Lessons Learnt

[daBlingKing]

_{With the JUMA out we went for a ride at Northern Farms yesterday.}

 

At the entrance to that river section, there is a steep drop off with a wood pole cladding on the descent. The other times I've been down it I just turn and blast down it into the best part of the course.

This time there was a development lad that had binned it at the bottom so I made the mistake of rear wheel braking on the wet descent.

The back swung round and high sided me into the trees on the side. There was branch that was trimmed off the one tree and I Scottish kissed it with the side of my pip.

That ended the ride and I went off to Sunninghill Hospital to have it checked out - all good, apparently a vacuum cannot be damaged!

 

A few lessons learned though.....

 

Skills: Don't ever brake on slopes like that - I should have just done a U turn, waited for it to clear and attached it with vengeance.

 

Helmets: I have a good quality Rudy Project. It is really a road helmet (which I see a lot of folk wearing) - it ain't good enough. With the branch hitting me on the side - it pushed the helmet up and I took a proper klap to my temple. My Rudy sunnies got knocked off but i suspect they might have saved some eye damage. Lesson here is I am getting myself a proper MTB helmet stat. My ride partner Paul rides with a POC MIPS and it has full side protection, that is the way to go. After much Googles etc this day I am split between the Six Six One AM Tres MIPS and the Bell Super 2 MIPS. I am probably going to go with the Bell Super 2 MIPS (cost swayed it) I am not going to risk damage to my head as empty as it is - I only have one!

 

Health: Two weeks ago, I would not have gone to hospital, as a motorbike racer and adrenaline junkie - we normally think we are bulletproof. A friend of mine (also a bulletproof Zimbo that I was in the army with) had a small fall from a very small height. Knocked his head, concussed himself a bit, left it and drank beer. He died last week from an aneurysm two days after the fall. That taught me not to ignore stuff like that and have it checked out. They did the scan, as I said found nothing.....thankfully.

 

I hope my ramblings help someone somewhere stay safe. 

 

[worriesnot]

I cracked a vertebra on that exact little ramp nearly three years ago. 

No braking involved, just very wet on an early morning ride. Freak accident and most intense pain I ever felt.

Also a wake up call and reality check for me... took me nearly a year to get my confidence fully restored riding anything that looks remotely technical.

Now all good and recovered - Neuro says I will feel it again (back pain) when I get older but for now I am sharp-sharp.

[eccc whippet]

I am also starting to think it might not be such a bad idea to include elbow protection and maybe even knee protection...I already have a piece of bone missing in my right elbow with restricted movement from a motor bike accident...

 

a couple of weeks ago i took a tumble at Giba...sudden stop...went down and hit my left elbow on a rocks...3 weeks later i am still battling to pick anything up...landed on the bone.

 

I thought riding a bicycle would be a lot safer.

[Paul Ruinaard]

I was behind when Da Bling King fell and it was  a pretty innocuous little fall with a lousy landing spot.

 

But

 

I have also spent a couple of days in ICU on a ventilator after I concussed myself and didn't get it checked out (OTB incident in Lonehill on about a 2 cm dropoff at about 40kmh).

 

Long story short - if you bang your head hard get it checked out.

 

You will die in your sleep or just stop breathing, flake out etc. (Like I did, i was just lucky mates found me).

 

I can't stress how important this is and when I see guys asking how careful to be and whether they "really" need to worry after a small fall,  I freak out.

 

You never ever want to be on a ventilator. It still scares the crap out of me to be near one of those machines when in a hospital. It is like something out of your worst nightmare I can assure you.

 

I was lucky - no damage, but not all are.

[Uni]

.

Sorry to hear about your friend.

I was just saying this weekend how my helmet doesn't really fit my head properly. I took a bad knock on my head once, and I was out on my own. It was pretty scary. Glad you're ok.

[Kaalvoet Thysie]

I cracked a vertebra on that exact little ramp nearly three years ago.

No braking involved, just very wet on an early morning ride. Freak accident and most intense pain I ever felt.

Also a wake up call and reality check for me... took me nearly a year to get my confidence fully restored riding anything that looks remotely technical.

Now all good and recovered - Neuro says I will feel it again (back pain) when I get older but for now I am sharp-sharp.

Make sure you do core exercises, there is a lot you can do at home, just check on the internet. If you keep your core muscles strong you will keep the pain away longer. It really makes a difference

[worriesnot]

Make sure you do core exercises, there is a lot you can do at home, just check on the internet. If you keep your core muscles strong you will keep the pain away longer. It really makes a difference

Yep - physio gave me plenty core strengthening exercises when I was going through recovery. That and carrying a six pack in stead of a full case around the waist makes a world of difference.

Not that I have a six pack. Just don't have a big belly anymore.

[Kaalvoet Thysie]

Yep - physio gave me plenty core strengthening exercises when I was going through recovery. That and carrying a six pack in stead of a full case around the waist makes a world of difference.

Not that I have a six pack. Just don't have a big belly anymore.

I still have the belly, but I have a good imagination, so I just imagine the six pack under the belly, hahaha

[EtRawlie]

My opinion on helmets was always one of, why bother? I mean, testing shows that if you run into a wall at I think it is 13km/h without a helmet on, you will kill yourself. And a helmet raises that speed to about 15 or 16km/h (don't quote me on this - this is from a motorcycle helmet article in a bikers magazine about 15 years ago)

 

Where this is relevant, however, is that the premise of the article is based on head on collisions with walls. What changed my opinion on helmets, was when I was cycling on Kyalami Race Track a couple of years ago, and the lady in front of me came off her bike at about 35km/h down the back of the Mine Shaft (we were cycling clock-wise that day)

 

She didn't hit the tar head-on - obviously - but she did smack the tar with her helmet with a glancing blow. She was knocked out cold and her helmet was in 3 pieces. I am convinced that it saved her life that day. If your helmet is in any way compromised, replace it. She had a good quality helmet on and I would hate to know what would have happened if she was without a helmet, or a compromised one. 

 

What stuck with me from that day is that she did this kind of damage to her helmet on a flat tar surface, with no traffic, no distractions, no obstacles. It was a freak accident if I've ever seen one. 

 

As an after note, she woke up, was attended to by a doctor who happened to be cycling the track too, and taken to Sunninghill Hospital by ambulance for a once over. 

 

The cause of her accident was a bike service where her brake pads (rubbers? it was a roadie) had been replaced, and she did not anticipate the "bite" in the serviced brakes, sending her off the bike around the bend. 

[Kelloggs]

_{With the JUMA out we went for a ride at Northern Farms yesterday.}

 

At the entrance to that river section, there is a steep drop off with a wood pole cladding on the descent. The other times I've been down it I just turn and blast down it into the best part of the course.

This time there was a development lad that had binned it at the bottom so I made the mistake of rear wheel braking on the wet descent.

The back swung round and high sided me into the trees on the side. There was branch that was trimmed off the one tree and I Scottish kissed it with the side of my pip.

That ended the ride and I went off to Sunninghill Hospital to have it checked out - all good, apparently a vacuum cannot be damaged!

 

A few lessons learned though.....

 

Skills: Don't ever brake on slopes like that - I should have just done a U turn, waited for it to clear and attached it with vengeance.

 

Helmets: I have a good quality Rudy Project. It is really a road helmet (which I see a lot of folk wearing) - it ain't good enough. With the branch hitting me on the side - it pushed the helmet up and I took a proper klap to my temple. My Rudy sunnies got knocked off but i suspect they might have saved some eye damage. Lesson here is I am getting myself a proper MTB helmet stat. My ride partner Paul rides with a POC MIPS and it has full side protection, that is the way to go. After much Googles etc this day I am split between the Six Six One AM Tres MIPS and the Bell Super 2 MIPS. I am probably going to go with the Bell Super 2 MIPS (cost swayed it) I am not going to risk damage to my head as empty as it is - I only have one!

 

Health: Two weeks ago, I would not have gone to hospital, as a motorbike racer and adrenaline junkie - we normally think we are bulletproof. A friend of mine (also a bulletproof Zimbo that I was in the army with) had a small fall from a very small height. Knocked his head, concussed himself a bit, left it and drank beer. He died last week from an aneurysm two days after the fall. That taught me not to ignore stuff like that and have it checked out. They did the scan, as I said found nothing.....thankfully.

 

I hope my ramblings help someone somewhere stay safe. 

When in doubt, power out!