We had a beautiful day for riding up at Rockville. Spent way too much time sessioning Manzanita Trail (as always), had fun on Upper Tilley, and then headed over to the quarry to play around before heading home.
I was wearing my California MUni Weekend t-shirt from 2003, which was probably the first time I’d ridden Rockville. And in all that time I’d never taken a serious injury on the uni. It was a good roll, but my luck ran out. Heading down one of the top-to-bottom quarry lines, under control, my tire slipped out. It’s the kind of fall I’ve taken uncounted times, but this time my foot planted, my body weight came down on top of my lower leg, and the rotational force broke the tibia and and fibula.
It’s on video but you don’t wanna see it. Here’s the prior attempt. I was totally going to get this line, too.
Campbell and Adrian did a great job of wilderness first aid, Adrian literally piggybacked me back to the trailhead, and Campbell drove me to the ER. X-rays confirmed my suspected diagnosis, so I’m not going to be leading the rest of the training rides for this year’s MUni Weekend up in Bishop. At least two weeks with no load-bearing, probably six weeks after that with no riding, and a couple more months to full strength. Fortunately, bones tend to heal well, so I should be good and back out there by the end of the year.
Despite my injury, Adrian won Best Biff with a rock-in-the-butt on Manzanita, and also got First Blood, with extra credit for facial involvement.
Take care out there and I’ll be back to leading stuff this winter.
Oh man. That break looks gnarly with the two sharp bits.
It’s too bad best-biff award leans toward visual, because I’d be willing to bet you’d have won it for pain.
Ouch! Hope the recovery is going well.