Mountain Biking - What has been your worst mountain bike injury ??

Mine happened this past Sun (9/6)...I was riding my friends Fisher Hi-Fi (my Trek hardtail had a couple of broken spokes) both of us were on our local skills trail (man made bridges...teeter-totters....skinny's etc) Now Ive done this trail on my bike at least 20 times...sometimes clean & sometimes not so clean but never a major crash...

Anyway...He had just put some Juicy 7's on the the front & rear and were extremely touchy...I told him about 20 minutes before I crashed that if someone squeezes the front brake too hard ...they're gonna go sailing over the bars !!

To make a long story short, I must have squeezed the front brake just a little too much (maybe without even knowing it) and went over the bars on a steep little drop off...I disolocated 3 fingers on my left hand...sprained my right wrist...bruised my ribs and ended up with multiple cuts all over...I may have even been knocked out for a second or two because my friend yelled out to me twice but I didnt respond...when I got up my vision was a little blurry & I remember shaking my head and it cleared up...when he finally reached me he asked me If I was ok and I said I think I broke some fingers :eekster:

We were about 2 miles from where we parked so he busted a$$ to get back to the cars while I pushed his bike about a half mile to the nearest parking lot...We went to the ER and the Doc just popped them back into place...didnt really hurt that much thank god...

Here's the drop off...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3444/3910635498_0924ec7568.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3433/3910631574_010c112f76.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3512/3910631592_9fb10c6e27.jpg

and my nice hand...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3465/3909847931_f38f50287e.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2536/3909847867_dc14b7f06a.jpg

and right now...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2443/3910631538_a6f3d06ca3.jpg

Glad that you're (relatively) OK.

What the hell were you thinking, using the frikken brakes? :lol:

OH that's hella gross. Blechhh!!

I like the last pic waaaay better. Glad to see they are straight again.

Dude those finger pics are nasty, heal up quick. I've got juicy 7 on one bike and formula megas on another. Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum. The formulas you have all kinds of pull before anything happens, took awhile to get used to it, now I love them. The juicys are good too, just different. When I jump on the bike with the Juicys I have to be careful not to grab a fingerful of brake.
Worst injury was in the late 80's on an old GT Karakorom. Tumbled down a steep rock garden, hospital visitwith a concussion (no helmet back then). It's been awhile for anything bad, knocking on wood as we speak.

I'll just repeat my usual:

Lost my eye ;) on a low-speed turn in gravel/rocks; washed out and tipped over into a trailside stick that punctured my eye ;). Wear your eye protection, girls and boys!

Broken a rib or two, multiple countless lacerations, chunked out some flesh here and there, 1/2" spaced chainring gouges in r. leg.

Jesus, I'm a mess. :p

This would be mine:

http://www.cleanspokes.com/Broken_Leg/images/dsc02823.jpg

But I got through it:

http://www.cleanspokes.com/Broken_Leg/images/dsc02837.jpg

nachomc-

Had to use a Rascal for a little while, huh? :thumb:

.........to pick up essential provisions!:thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:

I cracked 3 ribs when I hit a thawed out mud puddle last Jan. But for me it was a rude awaking and good thing overall. When I went to the Doc. I found out I weighed in at a whooping 260 lbs, at 5'8 tall. Now thanks to that incident, I am at 218 and still losing :thumb:

Hey Nacho tell that carpenter he does nice work.

Scrape to the kickstand. After going to the doctor and getting some meds, he's out and about just perfect, no scars BTW.

:: gag::.. Look at the bright side man you still alive!

Glad that you're (relatively) OK.

What the hell were you thinking, using the frikken brakes? :lol:

Funny thing is that I cant remember if I did hit the brakes or not...maybe I leaned too far forward...I'm not sure...

I cracked 3 ribs when I hit a thawed out mud puddle last Jan. But for me it was a rude awaking and good thing overall. When I went to the Doc. I found out I weighed in at a whooping 260 lbs, at 5'8 tall. Now thanks to that incident, I am at 218 and still losing :thumb:

Maybe you've discovered a new diet plan...crack a few ribs & eat less :D

Wow those are some crazy injuries!!! Holy sheet. My worst was 20 or 30mph with my pedal all the way down on a rocky trail, the pedal clipped a rock and flung the backside of my bike out, my body hit the ground sideways slamming my head on a rock completely cracking my helmet, and my shoulder took the other brunt of it, but only got bruised and scraped thankfully. That had the potential for broken face and bones because of all the rocks. That was back when I didn't always wear a helmet, ocassionally I would be stupid and not wear one, and I obv wouldn't go crazy biking but the potential for bad things is still there. Anyways I decided to wear my helmet, if I didn't I'd either be half re tarded with a cracked skull, dead with a cracked skull, knocked unconscious, or put into a coma. I always wear one now.

I've come to realize since getting injured in other ways, sans biking, that a little mountain biking isn't worth that kind of setback to me, I've taught myself to be a little more conservative, I used to just go crazy and not care about falling, and expect to, and really push the limit. I still expect to fall every now and then but a little less, it isn't worth months of setback and physical therapy + long term bodily disfunction to me....eew I feel like I'm getting old after saying that =/

eew I feel like I'm getting old after saying that =/

Getting old sux...

Dislocated my shoulder once. Front wheel washed out down a slope and I went over the bars into a big rock. Had to push it back into place and walk back to the car.

Broken collarbone/three cracked ribs/punctured lung in a crash at a DH race.

Broken arm coming off my bike on a road.

Broken collarbone/three cracked ribs/punctured lung in a crash at a DH race.

Damn...That sux...Did they carry you off on a stretcher ?? How long was the recovery time ??

Damn...That sux...Did they carry you off on a stretcher ?? How long was the recovery time ??Walked out with medic to a pickup truck for a ride off the mountain. Waited 2 hours at lodge for wife to pick me up to take me to urgent care. Urgent care sent me to hosp where doc finally found pneumo on a second look/listen. IIRC, I was out about 8 weeks+ with that one.

Hey Nacho tell that carpenter he does nice work.

:lol: I was very lucky to get the Ortho I did. His passion is spinal surgery and orthopedics, but I guess he slummed with us broken limb folk to fill his spare time. He's a fantastic doctor, and just over two years later, the only indication that I had the injury are a few scars and minor swelling (which will probably last forever he says). I have 99.99% of my range of motion back in the ankle, and he said the best way to fight off arthritis and keep my ankle/leg healthy is to ... ride a bicycle. I make sure to follow his advice often :D

Nacho...the XR looks like you got your leg jammed betw. your 888 fork legs.


OP...I thought this redundant thread was gonna suck. It's neither redundant, nor suck.

KEWL!!

sank 7 teeth of my big ring into my calf while mtb'ing.
thats the worst so far.
on a road bike, i endo'd once and had a grade 5 shoulder separation, broken collarbone and tore all the muscles and ligaments holding everything together up there.
surgery 2 days after, they removed part of my collarbone to get everything lined back up.

wow, that was 1 year ago today!
i can almost throw a baseball now.

My bike was leaning up agains sump'n...I ran and jumped in the air to land on the flats...I missed the flats and landed on the saddle...the bad way.

No "real" injuries here.

January 4th, four shattered (Doc's word not mine) ribs and a partial collapse of my left lung. Six days in the hospital with a tube in my chest. I can still feel the smaller pieces move around when I roll over on my left side.

And what sick MTB move was I making you might ask. Not a damn thing, my front wheel slide out in a frozen rut as I was getting to drop down about 6 inches. I went flying off the left side, you know the side where the ground dropped off 4 and half feet. According to the guys who helped me I made quite a whomp when my 280 lbs landed.

I just started riding again about a month ago.

Bruce

Six days in the hospital with a tube in my chest . . . .I hate those buggers - - I think that hurt worse than the ribs in my case.

when trying to learn to endo with a spin on a friends bike I knew i was going over the bars so i jumped and cought my leg on my the thumb shifter. Took out of chuck of leg like an ice cream scoop. many other scars from jumping bmx bikes off random things to flats when i was like 12. nothing broken yet...we will see though.

OP, those pictures are awesome! A friend of mine did that during a high school football game one time.

Two bruised heels...not overly serious, but 8 years later, I still can't be on my feet too long due to the spurs left on my heelbones. One in Moab, then a couple months later, got the other heel. 6 weeks of crutches for that one.

(botched jumps - both of them)

My wife lacerated her liver from an endo when the bars turned and hit her midsection. 3 days in the ICU then two more days in the hospital to make sure all was ok. Not pretty.

I hate those buggers - - I think that hurt worse than the ribs in my case.

+1 to that. In 2004 I had triple bypass and ended with 2 chest drainage tubes. I was out when they put them in, but after I was awake any movement of the tubes sent me thru the roof for about 48 hours. Worse pain I'd ever had, until this pretty blond trauma doc tells me I'm about to have probably the most painful experience short of childbirth as they insert this tube. A shot of a local helped numb the area as they opened my side and then the first of two doses of Demerol as they pushed that damn tube thru the outer wall of my lung. OUCH! :cry::cry::cry:

Bruce

Worse pain I'd ever had, until this pretty blond trauma doc tells me I'm about to have probably the most painful experience short of childbirth as they insert this tube. A shot of a local helped numb the area as they opened my side and then the first of two doses of Demerol as they pushed that damn tube thru the outer wall of my lung. OUCH! :cry::cry::cry:


Yeah...That doesnt sound like much fun unless that pretty blonde doc was rubbing some of your other more functioning body parts :thumb:

Getting old sux...

and is wise...:thumb:

Mountain bike related. Though, I didnt get last and a half year's where I semi-broke a wrist and nose on camera though. This one got me a fairly deep gash on the elbow (still a large scar in that area 3ish months later), and now my elbow hurts from time to time in addition to my wrist. I think I'm going to be wearing elbow armor from now on when I do urban.

http://vimeo.com/5266533

went for a 10 foot gap, i hit the back of the landing ramp, broke my rim, broke 3 ribs and got 8 stitches in my left arm.

went for a 10 foot gap, i hit the back of the landing ramp, broke my rim, broke 3 ribs and got 8 stitches in my left arm.

damn...that probably hurt like hell...How long ago was that ?? Do you still jump like you used to ??

broke my scapula and lost some memory