CranxOC

I'm typing this now with a friggin splint on my left hand that has my pinky and ring fingers lashed together. While riding my trusty Stumpy and opening up a gap some guys on DH/FR bikes on a fast, somewhat technical descent, I managed to get a bit squirrelly in the rut I was riding and slammed myself into a shale/sandstone rock wall, breaking my pinky, spraining my ring finger and opening up about 50 lacerations from my mid-forearm to my mid-triceps. The best part about it: I still had another 5 miles to go before I got back to my car!

I'm bummed right now as my riding is going to go into the toilette for a couple of weeks but, I guess that's the price you pay to play the game and the epic rides more than make up for the pain! Ride on!

Raiyn

Use the opportunity to get some road base miles in

telenick

Sorry to hear that CranxOC. Injuries suck. I've had my share, but I'm sure that doesn't make you feel any better.

telenick

?? It ain't gonna hurt any less on a road bike ?? Maybe you meant an indoor trainer.

CranxOC

That may work. I'll have to see if they actually cast this thing. If they do, I'm afraid I'll be off the bike for a couple of weeks...no way to grip.

Raiyn

Please show me in my post where I said "road bike". He can ride some road miles on his rig that won't put anywhere near the kind of pressure on his finger that off road riding would. Yeah he could do it on a trainer, but where's the fun in that?

Hey Cranx I bet you're just loving those flippy levers now

telenick

Good point. I misread.

I also agree that indoor sucks. I ride rollers indoors constantly because I can't get in enough miles after work. It's a necessary supplement that I dislike.

CranxOC

I know you hate them but they're actually easier to use with this type of injury than trigger shifters. I tore ligaments in the same finger back in Sept. and, had it not been for the "flippers," I would have been off my bike fore much longer. Why, you ask? Becuase you don't have to disengage your thumb to shift. Since I can't manipulate my hand the way I normally would, the majority of my grip comes from my thumb. And since I can leave my thumb in place with the flippers, I'm much better off than with any other type of shifter.

Dirtbike

SRAM is way easier. All you need is your thumb...

Raiyn

I would think twisties would be good in this case

Edward_Breck

CranxOC:

I'm new to the sport and I wonder if you can help me. I have ridden plenty about 15 yrs ago. I was between age 10-15. I've always been athletic. I currently snowboard (hard), ski and participate in other sports. I'm about to sign up for a Trail Riding series - competition.

The levels are Beginner, Sport and Expert. Would you advise the "Sport" level? Could I compete and complete this even at a slow pace?

I have some natural talent and I'm afraid that the beginner group might be "too much of a beginner" trail race. One concern is if a Sports level has man-made technical obstacles. Is this usually the case?

Here is the site:

https://www.ex2adventures.com/tcm/

Drunken Chicken

Sorry to hear that. When I broke two fingers while going down some rock gardens I was out for a week and a half, I was starting to get withdrawal symptoms.

a2psyklnut

No cast for broken fingers. Just tape them like you did. I've broken 8 or my 10 fingers over the years. Plus, Dr.'s these days are limiting time spent in a fixed cast due to the muscle atrophy and longer rehab time.

Broken fingers stop hurting in less than a week, but can stay sore for a month. I recommend Advil or my preferred pain killer Captain Morgan!

CranxOC

Hey Ed,

Thanks for asking but I'm not sure how much help I'm going to be; I'm not that big into racing. I'll do the occasional 24hour race here and there but I'm sure that there are people around here who are far better at advising on which class you should race. Check out the racing forum; they should be able to help in there. Good luck.

CranxOC

I won't find out until next Wed if they're going to cast it but, in the mean time, I'm going to continue riding since I still have the three most important fingers for braking, gripping and shifting. I just cant ride anything too technical since I cant grip AND brake at the same time.

As for the other types of shifters:

-Grip shifters would not work because my splinted fingers would slam into the brake levers every time I shifted...ouch!

-Thumb shifters would not work as well because, as I sated earlier, I need my thumb to grip. Having to disengage it for the purpose of shifting would be detrimental.

I'm sure I could make any of the four systems work however, for this particular injury, the "flippers" are the best.

Maelstrom 

Heal up man.

I guess the only 'ok' part is you have summer constantly. This might take some time out of your season but you have tonnes of time to ride afterwards

CranxOC

Drunken Chicken

Here they don't put casts on broken fingers, they just tape this piece of metal (which is padded with soft sponge) onto your finger. Your finger can't move much, and voilá, it heals.
Once I was so not in the mood for going to the clinic again because of broken finger (I had just broken one a few weeks ago) that I simply took a pencil and taped it on my finger.

CranxOC

I aahve the sponge and the tape but, depending upon where it's broken, they may decide that a cast is necessary. I really hope not though.

Drunken Chicken

Yeah, if it's broken at the knuckle then you'll probably need a cast (that's what happened to me). The last two fingers I broke I needed no cast, only the metal&sponge support.

Killer B

Heal up fast Man, and save up for a DH bike to kick those SuckaZ asss...