The MTB Thread
Yeah Stu. Message from a mate down at Illawarra this morning said it was hectic. Shellharbour airport got 73mm in one hour this morning. That’s heavy rain.
Heading to Thredbo tomorrow - long weekend of riding bikes down big hills very very fast! Yeeeww
holly molly thats some rain stu!! we are dry up on the GC / northern rivers (for once)..
Just checked out duck creek behind Ballina, and very impressed with the trails. I can see alot of love has gone into them with some great lines...so kudos to the crew that maintain it. especially enjoyed scenic rim, which had some tough down hill berms and drops....
made my trip south worthwhile when the surf was toast...
I saw the latest rainfall and thought it was an error! Nothing special on the charts or satellite. Anyway, I don't know where we're riding but I don't think it's Keira. I'll be disappointed if we don't descend the escarpment though. Then go for a body bash in town once the swell picks up
Possums, which is in Balgownie and besides Keira is the best known network here, dries pretty quickly so by Saturday it may be ridable. Certainly gonna be slick though.
Red Sands also dries quickly as it's on an old mine so there's huge amounts of coal wash. Coal wash is a Wollongong speciality; incredible to build with, packs hard, wears well, dries quickly.
Now I've gotta go home and clean out my shed...
So I ended up riding just north of Possums. Pushed up and rode down Captain's Table and Pony Pie. (Mountain goat was my previous incarnation). Very similar style to half the riding in Cairns, walking track that goes straight up a ridge with a few narrowly benched traverses. A severely weathered catch berm here or there. And pretty much everything is rollable. It was leafy but not overgrown, which made the second half really fun! Lots of drifting. Especially on the old fire road or coal cartway maybe, that goes straight down the middle of the ridge. Drift, go brakeless, bunny hop rut, drift some more. I rode one section which was being looked after but it just didn't do it for me. Needed the adrenaline hit of being a passenger on the bike as opposed to the driver today.
Also rode a training track a mate is building with his mates elsewhere. It's no secret but you know. You wouldn't travel for it anyway it's only one short trail. But they've picked a spot with a shuttle road and put in a bit of everything. Steep rock slab you have to turn on, off camber chute with a bermless corner at the bottom, doubles. I also stopped on the top of a rock, forgot I have to clip out, started falling, then ninja'd out of it! Good laughs all round.
Got the full experience of going to the top of the escarpment where the vegetation is totally different too. Gives you the sense that you've been on an epic journey. Pretty happy, but on to other hobbies tomorrow!
You rode Captain's Table?
And liked it..?
I've just got no interest in trails like that. Don't get a kick out of it, just feel like I've dodged a hospital bed. There are a few trails - Pony Pie is one of them - that are a grade down, but that's plenty enough for me.
Hang on...you pushed up CT?? Just north is Rixon's Pass, an old horse and cart trail, now fire trail, which takes you past the start of Captain's Table. Next time, eh?
Up this end of the Illawarra there are only a few trails that come off the top of the escarpment and all of them are steep and techy, like CT. Over the weekend I continued work on what will be the latest trail from the top but, despite the pitch, I'm maintaining the elevation and flowing it as much as I can. Some serious bench work happening.
Anyway, glad to hear you got some good riding done. It can be a hard slog around here; either straight up or straight done.
Haha yeah I wanted to have a look at the trail before I rode it so I pushed up. The moisture in the soil is perfect atm and the steep sections weren't too leafy, so that helped too.
Make the most of the moisture! I hear and see it's hard to find dirt without boulders in it.
MTB/Surfing equivalence Part 258: Always check your own board is tied on.
The eldest and I had an enduro race in Canberra on Saturday. 5am alarm clock, bleary eyed in the kitchen, putting the last minute things together.
110km/h+ down the highway for a few hours and we arrive making a grand ol' entrance, as a few hundred mtbers are in the carpark getting ready and I drive in, dont see the speedhump, and hit it, not real fast, yet fast enough for the front wheel of one of the bikes to bounce out of the cradle on the vertical rack.
I hear yells, look in the rearview mirror to see the bike fall out of sight. Hit the brakes in a cloud of dust.
The bike, my son's new bike that I've built up, is lying twisted on the ground. It looks bad, but fortunately, aside from a flat tyre, buckled rim, and a few brake cables losing their ties, it's all good and fixable.
It hits me that we've just driven from the Gong to Canberra with the bike untied, and I flash on all the semis I overtook on the way down that could've turned the bike into scrap metal.
Realising we got away with a miracle, I dont go apportioning blame, yet a mate I'm riding with, also a lifelong surfer, tells Sam straight up: "Always check your own board is tied on."
Realising we got away with a miracle, I don't go apportioning blame, yet a mate I'm riding with, also a lifelong surfer, tells Sam straight up: "Always check your own board is tied on."
ha love it, lost a couple of boards back in the day but no bikes yet, is that a shingleback style rack you have stu? I can see a bike jumping out of there when hitting a bump if not tied in.
Yeah, it's a Shingleback-style rack with most of the features but not the price tag. Made by a local machinist.
Fella I know was on the highway and had four bikes bounce out of the cradles when they weren't tied in. None were run over but they all copped some damage - as you'd expect from hitting the tarmac at 100km/h.
I've also lost a few boards, the most recent time in northen Indo when the rust holding the taxi's roof racks together split apart and the whole lot took flight. Again, got lucky as nothing was coming the other way.
Huge weekend in Tassie with Shippies smoking - see today's WOTD, vid to come later - and the first Enduro World Series held at Maydena. Conditions looked absolutely prime. Aussie men placed first, second, and third, and took four of the top five spots.
I haven't posted in here for a while, or anywhere on Swellnet, as a two-day camping/MTB trip expanded like the SS Minnow's 'three hour tour' so that now, over two week's later, I still haven't returned home.
Currently sitting in Canberra Hospital looking out over grey clouds and hoping for a discharge tomorrow. Another round of X-rays will decide that.
The whole ordeal is too convoluted to post here, plus I don't remember large chunks of it, first from shock and concussion, and later from sedation.
In short, I was at Thredbo riding with my son, who was out ahead of me, and I had a crash. No-one saw me crash and I can't remember it, but I was found unconcious by the track. First person on the scene was a capable lady who rendered immediate assistance. I was fortunate to have someone, who, while not a doctor, was experienced in medical rescues.
Much of the next 2.5 hours - the time it took me to get off the mountain - is a blank though I have flashes of laying face down in dirt, of falling out of a rescue sled, of pleading with someone for painkillers. My first concious thought was in a helicopter where the pressure change of rotor blades brought me into the present. Realised then I wasn't dreaming and whatever was happening was going to have to be dealt with.
Was heading for Canberra Hospital Spinal Unit, based on the strength of X-rays taken at Thredbo. Fortunately Thredbo's machine is crude and picked up chronic disc degeneration as a fracture. It also picked up a twenty-year old collarbone break as a new one. X-rays at Canberra cleared me of those injuries.
It did, however, confirm all the rest: fifteen broken ribs, all twelve ribs on my left side, three on my right, some broken multiple times, a broken sternum, and collapsed lung. All that inflicted despite wearing body armour.
The impact pushed my rib cage in and led fluid to build in my chest cavity. After getting a thoracic epidural to control pain, the docs inserted a chest drain to discharge fluid, which was like copping a prison yard shank in the lats. Painful and bloody.
Had a few complications during the first week in here. Nurses with rigid faces busying themselves with machines as I lay prone and helpless. Cant even recall the specifics of much of what happened as I was so gone on drugs. I've been writing things down when I can but there's large gaps in my memory.
I was given the phone number of two of my rescuers. I called a guy who works for Thredbo Patrol who told me about getting me in the sled, reuniting me with my son, all that stuff, but it didn't unlock anything. Same as when I called the lady who first found me. I was a bit apprehensive that it might dislodge some memories that the body had hidden due to shock, but curiousity got the better of me and I made the call. Also, I just wanted to thank her. As it happened, the blanks remained blank; she may as well have been talking about a stranger.
Both rescuers had theories about how the accident happened. Both thought I'd had a 'mechanical' and come off, however the lady rescuers theory, which I lean towards, is that I had the accident further up the track from where I was found, went hurtling off the track and down the hill, reconnecting with the track after it switched back on a tight corner. The sheer magnitude of the injuries would indicate something more than simply falling off the side of the track.
Also, one of my last concious memories was clocking that my bike wasn't running well. I had a few phantom gear changes, so I was easing back in case I went to put weight on the pedals and the resistance wan't there. I'll never know for sure but it seems the likeliest hypothesis.
If X-rays show my lung is fully inflated again and fluid isn't gathering in the cavity then I'm out of here tomorrow. Wife will hopefully drive me slowly up the highway, gotta dodge those potholes, and back to Wollongong.
Ben may have another week of writing WOTD captions - did you notice they'd changed? - then I'm back on board again, though it'll be a while till I get back in the water.
Geezuz Stu, I think you may have taken the phrase "go hard or go home" a bit far.
15 ribs! Rhetorically speaking, is MTB-ing probably the most dangerous sport ever?
Get well soon.
Jeezus stu you don’t do things by halves , get well soon buddy and hope your recovery isn’t too painful.
Your last detailing of your injuries told me, 'don't join all the other 30+ year olds taking up MTB' and now this one has settled it.
Not the sport for me.
Hope you get well soon and don't watch any laugh out loud comedy.
Stu, that is mind boggling - super serious injuries in the realm of a serious car crash.
Think shippies or The Right might be safer than a serious mtb trail.
All the best.
Tick wrote:
Fark me that's heavy. Must have been tough on your son too.
Yeah, it's definitely affected him, though being 12 his means of expressing it is unpredictable.
Like, he's been much more demonstrative towards me, asking questions, wanting me to explain various things ("why does the body go unconcious? ", "why did they wrap you in an alfoil blanket?").
Then again, on the Sunday that I was lying in a neck brace at Canberra Hospital he informed me that he was going ahead with the downhill race he'd entered (which was always planned for the weekend). I thought seeing what happened to me might put the wind up him, but no, he was keen as, even exuberantly describing new lines he'd found.
Not wanting to shoot a hole in his confidence I wished him well. His mum was equally distraught but also let him go. Figured he needed something to focus on after feeling helpless the day before. Who knows how the tweenage mind works?
Anyway, he didn't crash, even placed OK, and reported that back with pride.
Wow, heavy indeed. Good luck with your recovery.
What about you Stu, planning on getting back on the horse?
There's a reason I gave up things like motorcross etc.
Wishing you a speedy recovery stu.
My nephew broke his neck and fractured several vertebrae in his back in a mtb stack…
He was a very talented racer.
Almost 12 month recovery but not only can he walk he is back on his bike (not at nearly the same level of intensity tho).
Also know a person who is an avid mountain biker - plans all sorts of trips around it… he’s come across an unconscious rider who had obviously had a massive crash and suffered head trauma. They didn’t survive.
It’s a no joke pursuit in one way but also a lifestyle with more than just thrills…
Takes skill and balance and velocity into new realms from the stuff I’ve seen live.
Grew up riding heaps of dirt bikes and seen and suffered plenty of injuries - mtb is pretty much on par at times…
tubeshooter wrote:
What about you Stu, planning on getting back on the horse?.
Yeah I don't know. Pretty obvious I can't keep treating my body this way. I'm also aware these last few injuries have put a strain on my wife and family.
Thing is, my eldest is right into it and it's a great way to connect with him. His two younger brothers aren't into mtb at all, and this summer they started showing interest in surfing so by virtue of that I may spend less time on the mountain.
The last big off you had about a year ago (?) I wondered whether sanity would prevail now I’m hoping it out loud. Let’s hear after the dust settles
GuySmiley wrote:
The last big off you had about a year ago (?) I wondered whether sanity would prevail now I’m hoping it out loud. Let’s hear after the dust settles
Almost two years since I had the last big rib injury (April 28th 2021), then another lesser one (meniscus, tibia) later in 2021. No injuries at all last year as I consciously toned it down. Still ended up in here.
stunet wrote:
Fark me that's heavy. Must have been tough on your son too.Yeah, it's definitely affected him, though being 12 his means of expressing it is unpredictable.
Like, he's been much more demonstrative towards me, asking questions, wanting me to explain various things ("why does the body go unconcious? ", "why did they wrap you in an alfoil blanket?").
Then again, on the Sunday that I was lying in a neck brace at Canberra Hospital he informed me that he was going ahead with the downhill race he'd entered (which was always planned for the weekend). I thought seeing what happened to me might put the wind up him, but no, he was keen as, even exuberantly describing new lines he'd found.
Not wanting to shoot a hole in his confidence I wished him well. His mum was equally distraught but also let him go. Figured he needed something to focus on after feeling helpless the day before. Who knows how the tweenage mind works?
Anyway, he didn't crash, even placed OK, and reported that back with pride.
Mountain biking must be his thing. If that didn't stop him from competing, I don't know what would. Epic tale for the school yard. You'll have to give him the x rays or his mates might not believe him.
Your writing's still clear and lucid Stu so at least your brain seems good.
As for mountain biking, jeez you can have it.
Got a text from a workmate yesterday and he's a had a similar yet lesser experience - went for a ride yesterday, was found unconscious by the side of the track and spent the night in hospital.
A handful of cracked ribs and a busted up face that looks like he's gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson.
He's got a bloody lump above his left eye that looks like someone's cut a good-sized tomato in half and stuck it there.
All this on his birthday, no less.
This is his third big stack in the past few years, including one that busted his shoulder and give him a huge haematoma from his knee to his armpit.
Balls of steel if you or him get back in the saddle and still go after it.
I was on tenterhooks all day Sat with my son up in Bris doing a DH race.
He had a stack in Thredbo, and ironically, it was Stu was on hand to make sure he was OK.
He's been surfing a lot more lately so hoping I can steer him gently back towards the ocean- but in the end, people keep doing what they love.
Glad to hear you will be out of hossie soon Stu.
Mulga Bill says “give that 2 wheeled outlaw best”. Hope your better soon
So heavy. Hope you're out tomorrow and heading home to the family. Do something nice for/with your wife.
I spent most of my childhood (age 6-12) on homemade bitser bikes out in the forest with a mate, launching ourselves off jumps. Often came home bruised and battered, but somehow never sustained a proper injury. MTBs are just so fast now, it's a very different game.
I feel much better knowing you were able to get all that off your chest so to speak! Don’t laugh it’ll hurt!
Bloody hell. That’s full on. Very fortunate someone found you and was able to help. All the best with the recovery. Stick to SP!
Far out Stu. You’ve really done yourself a mischief.
Hope the recovery goes as well as possible.
Jeez Stu, best wishes for your recovery!
MTB just seems to have significant potential for serious injury. I’ve dabbled a bit. A lot of guys I know seem to get into it in their late 30s and early 40s, and there’s been a stream of injuries - collarbones, legs etc.
Worst was mate who was riding alone, went over the handle bars and landed on his head. He’s a doctor, recognised the mechanism of injury, and so took about half an hour to slowly get his backpack off, get his phone and call for help. Very carefully. Sure enough, broken neck. No spinal cord damage. Took him over a year to rehab.
Things happen fast and ground is unforgiving.
Best of luck with the recovery and take your time it's a marathon but you'll get there. Had my own stack last year (much less serious although still ended up flown out and few days in hospital with some metal work in the arm). After riding for a few years when the surf was shit decided it wasn't worth the risk - sold my bike carrier to a bloke who told me had broken his new a few years prior.
So, so heavy. Hearing about the extent of the injuries and with an impact vest, it had to have been a fall from somewhere higher up the track. Maybe impacting a boulder on the way down?
It's going to be so good getting out today (hopefully) and back to the family. And also good to hear there were no other impacts or injuries to the spine/head.
Amazing the teenage mind, with Sam continuing on the next day. Determined!
Horrible. Best wishes for a gentle recovery.
I told my partner what you'd been through, and she said,
"Not good! Explains why I haven't gotten my usual Saturday emails from him."
Anything you wanna tell me mate?
All the best to to you and yours stu, that's a scare and a half.
I'm another who learnt through a friend, now in a chair for life, that MTB's not for me.
Thanks for the well wishes, everyone. It's been a shitty few weeks. Fortunately this stage is about to close as I've just got the OK to leave hospital. Should be home by the evening.
@tubeshooter
Apparently my bike only has a few marks on it. Though the front cog is bent. I'm curious to see that as it may provide a clue about what happened.
@etarip
If I'm not riding with my son then I hook up with a bunch of guys similar age to myself. Most are surfers too. The lure is obvious. As the birthday candles pile up, surfing changes, the magic begins to fade, reflexes lag, you get pushed further down the pecking order, and mtb provides a worthy substitute. Similarly natural settings with guaranteed adrenalin hits.
Even if your surfing performance isn't lagging a forty-year relationship just can't retain the same spark, so learning a new skill set keeps you feeling young and wondrous. New neural pathways and all that.
There's also the novelty of enjoying crowds. Surfers are inherently guarded and it's such a relief to just drop all suspicions and hook up with crew you don't know. There's a really good culture in the bushlands around where I live and it'll be hard to pull myself away from that.
@H2O
I'd forgotten all about the Mulga Bill appropriation! Thanks for the original and thanks for reminding me.
All the best stunet. As we all know these things can happen when you are living. Here's to a solid recovery and return to what ever and when you see fit. Injury and harm sucks.
Just as in aspects of surfing. Never ride without a phone in remote spaces, Have a basic understanding of first aid. Always have a rough plan for a way out, Look out for others cause anything can and sometimes presents it's self when all is fine. Accidents can happen to anyone. Young or old. And don't forget to live.
The acceptance of some responsibility to minimise harm is a byproduct of outdoor sports becoming more aware of the risks and potential outcomes people under take whilst chasing what they love. This can only be a good thing for the generations coming up or those pushing it.
I've been meaning to start a mountain biking thread for a while and now is as good a time as any.