Injuries have always been good to me in one way or another. It seems I have a pattern, every 5 years I take a dive into something that displaces bones. Yeah yeah yeah….. I did it again, but not with a motorcycle  this time. I was out on an easy downhill Mountain Bike ride with 2 of my closest friends in Hood River. Both of these guys have a good history with risking life and limb in search of adrenaline! As we drove to the top of Post Canyon for what promised to be an epic ride, thoughts ran through my head of “What could Possibly go Wrong”- I should have known better. I did know better actually. I found a quarter on the ground while suiting up and put it in my shoe so that I had a constant reminder to “TAKE IT EASY!” It worked for a while until we found some jumps- and I’m a big sucker for air time. It didn’t really help that I was on a $10,000 all tricked out Carbon Santa Cruz Nomad, what an incredible machine! After hitting a few jumps and feeling like superman, I forgot about my “TAKE IT EASY” promise I made to myself. OOOOPSYYYYY! There was a downhill double and all I had to do was clear the landing ramp right? The bike would do the rest.  The last thing I wanted to do was land short,  so I over jumped it, landing much further down the hill into some soft dirt that caused me to slide out and SLAM into the side of the hill jamming my elbow up and dislocating my shoulder.  The impact also broke a small bone in the shoulder called the Acromion- fortunately it did not get displaced enough to require surgery! Yahoooo- there is always good news to be heard.

I’m officially 3 weeks in and progressing quickly. I’m in re-build mode already, just taking it easy and letting the bone heal. No stupid stuff for me for a while! I love the rehab and taking it one step at a time. You can feel the progress and watch the muscles get stronger. You have a focus, a motivation to come back with more strength. This is what keeps me going. I’ll be in the gym the next couple weeks charging it and getting ready to hit the water soon!