Man down
Thursday, January 3rd, 2008My mountain biking buddy Dave crashed over the weekend while mountain biking in Texas. He was riding down a hill with some root dropoffs and lost control at the bottom of the hill, flying headfirst into a tree. He was paralyzed for about 20 minutes and gradually regained feeling in his arms and legs. The guy he was riding with helped him walk out.
I saw Dave at work yesterday and he looked pretty bad. No visible bruises, but he had some swelling in his neck, and his hands were doing some kind of strange involuntary grasping thing. He finally went to PromptCare, where they thought he might have a broken neck. They referred him to the hospital, where they determined that his neck isn’t broken, but he injured his spinal cord and got a concussion. He’ll have to have some rehabilitation, the extent of which is unknown at this time. His new bike also suffered some damage to the fork, we’re not sure yet how much damage.
Dave was largely responsible for getting me back into cycling after several years away from it. He went mountain biking with me at Brown County State Park and showed me the ropes. I was hooked, and Dave was always patient as I attempted to get in shape, riding slowly and making frequent stops as needed. He’s a great guy and a great rider.
Here’s hoping Dave heals quickly and can be out riding and hiking again soon.
January 3rd, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Man, that sucks. Hearts and prayers, Dave.
January 3rd, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Shit neck swelling! Wow, hope Dave is doing better soon.
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:40 pm
I hope he recovers quickly - that sounds like quite a wreck. In the grand scheme of things, the damaged fork is the least of the things he needs to worry about.
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Please forward my wishes of a speedy recovery to Dave.
January 3rd, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Ditto on the good wishes. Stuff like that is wicked scary.
January 4th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
All,
Thanks for the good wishes. More feeling coming back in arms, hands, and fingers all the time. MRI next week will determine surgery - let’s all hope for the swelling in the spinal cord to decease.
Your well wishes mean a ton -
Dave
January 4th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Oh yea - gotta mention this:
Rave = Giro Xen Helmets
Dave
January 8th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Hi everyone this is Dave’s younger brother Joel. First off I want to say thanks for everyone’s support for my brother. Dave has a rough road ahead and hopefully the extent of his damage is minimal. I know his lust for life will help see him through this as well as the support of his friends and loved ones.
January 8th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Dave needs is a nice stationary bike for his next adventure, too many injuries from biking and motocross racing. Time to resume hiking with Bella and Rory
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:23 am
[…] hiking with my friend Dave. We brought our dog Rob and Dave brought his two dogs. I wrote about Dave’s mountain biking accident before, and it’s past time for an update. Dave suffered a spinal cord injury and for a while thought […]
March 27th, 2008 at 10:30 am
[…] on January 3rd (wow, it’s hard to believe it was that long ago), I wrote about my friend Dave’s mountain biking accident. Since then he’s been making a gradual recovery. He fortunately didn’t have to have […]