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brief absence

Matthew Currie

Matthew Currie

NAXJA Member #760
Location
Vermont, land of big clay
First posting in nearly two weeks here. Had a terrible bicyclr accideny, broke collarbone, couple of vertebrae, and more important, brain. Double vision & typing speed seffer, and reading screen is labor, but all is expected to mend well in nrxt month or so. PleASE FOrgive bad typing and low post count...will resume soon, i hope. Matthew.
 
Take care and get well soon.
 
Been there-done that! I took a bad endo on a training ride at 40+mph(downhill) my Eddy Merckx and I went different ways. My helmet saved my brain(Specialized Sub 6) but my collar bone broke in 5 places with the part nearest my sternum protruding through and out of me skin. Also a broken shoulder blade and dislocated left shoulder.

I was an avid rider at the time riding at least 300 miles a week and turning in well over 3000 miles a year. I never could get my "nerve" back to ride on the road again. Around here in the mountains you are either grinding up steep mountain grades(sometimes popping the front tire off the ground on every stroke) or you are down hilling at high speed. I would easily hit 65-70mph on some of the downhills around here but not any more.

I ride my mountain bike on the local greenways now. I stay far away from cars when on two wheels and honestly even some of our "easy" MTB trails around here get a little too fast for me now.

Anyway, a couple of steel plates fixed my shoulder blade and clavicle and i'm good as new physically. My dislocated shoulder haunts me daily, its always in pain and I often "pop" it out and have to pop it back in myself. Eventually i will have to get it tightened up or replaced.

Mentally, riding will never be the same. I get flash backs on downhills and loose my nerve and it takes the fun out of the ride. I don't even own a road bike anymore.

Matthew, I got out of riding and into Jeeps after that crash in 1996 and honestly wheeling my Jeep is just as much fun and knowing I have sheet metal around me keeps the edge off my nerves.
 
yikes that really sucks. Get well soon!
 
I feel for you, been there done that. Less the vertebrae, I did just about the same, with a half dozen other assorted fractures, my jaw being the worst, next to the skull fracture.

Take care of that skull, the brain doesn't repair itself, once the cells are gone they are gone forever. The damage is accumulative. I'm a big fan of quality brain buckets now, no matter what the sport. I don't think I can afford loosing too many more brain cells.
 
I'm getting a little better, though slowly. Vision still double, still have to be careful not to use right arm much. Another couple of weeks should see the big red hematoma in my eye clearing up, and I hope with it will return my binocular vision a little. Oh well, a long and nasty recovery from a mere moment on the bike after 25 or so years with no incident at all! What a bummer.

P.s. I confess to some post-writing use of the edit button. My typing is not nearly that good!
 
Matthew Currie said:
I'm getting a little better, though slowly. Vision still double, still have to be careful not to use right arm much. Another couple of weeks should see the big red hematoma in my eye clearing up, and I hope with it will return my binocular vision a little. Oh well, a long and nasty recovery from a mere moment on the bike after 25 or so years with no incident at all! What a bummer.

P.s. I confess to some post-writing use of the edit button. My typing is not nearly that good!
Click to expand...
Glad to hear you are recovering, Shit happens man. We live and learn, just don't forget.
 
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