StickyMicky

Had a pretty huge off at Hamsterly Forrest on sunday one one of the black route downhill parts

I would estimate at 30mph plus on one of the tarmac style downhill link sections (near the wooded downhilly bit!? just after it is a stream/ford/bridge for invalids!)

The tarmac section is really steep down hill and has these kind of bump things tarmaced in a bit like speed bumps tbh ?

Anyway i was in top gear and really hammering down, hitting the bumps gives some decent fast air if you bunny hop at the same time

I have done this route before a few weeks back, but totally forgot about the sharp left hand bend at the bottom

The same sharp left hand bend that caused me to suffer brake fade on my older, smaller brakes i had new spangly upgraded brakes this time, so intially for about 1/10 of a second i thought i was going to be fine, everything kind of went into slow motion, i casually hit the rear brake first, then the front, i am pretty sensitive about slamming on the front brake first now as i have flown over the bars a few times after upgrading the brakes, harder and harder trying to stop, i locked the back wheel, dohhh, the front wheel was starting to lock up (they are good brakes!) im about to go over the bars, when i simply shot off the road under the undergrowth, having scrubbed next to no speed off at all, ****!!

This is no1 on the photo

The part between number 1 and number two happened VERY fast, this is not good, the bike bucks underneath me, i dont know why at the time, but upon looking at the photo it looks like i clipped some chopped down trees and it throws me off, apparently i flew quite far, we know this because i landed near another tree stump (point number 4) and three of my mates were hurtling down after me, two of them holding back as they are not "fast/daft" lads, one of them really close to meas he trusted my judgement of the route he had not done

He locked up his rear and attempted to slide around the corner like a speedway racer, but his 4 ride old Cube Acid bike was having none of it, its rear wheel collapsed under the force and threw him off, he landed 3 meters away from me, but he missed all the danger and his most beastly of all injuries was landing in nettles



Rear wheel!



My Damage, i dislocated my left shoulder , this photo was taken before we managed to pop it back in, it was unbelievably sore but i thought it was just bruised until i could not move it properly, it looks like i have a shoulder pad on the left, my shoulders usually slope downwards from the neck



I think the hydration back pack has hit the ground and pulled my shoulder out from its socket

It popped back in after about 5 mins of me trying to move it about, but i was still in pain, a nice good samaritin gave me a load of paracetemol, we bent my mates wheel back by hand so it would clear the frame and kept riding!?

I realised that the actual mountain bike position did not hurt that much, maybe it was the painkillers? but while sore, i felt like i could still ride, so we kept going doing the big climb up to the downhill hut, then got the spoke key out to have a go at sorting my mates back wheel a bit better, after the rest i felt a little better, so i manned up and told the group that we should do section 13, as i came back down it, and hit a jump, flew a few feet, ohh this fooking hurts pretty bad actually after section 13 we made a decision to go back to the car park via the red route as it would be easier on my broken body, plus my mates broken bike.

The red route back to the car was pretty easy, body hurt but i think the endorphins were kicking in and the pain did not seam so bad, did the "transmission" downhill route but this time i missed all the jumps and cruised it down, at the bottom we did the "accelerator" route, this has no big jumps and is more weaving through the trees, shoulder was not really much of a problem here, so i gunned it, with my crash buddy wingman behind me, the last berm turn before the route finishes i flew around, my wingman thought it was a jump and flew off the middle of it, hitting a tree head on concussion for him



At this point we all made a decision that enough really was enough, i was paggered, the other 3 were knackered as they underestimated the red routes climbing, so we went back to the car park.

Sunday night my pain was increasing a lot, the missus had some co-codomol tablets which were duly omm-nommed, they did not have much effect i was struggling to get my t-shirt off, had no bruising but quite a lot of swelling.

Monday morning, i went into work like a hero, explained to the team leader what had happened and that while my right arm was fine, my left was completely knackered, i loaded up on co-codomol and managed 1 session and a half on light duties, before the TL suggested i go to hospital in the afternoon, 3.5 hours in hospital and i have damaged tissue around the shoulder joint, ive been told off for going into work, and told i have to max out the dosage of Paracetemol and Ibroprofen each day, plus take 30mg of codine alongside it for the pain, take 48 hours out from work, keep the arm in a sling, start doing shoulder exorcises after 4 days, then go back for physio in a few weeks.

It was sooo worth it though, i still laugh out loud thinking about me lieing on the ground in a broken heap, and then hearing the "ohhhh ****" followed by the sound of skidding, then crashing, then somebody landing in nettles beside me


My real question is though, how long do you reckon it will be before i can get back on the bike ?

Just won a full suspension Specialized jobbie on ebay as i want to get into the proper downhill stuff a bit more ive had to tell the seller i can not pick it up for a few days as i am broken and changing gear in the car is a pita.

dpb

Looks fun - in a suicidal kinda way

smacked my ribs this time last year windsurfing , still not right , didnt stop me time trailing okay on my triathlon this last weekend

StickyMicky

My broken rib has only just healed after trying to catch a mate on his downhill bike (i was not on a downhill bike) at Chopwell Woods

Reading up on dislocated shoulder injury's, a lot of the internet paints a pretty long recovery time for them to be honest

Nightmare

danos14

iTrader: (8)

mountain biking....... great fun but painfull!

CREWJ

Great story and love the pictures. I hope you get well soon.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Cant see the pics here Micky, will have a look later.

Dont know how you manage to spend more time off the bike than on

I had my first off last Monday, diesel strewn roundabout and down on right side, big graze and a few cuts, sore neck from bracing my head for impact, three and a bit years of commuting and my firrst off, rattled me a bit as it came out of the blue, wasnt going fast, think having pumped my tyres up the night before didnt help, front was 100 psi, have dropped to 80 and it doesnt roll as well but the frotn end feels more grippy, dont know if it would have helped but worth a try.

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

*****!

I bet that was a 'brown trouser' moment.

specialx

As above great story, glad you were not badly hurt!

JackClark

Ouch!

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

Would've been far more interesting if you'd had a helmet cam

Glad you're (reasonably) okay though, but you do need to give your body time to heal - and spend longer off the bike than you think. Personally I'd give it a month before trying any downhill stuff. If you go back sooner, you'll only exacerbate the injuries and potentially give yourself a chronic condition

davyboy

I dislocated my shoulder doing motocross, and I was racing again 6 weeks later.

zip106

Are you lot going to be the North East's (is that where you're from?) version of Dirty Sanchez?

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Brilliant Micky

At least you & your mates were wearing helmets!

pacenote

You need some pacenotes.....

Glad you're not too badly injured

austinwrx

entertaining tale ! glad you all seem to be ok.

I'd say bike, kit etc nowt to do with it: you clearly ran out of talent !!

and get some decent spd's on them bikes and not them mincing flats. that'd have kept your balance and control a lot better.

StickyMicky

Its because i am part of team extreme mate

Some more pictures i have taken from Hamsterlys "Black route" some are blurry, usually because of fat man sweat on the phones camera lens



This is part of the uphill climb, the tree roots are a nightmare.







And i keep attempting daft stuff like this on the way back down





This upgrade did not help me avoid the crash



Chopwell Woods (another localish NE trail)








And lucky for me, Hollywell dene is a mere 4-5 mile from my home, which gives me this kind of stuff to play on.



Not managed to ride down the stairs yet, i keep bottling it



Crap blurry video of me in Hollywell attempting to catch some air, while missing the trees, and also showing the number 2 wingman`s bike with a straight wheel

StickyMicky

I will never ride SPD`s they are a nightmare when things go wrong, i prefer to leave the bike when things go **** up tbh.

StickyMicky

Wingman number two laughed at me when i told him i would not go out without a helmet, then he got his bike and saw the kind of stuff we get up to, he sharp changed his mind, his helmet probaby saved his life after he hit that tree, although it did not protect his jaw very much, which took a lot of the force

Maybe that is why the really crazy downhill chaps use full face helmets and body armour ?

StickyMicky

I was planning on a 2 week rest and then some light road/path riding around the coastline just to ease back into things, will have to see how i progress though.

Suns coming out now, i`m looking out the window and thinking "yeah, bike out and get along to Hollywell" dohh!

GC8

It was just a matter of time Mick.

"StickyMicky has checked in to Newcastle Royal Infirmary..."

P1Fanatic

Im of that opinion as well. Good for the additional up-pull power when climbing but if your flat out down some singletrack blast around a berm then you often need to stick a foot out if youve overcooked it. First thing I did was replace standard pedals with some nice Superstar Nano flats that are way more grippy. Even with my poor footwear (keep meaning to get some vans or five-tens) I can only move my foot by lifting off the pedal and repositioning. The grips are grub screws tho which dont mix too well with bare flesh but I tend to wear knee and elbow pads these days even though my local trail involves no tarmac or stoned areas really.

Im waiting for my first big off. Been close a few times often on less technical sections where Ive just not been paying attention and been too cocky.

vindaloo

You really, no REALLY need to give it time to heal properly. Last thing you need is it coming out again. Each time, you run the risk of straining the ligaments a little more. Untill you get to the point it'll pop out as you reach around for your coat etc. Quite the party trick, and impressively manly looking as you pop it back in, but requires surgery and more down time to fix it properly. Failing that, get a physio to recommend a shoulder brace/support if you can't stay off the bike.

J.

StickyMicky

I know, i`m not going to be going daft for a while, number one priority for me at the moment is to get fit enough to do my job properly.

I`m due back in on thursday and will be on light duties, i would prefer to get back onto normal duties ASAP.

They have a proper onsite nurse with physio etc etc

Job first, fun second.

StickyMicky

Yes, i have been looking at these, also the Wellgo MG1, i`m still running the supplied Wellgo pedals that came with the bike, but they are looking a bit worse for wear and the grub things are a bit poor for gripping the shoe (although they have chewed up my sole a little bit)

wrxsti280

iTrader: (6)

That will teach you for trying to be healthy!! Lol my reason for getting rid of my bike, was either gonna hurt myself badly or die trying!!

austinwrx

I guess if your trying to do jumps and skids etc, flats make sense, but if yr bashing along doing 20/30/40/50 miles of mtb'ing, cleats etc are the way to go.

also when the weather is bad, you can at least get overshoes on top of yr cycling shoes too.

it makes a lot of difference being able to keep powering up stuff on the loose surfaces or to be iin proper contact with yr bike when its getting sketchy.

I've been mtb'd since 1990- I just don't know anyone with flat pedals that cycles- maybe its an age thing !

but fair play to you, at least yr out there doing it !

my last injury- was due to my bloody i phone.

had quite a big tumble: (it was feb and about 10 at night) on top of ilkley moor: caught a wheel in a sheep trail/rut or stream crevice or something under the heather.

came crashing down: chest first onto a rock. damm i phone in my (chest) jacket pocket broke my rib !



by the way. I use "map my ride" free I phone app: maps by GPS your cycling.

bloody brilliant. plots elevation etc. only downside is it runs non stop, so when your stood having a chat somewhere, or lifting bikes over fences etc: it stil thinks yr riding, so ultimately yr time and pace aren't quite what they would really be.

does suck yr battery dry though. at best you may get a 3 1/2 hr ride plotted.

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

The latest Endomondo app will auto-pause for you if you set it to. I find it useful as you can see your rolling average and travelling averages as well (getting close to my personal goal of < 30 minute 10 mile commute.... 23 seconds off at the moment)

vindaloo

Decent pedals make a big difference. My mate prefers these...
http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/shimano_mx30.html

I prefer SPDs, myself. Pedals can be cheap, but then you needs shoes...
http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/shimano_m520_.html

Shoes tend to be £50+ unles you Aldi/Lidl or get some Muddyfox on offer from Sportsdirect. I have Specialized Tahoes.

I decided I'd want an option of not SPDing on my MTB, so I fitted these.
http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/shimano_m324.html

Best advice I had when starting out SPDing was to loosen off the spring tensions on the mechanisms. Makes releasing ones feet less of a palaver. Also, make sure the cleats cannot move or come loose. As a loose cleat won't disengage or disengage cleanly, leading to embarrassing "just fall over" moments, whilst slowing/stopping.

J.

austinwrx

cheers, have to have a look at that.



I have some shimano cleats on some of my mtb's, all ok. - currently I'm favouring crank brothers egg beaters on my main bike though. less propensity to get clagged up with mud in winter.

use speedplay on my road bike. now they're serious money, but you appreciate why when yr using them.

wish I'd discovered them years ago !

good if you have ankle, knee etc problems (which I have !)

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Micky, just seen the photo's, how the **** did you crash there you muppet

Black route ? thats a bloody perfectly flat tarmac road !