JimN
Member
Not sure if this is a trip report or a crash confession, but here goes:
So, my wife and I have a goal of mountain biking in all 50 states. As of two years ago, we had completed 40 including Hawaii and Alaska. The last 10 were mainly upper Midwest with Oklahoma being the one sort of outlier. So, we took off from our home in Sedona on June 11th for a planned out two-month road trip to knock off the last 10.
Drove to Amarillo the first day and spent the night there. Before getting on the road the next morning, we did a quick ride at the Canyon Trails at Buffalo Hill just south of Amarillo. Fun little janky trail system. We had already ridden in Texas in years past, both at Palo Duro Canyon as well as some trail systems in Austin. Anyway, after the ride we got back on the road for the drive to Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Next day we rode at Turkey Mountain in Tulsa, which is a fantastic trail system. It's very Bentonville flavored. We rode pretty much everything out there, but you could definitely do a couple more rides there by mixing things up and focusing on certain areas. Highly recommended!
Next day we planned to visit some family in Stillwater, Oklahoma, so we did a ride on the Lake McMurtry trails. These trails are much more primitive/old school, but great fun. We did the red and yellow trails, and I think there are two more that we didn't have time for. After that we had a nice visit with my wife's cousin's family.
Next day we did an urban ride in Tulsa on the River Parks East Bank before getting back on the road. Really neat path system along the Arkansas River with nice parks and even a concrete bike park to play around on. Gotta say that Tulsa is a very cool city. Whole lot going on there. After the ride, we drove to my wife's brother's place in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Took the next day off to spend time with my wife's brother and his family, since it was Father's Day.
Next day we headed out to do a ride at the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) trails. We had already ridden in Illinois in the past, but wanted to check this place out. It's usually overgrown with poison ivy in the summer, but word on Trailforks was that things were recently trimmed back, which was true even though the trail tread is generally a foot wide max. This was looking to be a really fun ride as we were getting into it. While it was super hot and humid, the trails were under a very dense canopy of trees that completely blocked out the sun keeping the temps quite comfortable. Seemed to be a nice mix of flow and moderate tech.
At some point, my wife was a bit ahead and I was cruising down a straight, smooth section of trail. It was a descent, not very steep, but allowed you to pick up some decent speed. Suddenly, I went from riding my bike to hurtling through the air and landing hard on my left side. Hit my helmet hard on the ground and my left shoulder/upper back took a hard hit. I guess my bike came with me because it ended up in front of where I landed. I remember it all very vividly. Definitely wasn't concussed or anything like that. My initial reaction was to sit up and exhale aggressively over and over again.
When I was able to finally get up on my feet, I walked up the trail a bit to try and figure out what the heck happened. I discovered an embedded rock that was about 15" tall right on the very edge of the trail tread. Guess I must've clipped it with my right pedal, which sent me and my bike sailing. Very likely I did a full forward rotation in the air with my bike still attached. It was so dark in there that I didn't even see the rock, which was a good 50 feet or more up the trail from where I hit the ground.
My wife eventually backtracked and found me. She had assumed I must've had a mechanical, so she was surprised to see me all messed up. Adrenaline gave me enough umph to push my bike the half-mile or so back to the car. Called friends and family to find out which hospital to go to, and then we headed to the ER.
CT scans showed that I had a left distal clavicle fracture, clean break in the middle that is fairly well aligned. I broke seven ribs (4-10 in the back). And, they found spinal compression fractures in my vertebrae (T3-T7). My lungs had also been bruised up, or whatever they call it, due to the broken ribs. ER doctor admitted me to the trauma center so that they could monitor my breathing overnight and get an MRI done as soon as possible since I might need a custom brace for the spinal fractures.
Got a MRI done the next day, and the spinal compression fractures turned out to be older, existing injuries that are stabilized. So, that was great news! No need for a custom brace. Looks to be just time to allow the clavicle and rib fractures to heal. Got released from the hospital later this day, and spent a few days at my wife's brother's place before driving back to Sedona. Found AirBnBs in Oklahoma City and Albuquerque with power recliners, since I can't sleep in a bed. Worked out well and broke up the drive.
It's nice to be back home. I've been able to do walks up to two miles so far, although they're slow and every step hurts. Figure it's best to keep moving as much as possible without overdoing it. Still in constant pain, but hoping that things will start improving within the next week or so. Broken ribs are pretty miserable. Put over 3,500 miles on the minivan and only knocked off Oklahoma. Still have nine states to go to complete our goal.
So, my wife and I have a goal of mountain biking in all 50 states. As of two years ago, we had completed 40 including Hawaii and Alaska. The last 10 were mainly upper Midwest with Oklahoma being the one sort of outlier. So, we took off from our home in Sedona on June 11th for a planned out two-month road trip to knock off the last 10.
Drove to Amarillo the first day and spent the night there. Before getting on the road the next morning, we did a quick ride at the Canyon Trails at Buffalo Hill just south of Amarillo. Fun little janky trail system. We had already ridden in Texas in years past, both at Palo Duro Canyon as well as some trail systems in Austin. Anyway, after the ride we got back on the road for the drive to Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Next day we rode at Turkey Mountain in Tulsa, which is a fantastic trail system. It's very Bentonville flavored. We rode pretty much everything out there, but you could definitely do a couple more rides there by mixing things up and focusing on certain areas. Highly recommended!
Next day we planned to visit some family in Stillwater, Oklahoma, so we did a ride on the Lake McMurtry trails. These trails are much more primitive/old school, but great fun. We did the red and yellow trails, and I think there are two more that we didn't have time for. After that we had a nice visit with my wife's cousin's family.
Next day we did an urban ride in Tulsa on the River Parks East Bank before getting back on the road. Really neat path system along the Arkansas River with nice parks and even a concrete bike park to play around on. Gotta say that Tulsa is a very cool city. Whole lot going on there. After the ride, we drove to my wife's brother's place in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Took the next day off to spend time with my wife's brother and his family, since it was Father's Day.
Next day we headed out to do a ride at the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) trails. We had already ridden in Illinois in the past, but wanted to check this place out. It's usually overgrown with poison ivy in the summer, but word on Trailforks was that things were recently trimmed back, which was true even though the trail tread is generally a foot wide max. This was looking to be a really fun ride as we were getting into it. While it was super hot and humid, the trails were under a very dense canopy of trees that completely blocked out the sun keeping the temps quite comfortable. Seemed to be a nice mix of flow and moderate tech.
At some point, my wife was a bit ahead and I was cruising down a straight, smooth section of trail. It was a descent, not very steep, but allowed you to pick up some decent speed. Suddenly, I went from riding my bike to hurtling through the air and landing hard on my left side. Hit my helmet hard on the ground and my left shoulder/upper back took a hard hit. I guess my bike came with me because it ended up in front of where I landed. I remember it all very vividly. Definitely wasn't concussed or anything like that. My initial reaction was to sit up and exhale aggressively over and over again.
When I was able to finally get up on my feet, I walked up the trail a bit to try and figure out what the heck happened. I discovered an embedded rock that was about 15" tall right on the very edge of the trail tread. Guess I must've clipped it with my right pedal, which sent me and my bike sailing. Very likely I did a full forward rotation in the air with my bike still attached. It was so dark in there that I didn't even see the rock, which was a good 50 feet or more up the trail from where I hit the ground.
My wife eventually backtracked and found me. She had assumed I must've had a mechanical, so she was surprised to see me all messed up. Adrenaline gave me enough umph to push my bike the half-mile or so back to the car. Called friends and family to find out which hospital to go to, and then we headed to the ER.
CT scans showed that I had a left distal clavicle fracture, clean break in the middle that is fairly well aligned. I broke seven ribs (4-10 in the back). And, they found spinal compression fractures in my vertebrae (T3-T7). My lungs had also been bruised up, or whatever they call it, due to the broken ribs. ER doctor admitted me to the trauma center so that they could monitor my breathing overnight and get an MRI done as soon as possible since I might need a custom brace for the spinal fractures.
Got a MRI done the next day, and the spinal compression fractures turned out to be older, existing injuries that are stabilized. So, that was great news! No need for a custom brace. Looks to be just time to allow the clavicle and rib fractures to heal. Got released from the hospital later this day, and spent a few days at my wife's brother's place before driving back to Sedona. Found AirBnBs in Oklahoma City and Albuquerque with power recliners, since I can't sleep in a bed. Worked out well and broke up the drive.
It's nice to be back home. I've been able to do walks up to two miles so far, although they're slow and every step hurts. Figure it's best to keep moving as much as possible without overdoing it. Still in constant pain, but hoping that things will start improving within the next week or so. Broken ribs are pretty miserable. Put over 3,500 miles on the minivan and only knocked off Oklahoma. Still have nine states to go to complete our goal.
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This reminds me of my worst ever crash. 
Heal up Jim. 
The trails will be waiting... 
