It all happened so quickly, one minute, my brother and I am enjoying a nice ride on some gravel/dirt mountain roads in NC, then.... well let me start from the beginning. Friday morning rode my Harley to the Husky dealer in Miami in a driving rain storm, my good buddy driving my truck behind me. Couple hours later after saying good by to my trusty (but boring) Harley, I load up a brand spanking new Husky TE250, completely uncorked and ready to tear up the dirt with haste. The next 12 hours were spent driving to Blue Ridge Motorcycle camp ground in NC to meet my brother. Spent a great day Saturday exploring the numerous fire roads on Saturday, spent at least 10 hours in the saddle.... great time. Sunday the temp started at around 50 and dropped all day with a steady rain... we would not be denied.... we were riding. Rode several hours trying and failing to stay warm, but no matter, we were riding - to hell with the weather. One section was particularly enjoyable... multiple switchbacks, steep climbs and drops and this lovely wooden bridge over a beautiful river.... Crossed 99.9% of the bridge admiring my clear mastery of the new bike and the nasty trail conditions. Feeling evermore confident, I imagined a power slide exit from the bridge onto the immediate right hand turn. Well, suddenly, I found out that I'm not nearly as talented as I thought. A little throttle on wet wood and guess what??? the back tire loses traction immediately and decides the tail of the bike should lead for a while. After realizing what just happened as I'm laying in 3 inches of icy, muddy water, the pain begins. Thought I had a pretty bad groin pull, limped back to the camp ground and loaded up the bike. Back to Florida to get on with real life. Turns out, not a groin pull at all, but a torn labrum in my hip (no it's not dirty). I'm now six weeks post op and just getting back on a street bike. Not quite ready for the dirt, but at least I'm riding again. My big take away from all this is that Bon Jovi was right... slippery when wet. Can't wait to get back up to NC and do it all over again. Cheers!
I can relate, having worn mine out over years of military PT. As I understand it, the labrum is the "retaining ring" that keeps the ball in the socket, no? Did it detach itself in the envisioned drift attempt ("envisioned drift & resultant crash" being another event to which I can relate!)? Six weeks seems like a loong time for recoup.....
You are correct sir, thankfully it did not detach, so the Doctor only had to deburr the damaged area. Total recovery time is estimated at 6 months (to be 100%) I must tell you, the envisioned drift was spectacular.
The tone you are displaying about this whole situation is epic. Take note ladies and gentleman. Glad to hear your going to heal up great
Oh yea, wet wood is fun. Wait until you try it with algae growing on it. I've got an old wood bridge on the back of my place that in the summer is all but impossible to even walk across because of the wet algae. Some day I should do something about that. Same with it growing on rocks btw. It's one of the reasons I'm cautious about water crossings.
Thanks! Actually, it was one of the best weekends of my life. I got to spend time riding an awesome bike with my brother, drink some beer, sip some really top shelf rum, eat some good food and get a nice battle scar to remember the whole thing. Doesn't really get much better...
Glad your on the mend. I don't care what they say - falling hurts. Just curious - do your pants have hip armour? Anyway, your slide isn't exactly a noob thing - check out this Dakar video. http://youtu.be/Z7MghWIlUhs
Yep, hip armour. The damage was done when my 46 year old leg was forced into a split (imagine the olympics, only worse.) Shivers....
Just watched the video... nail on the head. The very first guy is probably the best picture of my face plant. Thanks for posting this video.
Good attitude from the OP. Way to go! Intersting video, only one high sider, and it looks much more painful. Haven't seen that many expert dirt riders go down in the same place before. Didn't look like anything they weren't used to though.
