Broken bones...

For me 2009 wasn’t one of those years that you look back on and think, "wow I wish I could do it all over again." In March I had the biggest crash to date at our regional event on the world cup track. I ended up plowing into the floor head first at about 40kmh over a big gap jump. It left me with a concussion, broken humorous, cracked shoulder blade, and compressed vertebrae in my spine. After a long wait on the mountain I finally got into an ambulance and headed to medi-clinic. After being wrestled off the X-ray bed by only one employee I was taken into theatre where they operated on my arm putting A stainless steel plate with six screws holding the two bones together. I have never been so uncomfortable in my life, for the next few weeks I was walking hunched over and every muscle in my body was in pain. Sneezing was something I tried to avoid for obvious reasons.

Then in December I found myself heading to medi-clinic again after a crash on our pump track in Howick left me with a broken index finger at the joint. Two pins were inserted just above the knuckle which poked out the bandages like a TV antenna. So that was another forced break from cycling for me. I went back to the doc on the 21st January where he used the "grip and rip" technique to get the pins out. Another momento to go with the plate from my arm. I'm looking forward to getting back on the bike end of this month just in time for our second regional event. In our sport It’s so important to be on medical aid, breaking a bone is expensive nowadays.

Ride safe,
TB