Ride Report: Rocky Mountain High and a broken clavicle.

Rocky Mountain "High": 

MTB Apex / Enchanted Trail outside of Golden, Co with L.  Was very technical, very fast, rocky downhills.  We were having a perfect day until L wrecked on a technical drop on the Enchanted trail and snapped her collarbone in two.    After quickly evaluating her injuries and ruling out concussion and shock, I knew for sure she had a severely fractured clavicle.  (once u see the xray, you'll know how I knew immediately)  Realizing we still had at least an hour's hike out to the trailhead,  I rigged a field sling from a spare tube to immobilize her arm for the walk.  I asked her how bad her pain was, and she said about a 6.5 on a 10 scale. Knowing the pain would increase substantially once the adrenaline wore off, I knew we needed to expedite the operation, so I carried the bikes and tried to keep her mind busy by telling her ridiculous stories from my checkered past.  We made it out and were back in the truck in an hour. 

ER was packed full of sniffilling, broken, and sick people. It was, of course, Memorial Day and business was good.  By this time the pain is hovering around a 8.5 to 9.0.  Adrenaline depleted.  After 'strongly expressing my discontent' with the duration of the wait, we were finally seen, and L got what she desperately needed: a big-, honkin Vicodin pill and 800 mgs of Ibu.  Aww yeah.  Funny how the smile came back to her face about 7 minutes later....   Time for the radiation.  The xray techs were duly impressed with the pics -- as, by now, most of us are.  No setting necessary, but the doc did recommended an ortho visit. Apparently this one may require a plate and some screws.. 'just in case the bone doesn't set itself'.  Um, 'scuse me, have you LOOKED at the xray??   By this time, L. is as high as a kite and kept poking the end of the bone that was almost protruding from her skin. "wow, this is cool..cmon, touch it Blue!"  yeaahh..um, thanks, I'll pass.  Is this what they mean by a Rocky Mountain High? No more Vickie for this one, doc.

So, after leaving the ER with a bag full of Vicodin and a proper sling, we celebrated her entry into the MTB Gnarlyhood Hall of Fame by doing what any self-respecting extreme athlete would do:  We stopped at Chipotle and both inhaled a baby-sized burrito and a whole bag of chips and guac.  Foil Shizzle.

I must make the following observation:

Given the fact that L suffered one of the more painful bone breaks in adverse terrain, she never ONCE complained, whined, or even stopped smiling throughout the day.  Her positive attitude, strength of character, and intestinal fortitude was tremendous.  Big respect points from someone who has seen grown men whimper at much less. The  Dizzle may have a broken collar bizzle, but will soon be back on the hizzle and as good as nizzle.

Blue (CLS)