Injury Trend
I’ve enjoyed a wide variety of sports and activities my entire life. I’ve fully engaged in several different forms of martial arts, fencing, horseback riding, cricket, diving, swimming, sailing, skiing, softball, golf, soccer, tennis, volleyball, skateboarding, cycling, and mountain biking. Throughout my life I’ve had the good fortune of avoiding major injuries. Even when I bungie-jumped, parachuted, or went white-water river rafting with the Alabama Bomb Squad in class 3, 4, and 5 rapids I emerged intact.
Unfortunately, this injury-free blessing has now been replaced by a different trend… mountain biking injuries! This last week, I was out enjoying a ride on a Tiger Mountain trail when I took a 2-foot jump, landed it, avoided a tree, then hit a patch of soft dirt and lost control. My handlebars twisted and I hit the ground pretty hard on my right side, knocking the wind out of me. Xrays revealed 2 fractured ribs on my right side. Apparently, my right arm/elbow got between my ribs and the ground and may have caused the injury. As I’ve spent the last few days in a great deal of pain, I’ve had time realize that I’m 3 for 3. Each summer, for the last 3 summers, I’ve gone mountain biking and injured myself. Last summer, I wiped out and cracked a rib on my left side. The summer before that, I wiped out and bent my left pinky in a very unnatural way, resulting in bone-chips and months of occupational therapy to ensure full use and movement of my finger.
Mountain Biking at Middle Fork, Snoqualmie WA
2 Comments
Vanessa
September 8, 2011Wishing you a speedy recovering cousin! Time to find a new hobby
Rock climbing, perhaps? I don’t think there’s anyway to make mountain biking safe. No bike, nor armor is any match for that rocky terrain!
David Travis
September 9, 2011Ali
I’d like you to continue mountain biking because I can then use your various injuries as my excuse to remain a couch potato. “Exercise? Phaw! Much too dangerous!”