Ouch at Llandegla

[Hobo Mikey]

Went down Llandegla on Monday with a friend and his stepson who is only thirteen, so it was never going to be a fast session. On one of the climbs with wet rocks and tree roots my bike slid out to the left and I went to the right putting my arm out to stop myself going over the bank. Ouch and a few swear words as I got up and my arm was numb and my shoulder in pain. Could not lift my arm without it shaking and hurting. Had trouble getting back on bike and even more trouble getting my right arm onto the bars to continue back to carpark. My mate is ex army and knows about injury’s and said it was rotator cuff. Drove the car back to base one handed and had a few beers and some pain killers but still could not sleep. Next day into minor injury’s clinic for X-rays and today just got back from Wrexham hospital after more X-rays. Been signed off work for six weeks and they are talking keyhole surgery. So no biking for me for a while.
Absolutely gutted to say the least and what pissed me off more than anything is I could not have been going any slower. I have been down Llandegla about twenty times since February and rode like i used to thirty years ago. The section I came off is a tough climb with the rocks and roots but I have only failed to get up it on my bike three times. Gutted.

 

[Mikerb]

bad luck mate. I recognise the syndrome.............my accidents mostly happen in the most innocuous circumstances.........thankfully none for over a year now!
One thing to try to learn, and it goes a gainst every natural instinct, is to avoid using your arms in a fall. Try to roll instead. I learnt that in a strange way really windsurfing because in rough seas the number one rule, if you crash, is dont let go of the boom because the board will be a long way away when you recover!!

 

[#lazy]

I tore my rotate cuff in a mx crash , nothing bad just the front slid in a slow corner and landed on my right shoulder. Felt like my arm was on fire and couldn’t move it out or above horizontal so went to the doc and he said just rest it !
The mrs does taekwondo and her master told me to do hot/cold therapy for as long as possible and hopefully the muscle would attach without surgery. It did but took about 3months before I had full motion ! Big change in my life as was a bricklayer and had to rethink my options ……all worked out for the better

 

[samjlevy]

I feel your pain, I came off doing around 5mph, landed on my hand, broke my radius, scaphoid and suffered a trans-scaphoid perilunate dislocation, in a cast for 9 weeks, 2 surgeries and probably another 2 - 3 months, if I’m lucky, until I can ride again. It’s always the slow ones when you aren’t really concentrating that catch you out!

 

[Tubby G]

Went down Llandegla on Monday with a friend and his stepson who is only thirteen, so it was never going to be a fast session. On one of the climbs with wet rocks and tree roots my bike slid out to the left and I went to the right putting my arm out to stop myself going over the bank. Ouch and a few swear words as I got up and my arm was numb and my shoulder in pain. Could not lift my arm without it shaking and hurting. Had trouble getting back on bike and even more trouble getting my right arm onto the bars to continue back to carpark. My mate is ex army and knows about injury’s and said it was rotator cuff. Drove the car back to base one handed and had a few beers and some pain killers but still could not sleep. Next day into minor injury’s clinic for X-rays and today just got back from Wrexham hospital after more X-rays. Been signed off work for six weeks and they are talking keyhole surgery. So no biking for me for a while.
Absolutely gutted to say the least and what pissed me off more than anything is I could not have been going any slower. I have been down Llandegla about twenty times since February and rode like i used to thirty years ago. The section I came off is a tough climb with the rocks and roots but I have only failed to get up it on my bike three times. Gutted.

Heal well dude, that sounds extremely unlucky and very frustrating for you..

If it’s any consolation, I took a slam at Antur Stiniog on Monday. Didn’t think much of it at the time, got back on the bike and rode for the rest of the day. Now I have bruised ribs, can hardly move, can’t cough / sneeze, can only sleep on my back and can hardly get out of bed without a crane lift (which I don’t have!)

Injuries suck big time

 

[Shjay]

bad luck mate. I recognise the syndrome.............my accidents mostly happen in the most innocuous circumstances.........thankfully none for over a year now!
One thing to try to learn, and it goes a gainst every natural instinct, is to avoid using your arms in a fall. Try to roll instead. I learnt that in a strange way really windsurfing because in rough seas the number one rule, if you crash, is dont let go of the boom because the board will be a long way away when you recover!!

I always used to let go of my kit! Have landed on my board from big jumps & gone through a sail or two. Nothing worse though when letting go of kit from 20ft jump & wind catches you kit as your falling with helicopter arms

 

[RustyMTB]

Healing vibes Hobo, injuries suck. It is possible to crash well, Sam Pilgrim talks about it occassionally & more often, you can see him stack a bike & roll out of the crash, the principle being to dissipate the energy by rolling out progressively & keeping your arms away from jarring contact. It's a LOT easier said than done, sticking your arms out is hugely instinctive & natural in a split second crash but you can take the ideas on board, you never know when it'll save the day!

 

[Christurbo]

Did you crash on Julia’s trail (the last red section of climbing back to base from the downhill). It switches back on you then it’s a technical climb over rocks and roots?

If it’s any consolation I came off last week on a black downhill and took all impact to the chest/ribs on the rocks. Bruised ribs and loads of cuts. My car looked blood soaked getting home (murder scene!)

Not posting pics here

 

[Hobo Mikey]

Did you crash on Julia’s trail (the last red section of climbing back to base from the downhill). It switches back on you then it’s a technical climb over rocks and roots?

If it’s any consolation I came off last week on a black downhill and took all impact to the chest/ribs on the rocks. Bruised ribs and loads of cuts. My car looked blood soaked getting home (murder scene!)

Not posting pics here

That’s the one, you climb then go sharp right switchback and then have to go up over the rocks and tree roots avoiding the tree also. I was barely moving and the bike slid to the right before gettin to the roots and I put my arm out to stop going over the bank onto the trail you come up. I have done that trail loads and only failed to ride that section twice before and both of them times were where the bike lost traction on the roots.
if I had come off on a downhill bit or drop etc I would have been happier.

 

[Tubby G]

That’s the one, you climb then go sharp right switchback and then have to go up over the rocks and tree roots avoiding the tree also. I was barely moving and the bike slid to the right before gettin to the roots and I put my arm out to stop going over the bank onto the trail you come up. I have done that trail loads and only failed to ride that section twice before and both of them times were where the bike lost traction on the roots.
if I had come off on a downhill bit or drop etc I would have been happier.

That section is the most difficult part of the whole of the red trail at Llandegla

 

[Mikerb]

my most stupid one was a very narrow and winding single track ( probably created by cows) along the middle of a steeply sloping field. I stopped because I wanted to take a photo of the view ( coastal) and put my foot down on the lower side of the slope, on what I thought was a stump...........which turned out to be mostly fresh air..........fell off the bike to the side and both me and bike slid down the hill, me head first, the bike ended up on top of me! No real injuries but it took a lot of effort to firstly get back to me feet and second to make any progress back up the steep slope. So speed on that one was zero.

On another occasion I was ridng down a steep and slippery section in the forest which leads to a drop off, a gulley and is lined with trees. This was just a fter a pretty stormy period so there there was a lot of debris on the forest floor. Speed here is minimal hard on the brakes but trying to maintain grip. My front wheel went onto a piece of broken branch which acted like a roller meaning I then had no control over the front of the bike which slid out from beneath me. To my right the ground dropped away steeply.........I negotiated that like a drunk man and progress was stopped by a tree............against my ribs. Right hand rib cage is where your liver is. It was like the MMA liver punch!! Broken ribs and bruised liver was the result. Much worse than Covid!!

 

[Chairman]

Same deal torn rotator. Drs suggested surgery would be only way to repair torn ligament. Decided sauna and cold therapy might work. It's been quite some months but it's coming along nicely.

 

[Wilbur]

I tore my rotate cuff in a mx crash , nothing bad just the front slid in a slow corner and landed on my right shoulder. Felt like my arm was on fire and couldn’t move it out or above horizontal so went to the doc and he said just rest it !
The mrs does taekwondo and her master told me to do hot/cold therapy for as long as possible and hopefully the muscle would attach without surgery. It did but took about 3months before I had full motion ! Big change in my life as was a bricklayer and had to rethink my options ……all worked out for the better

What does hot and cold therapy involve? Heat gun and a can of freeze spray?

 

[samjlevy]

Same deal torn rotator. Drs suggested surgery would be only way to repair torn ligament. Decided sauna and cold therapy might work. It's been quite some months but it's coming along nicely.

I’d get the surgery, my wife tore hers, tried alternative treatments for a year. Thought it was better but it never actually healed, she’s now had surgery and it’s painful pretty much all the time with reduced mobility due to the fact she left it so long untreated.

Hot and cold therapy will help decrease the pain and improve mobility but it will never heal without surgery.

 

[Hobo Mikey]

I have a follow up appointment in six weeks which hopefully by then I will have had a scan on it then they are talking about key hole surgery to repair.
Nothing is simple in life because we live in a campervan so it will be interesting where I can get it done because we are leaving this area beginning of November.

 

[Dax]

bad luck mate. I recognise the syndrome.............my accidents mostly happen in the most innocuous circumstances.........thankfully none for over a year now!
One thing to try to learn, and it goes a gainst every natural instinct, is to avoid using your arms in a fall. Try to roll instead. I learnt that in a strange way really windsurfing because in rough seas the number one rule, if you crash, is dont let go of the boom because the board will be a long way away when you recover!!

Can’t beat a good catapult followed by the swim of shame

 

[Hobo Mikey]

Had my ultrascan today. Got a call someone had cancelled so I got in early. Still got to wait until 8 th October for follow up appointment when we will see what they say. Still only got limited movement and it fookin hurts. Taking pain killers but they are spinning me out. I don’t like taking medication.
To add to my injuries I went for a walk a couple of days ago, I can’t just sit around. Ten minutes into my walk I tripped on my hiking boot lace and went down hard. Now have a sprained left wrist and bruised leg and grazed arm. wife says I have to stay put for a day or two. Just hope I don’t fall of the sofa.
On a good note I did manage to wash my bike.

 

[Tubby G]

Ten minutes into my walk I tripped on my hiking boot lace and went down hard. Now have a sprained left wrist and bruised leg and grazed arm.

When it rains it pours

My ribs are still fooked Hoping a nice bike ride at the weekend will sort them out

 

[The Hodge]

Hey Mikey ..just seen this and sorry to hear it..hope you heal well & quickly .
My advice ..listen to the missus if you don't want to add to the list of injuries

 

[Howz]

That section is the most difficult part of the whole of the red trail at Llandegla

I agree, you mainly see people walking up that section with their bike.(I was there on Sunday)

 

[Hobo Mikey]

Hey Mikey ..just seen this and sorry to hear it..hope you heal well & quickly .
My advice ..listen to the missus if you don't want to add to the list of injuries

Yea I guess ear ache is better than limbs aching.

 

[Hobo Mikey]

Update on injury. So after a month it is still hurting like fook. Was up in the Lake District the last couple of days, just a chilled out couple of days with the wife,got a call from hospital to say the orthopaedic surgeon would like to see me. So went in today and he said the rotator cuff is ripped in two places and it’s bad so full operation and no promise of it working like it used to after op. Booked in for next Tuesday to go under the knife. I am gutted. I have been of my bike now for a month. No driving for six weeks and recovery is going to take three months plus. Don’t injure your rotator cuff guys especially when your older.
And no my bike is not for sale.

 

[Tubby G]

Update on injury. So after a month it is still hurting like fook. Was up in the Lake District the last couple of days, just a chilled out couple of days with the wife,got a call from hospital to say the orthopaedic surgeon would like to see me. So went in today and he said the rotator cuff is ripped in two places and it’s bad so full operation and no promise of it working like it used to after op. Booked in for next Tuesday to go under the knife. I am gutted. I have been of my bike now for a month. No driving for six weeks and recovery is going to take three months plus. Don’t injure your rotator cuff guys especially when your older.
And no my bike is not for sale.

Gutted for you dude, but at least the recovery period is whilst heading towards the worst of winter and the cold dark nights. Roll on spring 2024 and you’ll be ready to hit those trails up in Scotland

 

[Hobo Mikey]

Yea it’s lucky I finish work officially beginning of November and then don’t start until March and in between just driving around here and there to visit friends and family. Hope fully by the time I get up to Scotland it will be a lot better but I will have to take it easy. The way we live we are so reliant on me.

 

[The Hodge]

Take it easy Mike ..the hills & trails will still be there waiting when you've fully recovered

 

[Hobo Mikey]

Got a call yesterday, Operation cancelled and re booked for the 17th October now. Bloody NHS messed al my planed winter up.

 

[cozzy]

I was speaking to someone at rotate bikepark yesterday who did that. They had pioneering surgery apparently where a bit of tendon was taken from his lower arm to repair it.
He seemed to have recovered well.

 

[Hobo Mikey]

They were talking about using a piece of skin from an animal or another human to repair depending on how bad it is and if they can not knit the tendons together again.
With my luck it would be a bit of skin from a woman who has had a boob job and I will end up with a nipple on my shoulder. 🫣

 

[Jackware]

No problem Scaramanga

 

[#lazy]

More likely from a fox they’ve scraped off the road