Wednesday, August 01, 2012

An Update 

If you're friends with me on Facebook, you've probably seen the cryptic post I made from the back of an ambulance on Sunday and then the subsequent only slightly less cryptic description a day or two later.

Folks have been curious about details so I'll start to fill them in here.  I'm pretty dopey (more on that later) so I'm gonna keep it short and sweet.

Sunday I went for a sweet ride in the hills of Waitsfield with my buddies Jeff and Andy.  There was talk about hitting up the Mad River after the ride for a quick dip before my 5 hour drive home.

As we finished up the 3 hour ride, we descended a gravel to pavement road.  As we got onto the pavement, I glanced back to make sure Andy had made the turn at the top of the hill not realizing that Jeff was slowing down to go down to the river (I thought we were going to the cars first).  When I turned back, I was on top of Jeff and had no time to swerve, grab brake or do any other sort of evasive maneuver.   Here is the GoPro video of the ensuing crash.

Jeff and I went down in a pile.  I immediately knew that something was very wrong because I had difficulty rolling over.  Hoping that it was a case of getting stunned, I laid there hoping to be a be able to walk it off.  After about 15 minutes, it was obvious that I was in trouble and an ambulance was called.


A half hour ambulance ride was followed by x-rays (and some of the worst pain I've ever experienced when my foot got stuck on a sheet) and the prognosis that I had a fractured femoral head (crushed actually) and surgery was going to be necessary.  That's right folks, 37 year old has a broken hip and the very distinct possibility of a hip replacement in my near future if the bone doesn't recover.

More as I find the time and clarity through the many pain meds.

13 comments:

Jason said...

Damn dude. As my grandma used to say "it's hell getting old." Hang in there. Let me know if there's anything you need. Maybe I can send you some reading material?

Funny thing is (as I'm sure you may have seen via blog or Facebook) I had one of my worst crashes in 20 years this year. Nothing as bad as yours, but STILL freaking recovering. BUT, I'll be backa and YOU WILL be back. I know, 'cause you're a freak and freaks come back. Feel better.

Jason

Hill Junkie said...

I started reading this thinking it would just be a false alarm. But damn, that is just gut wreching. Sorry to this happened to you. Hang it there. You will get past this. When I shattered my ankle two years ago, it seemed like the end of the world at the time. You actually commented that your number would eventually come up. Kind of a freak thing with devastating consequence, eh? We do bounce back from these things. You'll certainly be in my thoughts during your recovery process.

Keep us informed, especially with gruesome xrays, post op pics, whatever, to keep the morbid side of us fed;)

rick is! said...

Thanks guys. If i can get the pain under control, more details will follow. 3:38 am? Yup. sucky

Davis Carver said...

Hi Rick,

Sorry to hear that. Things will heal, though. I have a total titanium hip now after a ski accident. It took a while, but I'm at 100% again. Don't do what I did though. Be sure to follow through with PT, rather than just try to push through.....

Best,

Davis

rick is! said...

Thanks davis. Maybe hatti's idea of a carver hip wasn't too far off base...

rick is! said...

just realized if you turn the volume WAY UP you can hear me say "jesus, oh fuck" in agony. ugh

jeff said...

that crash is haunting. looking at where we collided to were we ended up is crazy - especially considering that you literally flew threw the air to get there (according to andy's eye witness account, you were 8-10ft in the air). i can't stop wishing i'd mentioned at the bottom of Cyclone that i'd be hanging a right before the saw mill for the river. i'd also given you the green light arm signal for no traffic at the bottom of Dana Hill, so instead of breaking before hitting rt17 you were going full-on. fuckfuckfuckfuck. sorry to our younger readers for that f-bomb rant, but it's about the only word that seems to do the accident justice. of all the crazy shit we do to ourselves, flying-down singletrack or double track doing 20, 30, even 40mph.... i broke my leg on the final turn of Cyclone (about 100yds from our crash) almost two years to the day of this accident, doing the EXACT same thing - looking over my shoulder to see the person behind me... you are one tough SOB, i've never seen someone get hurt so bad and practically laugh it off. most folks would have been on the edge of shock, or just screaming. that toughness, that mental toughness, will get you through these dark days my friend.

mikethebike said...

And I thought you were invincible.

That totally sucks Rick. I hope you have a speedy recovery. Best Wishes.

Linda said...

Holy crapballs...sorry to hear! Hope you get back on your feet again soon. That sucks worse than a shop vac.

rick is! said...

jeff, please stop beating yourself up. there is nothing that can be done at this point (to be honest, at the instant of impact, I was feeling guilty that I was likely hurting you badly) so there is no point of making yourself feel worse.

I've got decent insurance and a job that is flexible so all will be well with time.

thanks everybody for the well wishes.

Anonymous said...

Dayom Rick. Not good. That'll learn ya lookin back ;-) Seriously though, sorry to hear this, I was living vicariously through your racing legs with my lamo effort this year. Hope surgery goes good and hang in there. Miff ;-x

Anonymous said...

DAMN! that video is haunting, but dude you are smiling in the pic under it. I love how intense we all are in this sport and film and photograph our most horrific accidents with smiles on our faces.
You are one tough dude! Follow your doctors orders and listen to your PT people so you can come back and kick all our butts as the mechanical man.

I guess this means the rest of us will need to pick up the slack you'll leave behind of mundane stories of trail riding failed commutes to work and deciding to run instead of riding. And time for a bit for your blog to become Racing to Recovery Rick or just Recovery Rick, where you will keep us updated with the tasks of leg exercises and learning to walk and rants about being fed up of sitting all the time and how much you'd rather be riding or running.

We'll miss seeing you out on the trails, but listen to your body and health pros and you'll be back bugging us with those reports once again.

Let me know if there's anything I can do to help out.
May

douglas said...

Ugh and dislike!
Hoping you have a speedy as possible recovery!

Doug
Team Bikeman.com