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By sarge on 10/24/2007 on sarge's blog
Well I'm finally up and around again after a really nice crash last month. I seperated my left shoulder and got a minor concussion. I would have been in worse condition if it wasn't for my helmet. I know most YOURMTB subscibers use their helmet, but sometimes it's good to share the stories to keep reminding everyone how important the helmet is. I was coming down a steep downhill singletrack trail and was approaching a sharp, right handed switchback. I began to set up for the turn, looked through the corner and began the turn. As I got into the apex, my back tire started to break loose, and then it happened. The bike stopped short and high sided me off to the left side of the bike. I landed hard on the left side of my head and left shoulder. I don't know how long I laid there, but when I finally got up, I knew there was something very wrong with my left shoulder. My head hurt, but not to bad. I did what all of us usually due after a crash, check my bike and make sure it was in better condition than me. I was amazed that there was no damage to my NOMAD. I rode painfully back to my truck and was able to get my bike loaded into the back with my right hand. I took off my helmet and noticed that it was cracked where I impacted. The helmet stayed together otherwise and scooped up a little dirt. I made it into the emergency room for treatment. The doctor told me that I would have definetley had serious injuries to my skull if I was not wearing my helmet. I was lucky to only have a minor concussion and some sore neck muscles. I am going to keep the helmet to educate the kids I teach in my bicycle safety classes. |
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Helmet Saved Me |
walker says:
 Glad you're OK! When I was 12, I was hit by a car - bad wreck. My helmet saved my life... Back then, grown ups really didn't wear helmets, but I was a little racer and we had too. Post accident, I was a super-safe-star. I mentioned, "Bell helmets saved my life" on TV and during interviews about my accident. You can only imagine how Bell helmets felt about this. I then went on to speak at schools about helmets. I spoke on behalf of this coalition: http://www.safekids.org/. They do great work. This was about 20 years ago, so you probably won't find info on me, but if you're going to talk to kids about wearing helmets, check them out. Again: http://www.safekids.org/. Glad you're doing this! Walker T Off the road, on the mind... |
NVMtBiker says:
glad to hear you're back in the saddle. i had a very similar accident a few years ago. running a fast downhill got into some dry leaves and high-sided onto my left side. i knew i took a pretty good blow -- saw the big flash and all, but did not have any apparent injuries. i did, however pull a piece of sharp shale out of the side of my helmet - went right through the skin and buried itself in the foam. it doesn't look like much until you put something down into the crack and see that the hole go nearly all the way through the helmet. i don't know that it would have penetrated by skull, but i likely would have been looking at a serious concussion, and definitely would have been getting a nice traintrack of stitches. i kept my helmet too, and i'm a firm believer. |
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