blew my left knee today.

[Ganze]

I am 41, been mtbing forever, riding at the skatepark for almost two years. I have gotten better and more confident and can clear the coping by about two feet now.

Today, I did what I tell all my old-guy friends to never do. I needed "one last run" because I was doing so well today. So I WAY over rotated, pulled out WAY to far from the wall and went 8 ft to flat. My left knee went sideways and severed all but one ligament. My right knee went into the concrete and would have shattered had I not been wearing good pads. my elbow pad saved my right elbow and my helmet took a good ding for me two. Total prognosis: broken pinky toe and a shredded left knee in need of total reconstruction. Armor saved me from two shredded knees, a broken elbow and concussion.

Lesson for me:
1. I let my discipline drop and paid for it.
2. Armor is awesome
3. I have good friends who literally carried me out and took me to the ER.
4. I have an amazing wife who is not mad and considers this the price of admission for a guy like me.
5. I have great in-laws who stepped up as usual and took care of the kids while we get it all sorted out.
6. I have a fantastic boss as well as employees who I called and are taking care of the immediate responsibilities until I get it together and come up with a plan
7. I am happy to have ridden as hard as I have for as long as I have and have gotten all the good of it without a serious injury until now.


my biking brothers and sisters,
please wear armor, love the people in your life and have more discipline that I did today.

Lesson:

[Lunchbox362]

Ouch, rough doesn't even begin to describe that. Good luck on your recovery, it's awesome you're surrounded by good people who'll take care of you.

Take it easy man

[JulianPeeters]

Sympathies, Brother!! Thanks for sharing your hard-earned experience. As said above, it's obvious that you guys are great people.

[djmisio85]

Glad that everyone has been nice and kind helping you out

I had surgery on my left knee (not bike related), but am now using my bike as a means of rehab to get the muscle back. If anything, that would be my one piece of advice. After your surgery (which hopefully goes well), don't slack on the rehab, because the muscle disappears like there's no tomorrow!

Good luck with the recovery!

[ride the biscuit]

thats why before every last run i proclaim "Ok, I'm gonna do my last run now. I hope I don't blow my knee out!"
seriously, it makes you conscious and it would just be way too ridiculous if you actually did after saying that...

but I hope the surgery went well and you can get back at it soon. I had bad knee injuries/surgeries and a compound tib/fib break about 10 years ago and i know the trend is to try and get patients rehabbing a lot faster after surgery these days...

[JulianPeeters]

yeah, how's it comin'?