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'Dancing with pines' or 'A second chance'

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RollingJ

RollingJ

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Location
Lake Charles, La
First Name
Joel
Last Name
Sims
Last month I was riding the whoops in the Sam Houston National Forest and I squared up with a pine tree at 20.8 mph. The pine tree refused to move and I ended up heavily concussed on the side of the trail. My riding buddies for the day took good care of me, waiting for over an hour at the crash site and getting both me and my bike back to the truck and loaded up. I somehow got my snap together enough to convince the guys and myself that I could drive home. I got in the truck and pulled out of the trailhead, and when my podcast came on the stereo I decided to pause it so I could concentrate on the drive. Then...

I was standing in my kitchen. I have no memory of the crash or the 3 hour drive home, just the moments as I was getting in the truck and leaving.

Needless to say, this completely terrified my wife and daughter, as well as myself. I was unable to retain short term memories and was acting 6 levels of stupid, but I was acutely aware of how close I had come to not being around at all. After a few hours at the ER, a couple x-rays and a CAT scan later I was informed that I did not have a brain bleed and that I had a broken and displaced left thumb.

I agreed with my wife right away that I couldn't let this happen again and decided to quit riding. This seemed so easy and right, and there was not a second thought to the contrary. I work for great people, and they told me to stay home and get my stuff together. I posted a bike, trailer, and some gear for sale and we went out an bought a travel trailer to spend time outdoors together. I was slowly coming out of a deep fog, but my brain started to recover and after about 10 days I felt like I was almost back. I had pins placed in my hand and went back to work, and even though I was pretty limited as to what I could do, I was contributing. The wife and I rigged out the trailer and took it on it's maiden voyage, and we had a great time at the beach with the daughter, one of her friends, and a couple dogs.

I had sold some of the gear in the first few days, and last Saturday the KLX250s and the enclosed trailer departed. None of those I regret in the slightest, but as I was watching the KLX drive away in the back of a stranger's truck it sank in that the next thing to do would be to sell the KTM, either fixed or parted out. I knew this was coming, but it really hit home that I would no longer be doing something that is such a huge part of my identity and enjoyment. For the first time in the month since the accident I didn't know how I was going to go on without riding and wrenching.

I had a little bit of a breakdown.

After discussing it with my wife, I decided that I'm going to keep riding, abet with a different focus. I'm going to stay off the roads and faster trails, keeping the speeds down and just enjoying the process of rolling down the trails. Technical stuff is great, but no more DS rides, at least for the near future. If I get my head broken off again I'm going to hang it up for good.

The wife and I are going to do a lot more traveling and spending time together. I look forward to exploring with her and feel blessed to have the opportunity to hold her hand and move on with our lives, and this challenge has given me a second chance in more ways than one.

When I get proper use of my hand I'll be posting some day rides in Louisiana, and I hope that some of my friends can join me.
 
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Joel, ya made my day when you called. Take your time and heal up. As always looking forward to the next ride.
 
RollingJ said:
Last month I was riding the whoops in the Sam Houston National Forest and I squared up with a pine tree at 20.8 mph. The pine tree refused to move and I ended up heavily concussed on the side of the trail. My riding buddies for the day took good care of me, waiting for over an hour at the crash site and getting both me and my bike back to the truck and loaded up. I somehow got my snap together enough to convince the guys and myself that I could drive home. I got in the truck and pulled out of the trailhead, and when my podcast came on the stereo I decided to pause it so I could concentrate on the drive. Then...

I was standing in my kitchen. I have no memory of the crash or the 3 hour drive home, just the moments as I was getting in the truck and leaving.

Needless to say, this completely terrified my wife and daughter, as well as myself. I was unable to retain short term memories and was acting 6 levels of stupid, but I was acutely aware of how close I had come to not being around at all. After a few hours at the ER, a couple x-rays and a CAT scan later I was informed that I did not have a brain bleed and that I had a broken and displaced left thumb.

I agreed with my wife right away that I couldn't let this happen again and decided to quit riding. This seemed so easy and right, and there was not a second thought to the contrary. I work for great people, and they told me to stay home and get my stuff together. I posted a bike, trailer, and some gear for sale and we went out an bought a travel trailer to spend time outdoors together. I was slowly coming out of a deep fog, but my brain started to recover and after about 10 days I felt like I was almost back. I had pins placed in my hand and went back to work, and even though I was pretty limited as to what I could do, I was contributing. The wife and I rigged out the trailer and took it on it's maiden voyage, and we had a great time at the beach with the daughter, one of her friends, and a couple dogs.

I had sold some of the gear in the first few days, and last Saturday the KLX250s and the enclosed trailer departed. None of those I regret in the slightest, but as I was watching the KLX drive away in the back of a stranger's truck it sank in that the next thing to do would be to sell the KTM, either fixed or parted out. I knew this was coming, but it really hit home that I would no longer be doing something that is such a huge part of my identity and enjoyment. For the first time in the month since the accident I didn't know how I was going to go on without riding and wrenching.

I had a little bit of a breakdown.

After discussing it with my wife, I decided that I'm going to keep riding, abet with a different focus. I'm going to stay off the roads and faster trails, keeping the speeds down and just enjoying the process of rolling down the trails. Technical stuff is great, but no more DS rides, at least for the near future. If I get my head broken off again I'm going to hang it up for good.

The wife and I are going to do a lot more traveling and spending time together. I look forward to exploring with her and feel blessed to have the opportunity to hold her hand and move on with our lives, and this challenge has given me a second chance in more ways than one.

When I get proper use of my hand I'll be posting some day rides in Louisiana, and I hope that some of my friends can join me.
Click to expand...
To the 'Rolling' moniker - which has to stand for 'rolling with the punches,' 'rolling with the times,' 'rolling on the ground(?),'etc. you need to add RESILIENT!

Sorry that you lost the arbor argument but pleased you have such a great attitude and a lovely wife to get you through the recovery!

Be well, be safe.
 
So you crashed on the KTM. It'll be fun and not very expensive to repair. Your year bike is fantastic.
I don't mind concussions too much ( I know it sounds like I have one now right ?) Had a couple and you think you are fine. It took 3 months once to look back and see it affected me thru a long time but I still functioned well enough.
It's the fractures and torn ligaments that need surgery that really depress me. It let's your family and coworkers down. It also costs a lot of money.
I've had 3 knee repairs that have taken me out for 3 months of work and 9 months of riding each time.
I've certainly wanted to have another hobby many times. I think I'm just about too old to have physical hobbies anymore (55 y/o) I gave up volleyball due to injuries. Gave up rock climbing due to danger and age limitations. I'm not going to go play golf or pick up chess.
Like you I have an RV to travel with. I'll hike and mountain bike with my wife and friends. Dirt biking is my get away from all. Road biking doesn't do much for me anymore. If I lived in a place with curbs that might change but I don't get much out of it here in Central Texas.
Dirt biking let's me spend time doing exercise, and cover ground quickly. Not to mention spend time with individuals that are like minded. I think I need that break mentally and physically.
I don't ride with certain groups anymore since they are more "hard-core ". I usually ride at 50% of my abilities and keep speeds down. I won't try trails or obstacles that have a chance of injury to me or my bike.
This long rant is to say we are getting older and it's harder to recuperate. We are older and have more obligations. We are older and don't have time to waste injured. But we still need to live and enjoy. So let's use our little broken brains to make good decisions and be proud of what we can do.
If I mess up my knee one more time I'm quiting and buying an ultralight plane šŸ¤£šŸ¤£.
Thanks for the opportunity to rant . I think it put some things in perspective and I used your accident to my benefit.
 
SPOT ON Vinny! Got nothing to prove anymore except that we're not ready to stop living. I've never forgotten that when I first started riding 50+ years ago it was the exploring that lit the fire in me to ride. Thats what got me into dualsporting when I stopped riding the forest.
 
Glad to hear you're still riding. I can't fathom giving it up entirely, but I understand the need to make some changes. I still struggle with that some myself. I have the family lead for disease and it translates to my wrist too. I'm getting better about reigning that in. I sometimes think about switching over to a slower bike, but I utilize the freeway ability of my big beast too much to do that. Good luck hitting that reset switch on your riding. It's hard!
 
You can go read up if you want about my response to my wreck. On a slightly different note, just to let you know about a similar story, I had a bicycle wreck some 13 years ago with a severe head injury and a crush injury to my lower back/spine. For a few months I had no meaningful short-term memory. I could remember things that happened a couple of weeks prior, but not just an hour or two ago. That cleared up after a couple of months. I also had a dramatically altered sense of taste, couldn't taste "sour" at all. That was very weird. Lasted a couple of months. And my balance was amazingly jacked up for a good while. I couldn't look up without falling down. It was a wacky time. But the good news: everything except the nerve damage in my back and hip went away entirely.

Now, about my motorcycle wreck, TLDR version is that I determined that I had already calculated the risks and chosen to take them while of sound mind so an emotional reaction didn't make any sense either way. Fear is not a thing that drives me typically. Math and statistics drive me. I knew there was a chance of a wreck, but I chose to do it anyway. That said, I would encourage you to take serious stock of the risk/reward and what you can do with your behavior to improve your ratio. For me, it was to train myself to create what I call "epic" following distance on the road. So, why did you crash? Can you train new behavior to reduce this chance, short of quitting entirely?

One thing I will say is that I was an avid cyclist and mountain biker for the better part of 30 years and finally gave up road cycling a year or two after my serious wreck because the rewards were not enough to offset the risks. Cars got bigger, people started using smartphones, and suddenly riding a bicycle on the roads around Austin was too unsafe for anyone with a three-digit IQ. The road bike has been hanging up in the garage now for most of a decade. Moutain biking, I am considering restarting after taking a break from when I had to have a foot surgery just before my motorcycle wreck when I broke the same foot. I'm healthy enough to ride again, but not sure it's worth the risk since I've already adapted to a lifestyle not mountain biking. While I rarely had any injury as serious as even a broken bone, I did have frequent small injuries. Now that I'm nearly 50, it takes forever to heal, and I'm not sure I get enough out of mountain biking to make it a good tradeoff.

Anyway, good luck and I wish you a good recovery. Nothing wrong with changing your hobbies to one that allows you more time with your wife. That's definitely the right choice and I applaud you for doing that.
 
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Joel, I only ride off road any more all street bikes are gone, i ride my trials bike and my enduro bike but only as comfortable as I feel on both pace and obstacles

Some days that has me riding at the tail of the group some days it has guys trying to keep up. At 60 I know I will break more often than bend so I ride to my comfort level and no higher. Just spent a couple of days riding with a great group of guys in Oklahoma we all ride together quite often down out our local riding area so there are no egos just a group of older guys enjoying life and dirt bikes

Vinny you are always welcome to come down to Zars any Saturday the group is riding and join in or just come down and explore on your own. Joel, that goes for you as well when you get yourself back

I have other hobbies, currently restoring a truck with my wife as having fun with cars is our together fun
 
Hang in there Rolling J. you will get better, and can decide what to do about it all. No need to rush, or decide anything too quickly when your head is not thinking clearly; just heal in God's care.

When my father died, I had a few get offs in about 9 months 24 years ago. The doc said I had multiple concussions and it might be a wise time to quit riding. I thought about that, and simply moderated my style from sport rider to sport tourer then to adventure tourer, with strong emphasis on the touring part. I never crashed again, and yes, I stopped riding with the AMA guys. I've been going progressively slower ever since as the years rolled by, and I still top my bikes out on very rare occasions but its a far cry from doing it every weekend like I did years ago. I'm no longer doing 800 mile days either. These changes have kept me alive and kept me riding, with zero more crashes. Guess what, I have just as much fun, perhaps even more now that I never get speeding tickets anymore. I was on the 3 per year plan for 20 years. I'd get angry when I would waste one by being in a car instead of a bike.
Now I'm trying more comfy/less vibratory bikes, even a Honda DCT to avoid arthritis pain in the hands, neck an general body aches. We just keep adapting how and what we ride to stay on two wheels. Lord willing I'll be on a little 250 before I give up completely. But I can also see my interests changing, and bikes are less a part of me. The point is that we can slow down, change our riding style and bike and still have great fun and not lose our beloved sport till we run out of new ways to safely adapt, or simply decide its not for me anymore.
 
A couple local guys that are as close to friends as I have (outside of twt) had just picked up klx300s and I really enjoyed setting the bikes up and taking them out to the trails. They are so new and green, as well as 20 years my junior, that it got me excited to help them learn and experience this sport. They are slow as heck, so I'll probably be safe riding with them for a while.

Of course, they haven't developed their spidey sense yet... one of them t-boned a car that pulled out of a parking lot the day after I had my accident... he called me to pick his bike up and get him home.

That didn't help my cause with the wife and daughter one bit.
 
Ive bought a couple of the earlier 300klx's. Both 1000 bikes mildly breathed on and set up. The one for my friend still runs strong in colorado 1o years later. I liked the one i found here but i got offered a high price so sold it 3 weeks later. Ive owned big bore single race bikes and the little 399s were still quite exciting once spun up. They can really be tuned. And, friends teach friends how not to hit cars :-)
 
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Zars is in my near future according to Mark ( he just signed up as a member)
Thanks
 
Vinny said:
Zars is in my near future according to Mark ( he just signed up as a member)
Thanks
Click to expand...
Good to hear, he may be one of the new guys we showed around the other day. Its really become my go to riding place, its close to me 45 minutes, great trails and
a great community of riders that go regularly and enough trails that you can always find something new to explore
 
Glad to see that you're back in the saddle. I have almost quit riding a few times myself, but as we all know, something almost always brings you back. I have decided to slow my pace down as well, sure, it's fun to run a lap quicker than the last, to try and stay on the rear tire of someone faster than you and to push yourself to ride cleaner and faster, but I am no longer in my 20's and I have nothing to prove to anyone. I ride simply because I love to be on two wheels and twisting a throttle. I don't mind meeting up with others to ride but I don't want to ever feel like I am not riding "my ride" and pushing it beyond my comfort level while trying to keep up with the group. Amongst some of my riding buddies I am the fastest (mostly in the wide open and on dual sport rides), but on single track I slow down and try to ride clean and safe and in the forest that means I'll likely be slower through the whoops than some of the regulars here. I don't need any down time due to injury so I don't see the need to increase the risk of that possibility for the sake of saving face with others or my ego.

Like most others I too have many other hobbies and I feel riding motorcycles is slowly slipping to the back of the line but for now I intend to keep at it while riding at my pace and enjoying my time on the trail. I need to make it over to LA and try the forest trails one day, I really need to make that happen.
 
That's great news.
 
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