I had just come back from a [far] too long trip to Shanghai to visit my wife’s father, so he could also see our latest creation, Keira:
And after a horrible week of jetlag, I was itching for a ride! I called up my buddy and hit the trails last Sunday, once again determined to push the 29er to the limits.
5 minutes later, I ended up with this:
I lost control down a very rough section of the trail. The front wheel slipped out from under me, and sent me digging into the ground on my left side. I smashed my shoulder and grinded my helmet.
Once I realized I was still alive, I noticed the pain in my belly. I must have hit a pointy rock, leaving me with a finger-sized puncture full of gravel, twig bits, and dirt.
Strangely, there wasn’t any blood, but a clear, yellowish fluid with an oily consistency oozing out of me in its place. Nasty! Unfortunately my band-aids wouldn’t be of much help, and I decided I should head to the ER to get it checked out.
After some X-Rays and such, the doc determined that nothing was broken and that the puncture hadn’t hit any internal organs. He explained the ooze was the body’s response to trauma and that area of the body has more of that built up that other areas. Perfectly normal stuff!
I’m currently on some heavy Motrin for the pain and Antibiotics to fight off any possible infection. It’s healing up ok, but most of my pain is in my shoulder and surrounding ribs.
This was easily my most serious injury from biking (including a door’ing incident on my road bike a couple years ago).
Anyone interested in a 29er? 😉
Update: I sold the 29er! Scored a nice “profit” in the end: I swapped the CK Wheelset with an OEM Giant Anthem wheelset for $150 off eBay, then sold the complete bike for $150 more than I paid for it. I had also swapped back all of the OEM parts. The CK wheelset now sits on my Globe Centrum singlespeed city bike, which originally came with 26" wheels. That bike will be my next report…