Let me preface the following by saying that I've crashed - a lot - over the last fifteen years, and have always bounced back. Broken bones, separated this, dislocated that...
Recently (seven weeks) however, I overshot a jump, basically landed on the the take-off of the subsequent one, and literally got catapulted over the bars. After a relatively pleasant bike-less flight, my "landing" left a little to be desired: I plowed face-first into the high-side of the trail. I folded the chin bar of the helmet I was wearing (Urge Archi Enduro...full story here: Crash Report on Urge Archi Enduro Helmet), which allowed a cut off piece of brush or free-floating stick to jump the collapsed chin bar and do this:
External damage was severe, but internal was worse. The stick/whatever removed a piece of my upper lip, dove down into my mouth just in front of the lower front teeth, tore the oral tissue away from the jaw bone, popped out of my mouth and, as it tore me a Joker smile, the force was so great that the remainder of the tissue was torn away from my jaw bone, all the way to the jaw hinge.
The good: I was wearing a Leatt and full armor; other than the facial trauma I walked away unscathed.
The bad: $13K in emergency plastic surgery and three weeks on a liquid diet. My confidence is SHOT.
Like I said, I've crashed a lot in the past, but this injury was different. It really rattled me. There's something very...personal about getting your face shredded.
I'm having a bugger of a time getting aggressive over the front end again. As such, it's affected not only my high-speed corners but also my jumping. I was told in no uncertain language to wear a "real" full face at ALL times (trail riding included) for at least a year, which I am, so I'm pretty certain what happened with the Archi Enduro won't happen again. I know that on a cognitive level, but when instinct takes over, I'm backing off the front end reflexively.
Any DH armchair sports psychologists with a similar experience have advice, in addition to the usual "get back on the horse..." and/or "just give it time, it'll be OK..."?
Cheers!
Recently (seven weeks) however, I overshot a jump, basically landed on the the take-off of the subsequent one, and literally got catapulted over the bars. After a relatively pleasant bike-less flight, my "landing" left a little to be desired: I plowed face-first into the high-side of the trail. I folded the chin bar of the helmet I was wearing (Urge Archi Enduro...full story here: Crash Report on Urge Archi Enduro Helmet), which allowed a cut off piece of brush or free-floating stick to jump the collapsed chin bar and do this:
External damage was severe, but internal was worse. The stick/whatever removed a piece of my upper lip, dove down into my mouth just in front of the lower front teeth, tore the oral tissue away from the jaw bone, popped out of my mouth and, as it tore me a Joker smile, the force was so great that the remainder of the tissue was torn away from my jaw bone, all the way to the jaw hinge.
The good: I was wearing a Leatt and full armor; other than the facial trauma I walked away unscathed.
The bad: $13K in emergency plastic surgery and three weeks on a liquid diet. My confidence is SHOT.
Like I said, I've crashed a lot in the past, but this injury was different. It really rattled me. There's something very...personal about getting your face shredded.
I'm having a bugger of a time getting aggressive over the front end again. As such, it's affected not only my high-speed corners but also my jumping. I was told in no uncertain language to wear a "real" full face at ALL times (trail riding included) for at least a year, which I am, so I'm pretty certain what happened with the Archi Enduro won't happen again. I know that on a cognitive level, but when instinct takes over, I'm backing off the front end reflexively.
Any DH armchair sports psychologists with a similar experience have advice, in addition to the usual "get back on the horse..." and/or "just give it time, it'll be OK..."?
Cheers!
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