OUCH! Man that's not what the doctor ordered. I had to ride back to my truck after I broke mine, and even with the elkas I still felt every bump times 2. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Well I'm not proud to say that I think I have you all beat. I haven't posted this on the web before but this seems like a good spot.

I broke 7 ribs and punctured my lung in August a couple of miles into the race at a desert hare scramble. Spent 2 days in intensive care until my lung stopped bleeding. They sent me home.... that lasted a week. I was back in the hospital for another 7 days because my lung filled up with blood and I couldn't breathe. They stuck a drain tube (while I was awake) through my broken ribes into my lung and drained 2 liters (no exaggeration) from the lung almost immediately. Two days later I underwent surgery to remove blood clots from the lung. When I left the hospital, my blood count was half of what it normally should be. I was on short-term disability for a month.

Oh and of the 7 broken ribs, only one was fractured, all the others were completely split. Two were pushed down one complete rib width, two more at 80% and two at 50%.

How did this happen? I flipped the Green Queen climbing up a steep sandy part of the race course. As I was laying there, pinned under the bike, another rider on a Banshee flipped his bike which slid down and pinned my right shoulder against a tree. At that point I thought that if I didn't get out of there, I was going to die.

I was wearing all of the protective gear too. I firmly believe it saved my life because I got whacked really bad. After I got hurt, the race officials showed up and re-routed the course. No one made it up that stretch, not even the pros.

Step On the Soapbox:

Bottom line is be careful. It's ironic that before the race started I was telling first-timers that the goal was to have fun. When the banner dropped, all I remember is adrenaline. Don't let the noise, competition, excitement, and adrenaline get the best of you like it did me. That's not fun.. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] You have to control it and I didn't. I had forgotten that this sport can be dangerous even to the point of dying. So please have fun. Winning isn't everything when you bust up your internal organs, and for what??? A $15.00 trophy? A few bucks of contingency money? I'd rather have a good lung.

Ok, I'm off the soapbox.

Mark

 

MARK.. I rember seeing your posts ... where ever ??? I too hare scramble race... every time that I ran a race in Fort Dodge ( site of the 12 hour race, for which I was training ), I've rolled my quad... I must've been lucky, as I've always finished the races... the first time, I had gotten a good start, on the 1st lap... I passed many quads on a jammed up corner, & was now in the middle of the B class riders, on my utility quad... we came to a very steep up hill, & I found myself 3/4 of the way to the top, & stuck in another traffic jam... the guy in front of me, pulledout to the side to pass, & I started to do the same... I don't know if it was the awesome power of the v=twin, the newly installed Hole Shot module, or exitement of the race ??? but I grabbed too much throttle, & rolled end over end backwards... as I landed on my back, I could see the quad was going to land on me... I braced with my legs, & the 600+ pound Prairie landed fully on top of me... 3-4 racers, & a spotter, stopped to pull the quad off me... luckily, I only had some pretty bad scratches on my legs & arms... & broke the fall for the quad, so that nothing was broken on it... I, too, was wearing full protective gear... my brand new MX boots, showed a few battle scars... I'm sure they saved my legs & feet, from injury... I did finish the race... last, but proud to finish, just the same...

the MC accident listed above, resulted during a cool down ride, after a training session, on the quads... on a hot late summer day, I stripped off all my sweaty safety gear, grabbed our little dog ( the dog always rides with us ), & jumped on my '03 - 650 KLR ( dirt bike ), & headed down the paved road, from our farm, for a slow cool down ride... ( i don't usually leave the leash on the dog, but that day did ), the leash slid down, & got caught in the chain... ( we can't have kids, & this dog is like our baby ), the leash pulled the dog off the bike, & in trying to let him down easy, & steer him away from the rear wheel, I got turned fully sideways, & ended up cranking the handle bar... I flipped over the handle bar, going about 40 mph... the dog was fine, the bike was fine ( again I broke it's fall ), it smashed on top of me... I was lucky to not have any head wounds, as I wasn't wearing a helmet ... I had multiple breaks in the collar bone, & broken ribs on my right side, broken bone in my wrist, on the left side, & the bike had appearently "mouse trapped" over me, smashing my right foot, which also had a large hole in the top of it, down to the bones... when I got to St. Mary's / Mayo... the first words out of the specialists mouth, was "if we don't do everything, just right, we'll be amputating your foot"... well I'm healing remarkably well, that was 6 weeks ago... 4 more weeks, & I should be totally back to normal... can't wait to get back on my quad...LOL... oh, by the way... I'm supposed to be old enough to know better, according to my wife...LOL...

 

Like that takes the desire to do it away. Mine still thinks I am going to sell it.
[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

Maybe she needs to hear that "I'm gonna miss her" song by Brad Paisley again. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Don't sell it TRX500, explain that riding keeps you sane from the mental stress that your job puts you through. I wish that my right arm was stronger than my daughter's right now, I'd be out in the garage fixin' the V. I can't stand to see stuff broken....[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

All of the repair parts have been ordered!!![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] Right under 300.00 for everything needed. Can't wait to get it fixed up. Thanks to everyone for all the help and kind words. I would also like to wish everyone else speedy recoveries. Mudfoot

 

I am sorry to hear of all your Misery BUT!....Isnt there some sort of old saying between nascar racers about sharing horror stories like these...I know we are not nascar racers. But, I dont want to be haulin down a trail thinkin about your misfortune[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]....I hope you all heal well and get back on the race course ,trails ,dunes or whatever...Good luck god speed.Be safe..