Off

[m@]

Down in Tassie this week for a few runs of the North-South track... first one went well - set a PB on the ascent (first time I've done it in less than 25*C). Descent felt pretty good - then on the last section of the Glenorchy XC track, this happened...



Looking at the previous couple of corners, I was obviously getting a bit tired and missing the lines... Still a little surprised at losing traction so completely though; the Nobby Nic up front has been flawless since I flipped it.

No significant injuries; a deep tear/cut to my right palm, skin off right forearm and big bruises on my right left hip and side... and think I might've had a mild dose of concussion (helmet took a knock and is cracked). Initial examination suggested a fractured scaphoid, but x-ray didn't show up anything. I was most freaked out by the hole in my palm, as the glove was intact - thinking it might've been caused by a broken bone poking through - but seems it was just a tear caused by the impact.

On reflection, I think I'll also stop mounting my smartphone on the bars

[trailgumby]

Ouch. Glad you're OK. No headaches?

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, eh? I can see what you did - started turning in on the off-camber side of the trail, and got into the loose stuff with the front wheel still a little unweighted off the bump half a second or so earlier.

And isn't weird how you're all bruised down the right side, but you lost it lowsiding on a left turn? On my off a couple of months ago (has it been that long?) I managed to dislocate the pinky and bone bruise the heel of my right hand, also falling left.

Was this the "I'll do one more run and that'll do" run?

[simon.young]

It can really be a nasty section at the end... after such a nice ride through Mt Wellington. I really back off through the lower area, I've come off there a few times now. Really takes the buzz away quick! Glad to hear you're ok! Hope you weren't riding alone.

[m@]

@trailgumby, a few headaches, which I initially put down to caffeine withdrawals as I ended up not eating or drinking anything for about 12 hours... also very tired, and generally felt a bit fuzzy for a few days - though didn't really notice it at the time. Better now though.

My bad; the bruises are actually on my left side - from the shapes and patterns I think I may have landed on the shifters/brakes... or maybe a rock

@simon.young, yep, was alone, though I saw a couple of people walking out and more at the car park... I briefly wigged out a little when I couldn't raise anyone on the phone, though was mostly worried about leaving the bike if I had to get an ambulance ride

Ended up calling 000, but waiting for a lift to the ER as there were a few car prangs, so a fair wait for something non life-threatening. I had a basic first aid kit, which at least gave me something productive to do while I waited for a lift (after uploading the ride to Strava of course ).

I think I'd pretty much decided to call it quits rather than do a lap or two of the XC course, and was probably going a bit harder for it... Looking at the previous few minutes footage I was missing a few lines and generally getting messy - and was obviously already thinking about the next corner (or maybe the post-ride coffee) when I put the wheel into that gravel. Not even sure why I didn't take the a-line over the rocks TBH; it'd be faster and avoid the sharpish off-camberish turn completely... Live and learn I guess

[trailgumby]

By way of brief thread hijack I notice you've got XT brakes. I've just finished fitting a set to my Scalpel today, and spent a bit of time bedding them in this afternoon. Previously it had Avid Elixir 9's.

Damn! They've got some grunt. I haven't quite finished bedding in, but it's a lot less time-consuming and fiddly than the Avids.

[m@]

Haha, yep, they're great stoppers - though a dude I ride with who really knows his stuff reckons Avid make some decent brakes and are generally let down by shop mechanics not trimming the lines or doing a bleed before delivering a new bike... but yeah, glad I opted for an upgrade to full XT when I bought the Anthem... the shop actually recommended against going for a bigger disk up front as specced with the original Elixir (7s IIRC) to prevent endo-ing in panic-brake situations. The fact that they're simple enough for me to bleed myself means they've already paid for themselves anyhow!

[trailgumby]

I've got a 180mm rotor on the front and I'm thinkng I might need to drop back to 160mm. The front on its own pulls me up as quick as both did with the Avids, with half the lever force.

[m@]

Yeah, with XT 160 front and rear is spot on for an XC bike IME. Since these were my first hydros, I also get to wonder what it's like to have brake overheating problems

[find_bruce]

Glad to hear you have limped away with all but your dignity intact.

One question though, did it "knock some sense into you" - I only ask as my father always suggested a crash would knock some sense into me, but it never did

[m@]

Evidently not, as this is about my third prang in about 2 years.. though probably the most serious. My only real worry when I thought I'd broken my wrist was missing the rescheduled Mont... maybe I'm just a slow learner

[Mugglechops]

Yeah, with XT 160 front and rear is spot on for an XC bike IME. Since these were my first hydros, I also get to wonder what it's like to have brake overheating problems

Glad you're ok after that.

I have 4300kms on my XT brakes. They still stop just as hard as when new. And that's pulling up around 120kgs

Might be time for new pads soon

[AUbicycles]

Ouch.

That looked hard to anticipate.

[coyote]

Glad you are ok, but is the bike ok.

[m@]

@AUbicycles, yep, it certainly took me by surprise!

Can't believe it's taken this long for someone to ask about the bike!

Thankfully, I think I took most of the brunt myself

Carbon bars took a decent knock so I'll replace them - though apart from some surface marks they're not showing any obvious signs of damage. I might cut them down and use them on the hipster fixie where they won't be subjected to as much abuse

Other than that, the helmet's fulfilled its mission in life and will go into the bin - might've actually hit a bit harder than initially thought as it's cracked.

The Quadlock case didn't survive intact, but the mount and - amazingly - phone are fine. Screen protector has a few scratches from the phone sliding along the ground face-down for a metre or so...

Glad I couldn't afford a carbon frame at this point

[rearviewmirror]

Glad to hear your're OK.

Other than capturing a crash, action cameras on mountain bikes are completely useless. If you'd not recorded that crash, what would you have done with that footage? It's unwatchable.

[m@]

Thanks - went for the first MTB ride since the crash this week and my wrist is back to square one - starting to think they might've missed a fracture somewhere

Someone else suggested the camera work was very Lars Von Trier

Entirely my fault in this case - the chest mount harness was too loose. I'd've probably binned the footage if not for the crash... YouTube's video stabilisation works pretty well, but cut down the viewport too much on this one; as you said it was mainly about documenting the crash.

I've some other footage from the integrated mount on my (now dead) Kali helmet that's much better, but not very interesting to watch due to the 'remote' perspective. I'm also experimenting with the Quadlock mount on the bars/seatpost/fork.

One unexpected benefit I've found is spotting where I'm consistently making mistakes - e.g. I consistently oversteer leading into the corner two before the spot I crashed. Comparing the run I crashed on to the previous couple was fairly instructive too...

[trailgumby]

6 weeks... yeah could very well be a fracture. Knitting bones are just at the "sticky" stage at that time and anything rough should be avoided, according to the carpenter I was referred to after my collarbone break.

You're probably good for gentle road stuff in a week or two but anything serious off road is probably another six weeks off yet at the earliest. Some bones can take significantly longer. My scaphoid took nearly 6 months! I'd get a referral to a hand surgeon. They will know what xray angles to ask for to determine what exactly is going on.

Sorry to hear the bad news

[m@]

Have to keep telling myself I'm really lucky - was the third (and hardest) time I've crashed the MTB and walked away. Yeah, will have to get it looked into... would really hate to miss the Mont! On the upside, it sounds like most bones are faster to heal than the scaph.

In a weird coincidence, I was back in the Royal Hobart Hospital (where my wrist was treated) on the weekend - almost asked if I could grab a copy of my xrays but felt a little like I might be pushing my luck as an interstate interloper sponging off the Tasmanian medical system