in. Not been on the DH since sept, massive scars all round and a few x rays for the medical students as it was a as the doc put a beauty of a break that she would use to train future docs.

It's a slow process but getting there, wrist support would get me back racing for sure
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motomike
12 years ago
Late last summer, I was at Snowshoe, WV practicing for a DH race. Riding up the lift I noticed that one particular rock drop under the lift had had it's lander buffed out, so I thought "sweet I'm gonna hit that faster next run". Well there is a small G-out before the rock drop (which is about 8-12 feet depending on how far down the lander you go), and combined with the super fast run-in, I G'ed out super hard and my Dakine shorts sucked into the back wheel of my bike. My rear wheel instantly locked up right as I was taking off of the rock drop, sending my weight over the handlebars. That's when everything slowed down and it seemed like I had enough time to think about WTF was going on and why. I landed directly on my head and shoulder, wayy down the lander, and then ragdoled for another 25 feet or so. My vision was all messed up and I was super dizzy feeling, but for some reason all I could think of was how lucky I was to survive such a violent crash! It took a minute or two to realize that my left collarbone was shattered to pieces. I gathered myself, got a nice ride to the top of the mountain in a sketchy van, and proceeded to hang out the rest of the weekend to watch my friends race. 2 surgeries and 3.5 months later I was back shredding again!
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Paulo Jorge_Almeida
12 years ago
A couple of years ago I went riding with a friend... and to get to the spot where we would usually ride.. you have to do this tar downhill section down a road... so as we where going down the road... i overtook my friend on his bike and a couple of cars and on this slight right hand bend there was a tree that fell in the middle of the road, blocking the road... but that as the least of my problems while i was breaking and trying to go from 55.6km/h to 0 or just slow enough to figure out where i would go... but as i was breaking.. there was some water on the floor from a sewer pipe that the tree broke when it fell... so when my wheels go to the water.. .they looked up and i slide on the floor for about 5m until i finally stopped... my friend saw the whole thing happen and he almost fell on the same place... even the cars i passed where having trouble on that spot .. gladly i was already up and putting water on the road raxes i had on my left elbow and cleaning my t-shirt and my fox short who gladly didnt rip or else i probably would not be here today.. oh and i also broke my silverback helmet and my bike just got some bent bars (witch i only noticed 3 months ago... 2 or 3 years after the crash) and i got a minor head trauma.... by the way.. i was/am riding a 2010 Silverback Phoenix
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sunkidh
12 years ago
On my last race in April which was very muddy in the final run I ride very well and then I came to the rock section with all speed. Then my tire Stuck between the rock and I was thrown over the bars on the head and I caught it on my hands and broke my wrist twice, and so is end of the season for me I hope that my wrist heals as quickly as possible so I can be back on my bike good luck to all Cheers!

http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/8167971/
http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/8167968/
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flipfilipowicz
12 years ago
This is a story of a boy, a bike and a very fast local DH trail, set way back when the Earth was still cooling…..1998. While descending down this favorite/only DH trail of mine I went off a small roller jump that I have hit hundreds of times going approximately 50mph. When I went off the lip it kicked my rear end up faster than the rest of the bike causing my left foot to unclip from the pedal and my bike ended up in an impromptu table-top next to me. So while flying through the air I throw the bike away and it travels about three feet to the side and ends up just floating next to me like the copilot you would never want, all the while I’m doing a circle-flap with my arms trying to right myself from the cock-eyed position I’m in…..pretty much parallel to the ground. I “spot my landing” after traveling about 40-50’ through the air at an altitude of 8-10’ only to find that my elbow is going to spear a rock to my dismay. My elbow fights the rock, the rock fights back and wins (obviously a member of Fight Club). Like a surgeon with a medical degree from Dr. Nick’s alum it removes the flesh from my elbow to expose fluorescent white bone. After this preliminary love tap, my hip hits the ground compressing it to the side knocking the wind out of me and causes me to roll over onto my back so I can fully appreciate the redwoods while sliding down the trail headfirst. Now this is the moment in slow motion time that I see my bike sliding to catch up to me to run me over like a pissed off ex-wife. So without thinking I grab my bike by the top tube and throw it over me all while still sliding down the trail. After I come to a stop and catch my breath I stand up to find that my vision is blurry and I’m seeing double like a gravity induced acid trip. After all was said and done I had traveled approximately 200’ through the air and sliding on the ground. I get down the rest of the hill by a combination of limping and coasting and try to get some medical attention from a girl I know who lives at the bottom of the hill only to have her literally faint when she sees my exposed elbow bone…..so I just cracked a beer and sat on the porch. True story.
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Scott_Townes
12 years ago
When I started to get into jumping, around the age of 15, my brother and I would build dirt jumps that we hit on our hand-me-down cross country bikes. Because we had a plush 3 inches of rear suspension, we never wasted the time to build landings. One day we were in the woods sessioning this sweet kicker that, depending on how fast you bombed the hill into the jump, would pop you a good 4 ft. off the ground and 15ft. out. I was feeling it on that day. The weather was humid and sunny with no wind, my Diamondback was performing exceptionally normal and the landing was perfectly flat. It was time to throw down.

I hiked up the short but steep hill but unlike before, I wanted to go BIG. I didn't just want to go big, I wanted to overshoot over everyone else's marks to the point where even thinking about beating my distance would result in the spontaneous pissing of the pants... and I wanted to do it while doing a no-footer.

I dropped in, top gear, and fully committed. Blasting into the jump my only worry was how I was going to act humble after such an awesome maneuver. I launched off the lip, kicked my feet out fully extended, just shy of doing a split, spotted the landing, hit the ground both wheels at the same time and SNAP! Both my feet slipped off, I fell off the back but because I was still holding onto the bars I was able to tip sideways and come to a somewhat controlled sliding stop.

I stood up and instantly knew something was wrong. Call it intuition but even though I didn't feel any pain I knew exactly where I was hurt. I reached into my shorts to inspect the possible damage and when I looked at my hand, it was like Carrie on prom night- covered in blood. My hands started to shake and my heart sank.

Upon landing, the impact was so forceful that my seat had snapped off. At some point between the seat snapping and me coming to a stop, my nut sack had snagged on some hardware leaving an open gash that ran almost the full length of my coin purse.

I was too embarrassed to tell my parents what had happened. I threw out my blood-soaked boxers, jumped in the shower and did a more intense visual inspection. The cut was clean and my boys were still fastened securely in their upright and locked positions. I began to feel good again knowing that my sex life wasn't over at the age of 15.

I won't go into too much detail but due to the physiological makeup of the male testicular sack, I was able to close the wound with a single band-aid. A week's time and a couple of band-aids later, the wound had healed and all was right in the world again.

I don't have video of the crash but I can take a picture of the scar although I think in this case, it's not necessary.
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BrandonCoughlin
12 years ago
A few weeks ago at my local fontana race, and my first run i was sitting in 8th in Expert 18 & Under and my first was eh okay.. but my second run i was nailing all my lines, and right before the first pedaling section my front wheel swapped and i went over the bars and broke my collarbone, i immediately tried to get uop and continue the race, but i just fell over after pedaling around 10 ft.
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mizzu491
12 years ago
Last year was a big year for me, it was my first year racing downhill and it was also the year I would marry my wife. As the race season progressed wife said that I had to stop racing 2 weeks before our wedding. She did not want me banged up for our wedding. I agreed to the terms because I wanted the wedding to be perfect for her. The whole season was progressing very well considering this was my first season racing. So, when the second to last race came up I decided I would not push my luck and take it nice and easy. I was in pre-race working on my lines trying get everything right. After few runs I decided to take the last run before the race nice and easy because I did not want to crash. I was cruising along on my line when I hit a jump. I was not going fast enough which caused me to cased the jump which sent me flying over the handle bars. It happened so fast I did not have time to react which caused me to slam my hand into a rock. After the crash I got up holding my hand because it felt like someone took a sledgehammer to it. The medic had me ice the hand after the medic felt it would be ok for me to drive home I called my wife and told her about the crash. She asked if I could move my hand and I said yeah I can move it. I could hear the sound of relief in her voice because she thought I broke my hand. When I got home and she looked at my hand she got nervous that I did break my hand. Then she suggested we get x-rays taken just to make sure. The doctor came in the exam room after he looked at the x-rays and told us that I did break my hand. My wife just looked like she was going cry because we were a month from our wedding. To make things worse a week before our wedding I had to have surgery to make sure my hand healed correctly. My orthopedic doctor put in 3 screws in my hand to fuse my bone together. I had a splint on my hand for my whole wedding and our honeymoon.
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happychappy79
12 years ago
Loving my first motoX bike I entered my first race without practicing any starts. Off the gate I flipped it 360 as I was trailing behind it superman style. After picking myself up, the bike was facing the starting line. I jumped on, dropped the clutch for a quick get away. Spun the dam thing 360 in a circle so I was facing the start again. After that I crawled away to complete my first race.

Since that day I have broke my collar bone x5 times, including my leg and ankle plus numerous ligaments in the hope for glory. I won my last DH race (in masters) and would appreciate any help in protecting my frail bones ;-)
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Bedlam
12 years ago
I was at a the first race of the season last year, and feeling pretty good. I had all my lines somewhat dialed, and was just going to do a last coaster run down the track to calm my nerves and get a final look at everything. When i got to the last rock garden, I learned that when you go slow your suspension doesn't absorb hits as well as when you hit stuf at race pace. My front wheel stopped dead on a rock and as I was riding my first season on clipless pedals, me and the bike just tumbled, leaving me landed flat on my back on the rocks.

Since there were other riders doing practice runs as well, i rolled off the track and just laid there. It is amazing how comfortable it feels just to lay down on the ground after a hard crash.. I started to feel numb in the right hand side of my lower back, and felt a weird bubbling feeling as I breathed, and I remember thinking "F*CK, I hope I haven't punctured a lung or ruptured my spleen or anything...", as I was starting at a new job the day after.
The medical staff came up after a while and asked me questions and poked a bit at my body before helping me get on my feet so that we could walk the last bit down. As I got up, I immediately started coughing up blood, and I can tell you that there are very few things that make you as certain that you're going to die as coughing up blood. You get nervous, simple as that..

Well, off to the hospital it was in a bit of a hurry, and here's a tip: if there's a queue at the ER when you get there, just tell the receptionists that you've had a crash and you're coughing up blood and you'll be admitted in an instant.. So there I laid on my back once again, being given the whole trauma treatment (you know that stuff they do in the movies, where a lot of nurses and doctors stand around the bed and take different tests and check all your vitals and stuff? Well, that's for real..). A bootload of X-rays, some general poking around and a few hours later, I was told that there was nothing seriously wrong with me, a blood vessel had probably just ruptured causing the blood, and I was really lucky to have been wearing a back protector or it might not have ended as well. I only had a bruise the size of a football on my lower back and butt-cheek and could hardly walk.

Got to my new job the next day limping like an old geezer, and then rode the following competition the next weekend (still sore as hell, and to be honest my aim was just getting down without crashing as it was a bit of a mudfest..)
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easton
12 years ago
How I nearly sterilized myself and got pinned bare-ass to the sky for several minutes:

I live in Squamish. One evening last summer I got dropped off solo at the top of our most prominent downhill trail, 19th hole. 19th is a 2,500 vertical foot obscenely eroded fall line skid-fest.

I came into this sketchy four foot wide by three foot deep rut really fast. It's kind of a loose skiddy chute that has carved out a deep ass trough over time. I was on a sick run and got out of control. A big solid stump of a root sticks out of the side of the chute several inches. Normally you could dodge this thing no problem, but I slid my rear wheel right into it going really fast.

My bike caught up super hard, and I got ejected. I held on to an impossible nose manual for half the chute. With no hope to save it I jumped over the bars.

I vividly remember my alarm as the end of my handlebar passed under me and grazed my ball sack in a harmless, but nearly violent manner. I don't enjoy imagining how badly my anatomy and reproductive potential could have suffered had I been a single inch lower. Then, I ate shit.

I took a deep breath and realized I was upside down, pinned beneath my bike and jammed into a bunch of logs on the side of the trail. I felt a cool breeze and realized my bare ass was exposed and facing straight up the trail. The cause: my handlebar, which after nearly castrating me, had impaled my shorts. It punched right through the durable nylon troy lees. My handlebar punched through my shorts, and came all the way out the left leg-hole, brake levers and all.

As I flew over the bars the leverage of my body flying forward against the bars pulled my shorts right down. It was a commando day. This left me completely entangled in my bike, folded upside down, and totally pinned with my butthole pointing right uphill. I was so entangled with my bike and the shrubs I could barely move.

I ended up utterly stuck for a good two or three minutes, no one came down the trail after me, which was good. The shame would have been severe.

I got free and I still ride in those shorts, with the two inch puncture in the crotch sewn up.
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chup29
12 years ago
my first time in downieville 5 years ago was a little wild. I took my v10 because it was my only bike and had a blast. Last (2nd) run of the day, i got going a little too quick in the fast singletrack section with the tall ferns. Came off line and got ejected. My little cycle computer i was obsessed with said i was traveling around 35mph when i hit the boulder. My friend following me said that i was upside down, turned around with my legs above my head staring at him. Landed on my head and ragdolled. When i finally started moving again, i was 60+ feet away from my bike which had completely stopped dead with the crank wedged in the boulder. I ended up with a crack in my crank arm, a busted wrist and a concussion - all of which i found out the next day - rode out of that place on pure adrenaline... since then i have to tape my wrist before a really rough track but im still here!!!

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