How much do you do to prevent accidents, and how prepared are you for one?

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May 23, 2012, 10:16:12 PM

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[ChrisG1975]

I spent a week on some of the Welsh trails last month with brother (Jason).  We had a blast apart from a few bike problems (requiring new chain ring, wheel & hub on the GT, and new seatpost on the Meta!), until the Thursday.   

Now my brother doesn't ride very often (just on little trips with me) but when he does he's quite careful and precise, and had managed the technical bits on the trails we'd done in the week just fine (probably with more finesse than me!).  He was quite careful, and didnt get carried away.  Until we near to the end of the 35km trail at Nant Y Arian... we were on the way back in, and probably not far from where the singletrack starts again... we'd come off a short section of road and were heading down a landrover track...  He was in front and I could just feel that he was going too fast... moments later...'slam'... his front wheel caught on the tufty wet grass in the middle, slipped out to his right hand side and the bike dumped him down on his left hand side.

Even as I got to him he was  saying things like "oh god"..."ooohhh...that feels wierd"...."i've broken my arm...or dislocated something...ooh...jesus...".

Cue a rather sketchy half hour or so of trying to work out whether we really were in the middle of nowhere, where exactly we were on the trail, trying to describe it to the 999 operator whilst losing reception at least twice, trying to stop the trail map disintegrated in the rain, and with Jason starting to get very cold...

Its amazing how quickly the situation can change and how suddenly unprepared you can feel for the situation you find yourself in...

Needless to say he wasnt wearing any armour, but he was wearing a helmet thank god, as he reckons he really slammed his head into the ground (helmet now has three seperate cracks in it and an area that has crumpled).  Not carrying too much kit, all I could do was put a space blanket round him and give him my waterproof for his legs (he had started to stand up but had to stop moving as soon as he tried to use his left arm so he he was kind of crouching, mid way up with both hands on the ground, and didnt want to move as the arm hurt so much).   He started getting really cold really quickly and it was difficult to know whether it was just the rain or shock...

We gave up on speaking to 999 when we lost the call the second time, I took a run back up the trail and realised that we were probably only half a mile or so from a small road over the hill and so we strapped his arm to his body with an old army first field dressing (a big wound dressing with very long straps) that I've been carrying around with me for about 8 years, left the bikes and walked.  The elbow was bleeding quite a bit but was covered up by his waterproof... At the time I didnt want to do much to it and so didnt even take a look at it or try to clean & bandage it properly - probably a mistake on my part but I think I was more concerned that we would get stuck in the middle of nowhere in the cold and dark (and probably scared of what I would find!).

As we came over the hill we saw an ambulance driving past in the distance ...and which kept on driving off into the disctance... Luckily we came across a fisherman who put us into his pickup, got Jason warm and drove us to find some mobile signal so we could arrange to meet the ambulance somewhere.

He spent a few days in Aberystwyth hospital having some emergency surgery to clean out the wound before being transferred (via a long drive in my car) to Addenbrookes in Cambridge who are more set up to do the elbow reconstruction that he needed, and because our folks are close to Cambridge.

It turned out he broke his humerus (bone in the upper arm) - the bone broke across into two and then the bottom section that forms part of the elbow also shattered into 3 or 4 pieces... This also severed the tendon at the bottom of his tricep and presumably broke the skin causing the bleeding (although it all got pulled back inside and there was no bone sticking out or anything!).  Depending on who he speaks to, he was apparently quite lucky that he didnt sever the artery in the arm (which would have been a whole lot worse on the hillside), and /or sever the nerve (which could possbly have resulted in him losing function in the arm, or possibly the arm itself).

He's now had the op to recontruct and pin the elbow and reconnect the tricep tendon. Pics of the scar are attached... the bit that goes horizontally just above the elbow is the original wound... the other bits are where they went in to do the reconstruction.  All from going a little fast down a firetrack.

Anyway... sorry for the long story but its really made me think about what can happen and how prepared I am when I go out, and how much worse it could have been if the injury had been worse, or if we'd been further away from a road or walked off in the wrong direction down the trail.   On the shorter trail centre trails perhaps its not so much of an issue as you're never that far from an escape route but on some of the more back country trails its perhaps more of an issue...  I think that I've perhaps been lulled into a false sense of security because of the speed over which we can cover ground on a bike.  Thats fine until you can't ride the bike - I'm sure if we wree going on a 35 km hike over the hills, we'd take a lot more gear 'just in case'.

Things that I'm now considering:

- A phone that works in the wet - my iPhone screen is almost useless when its soaked (it can't detect your touch) and took me a long time to be able to make a call to 999;
- A GPS - even though the iPhone has gps, its not easy to use to get a grid reference so I'm considering getting a fairly basic gps to carry just for emergencies that will at least give me a grid reference I can pass onto the ambulance guys;
- An OS map - a trail map is fine enough but if suddenly you are fairly stationary and dont know where you are, its not much help in locating yourself;
- A map case - the trail map we had was fine enough but disintegrated in the rain in a few minutes, and I just couldnt remember all those long welsh names! 
- Armour - I've got knee & shin pads but never really wear them for normal trail riding (the level we do is mostly red grade trail centre type stuff).  Because of this I've just bought a set of elbow / arm pads (Race Face FR) and I'm considering trying to get used to using both sets for normal riding;
- Helmet - We both had helmets on thankfully but I've just bought a Met Parachute in the hope that it would give a bit more protection to my face in the event of a slam dunk on the ground;
- First aid - I had a first aid kit and the wound dressing... we didnt really need to use it as we found the ambulance within the hour but if we'd been stuck there for longer, or if the injury had been bleeding worse, then we would have had to look at the arm, and bandage it properly.  I probably should have done that anyway, but I wass too concerned with getting off the trail and finding someone to help.  What it makes me want to do is some kind of emergency first aid course (which I have done in the past) to try to refresh the basics of priorities in an emergency...

So, I'm interested....

- Do you wear armour / limb protection / full face helmets even for a normal days trail riding?
- Do you carry extra gear for an emergency on a long ride - eg gps, decent first aid kit, some extra warm clothing, space blanket (not just bike spares and food!)?
- Do you have enough first aid knowledge to deal with an emergency in the middle of nowhere...?

[ginger_head_man]

that sounds really nasty and the pics are pretty horrible too, i hope ur brother recovers ok

 ive done a basic first aid course as part of my ski instructor training,
a coupla good points is that if u r riding alone then u should have a loved ones number saved in ur phonebook as ICE (In Case of Emergency) as paramedics will now look for that so they no who to call if ur found unconscious

calling 112 instead of 999 means that they have a stronger gprs signal from the phone so if ur lost u can be found more easily

hope this helps people !

[ChrisG1975]

Thanks...

As the bones are pinned theres no need for a splint, and if he had not damaged the tendon they would be getting him to start to use the arm to ensure he doesnt lose much mobility...  But, he's got a brace on at the moment to stop him moving the lower arm until the tendon has started to heal... So I think his hopes of getting full mobility back depend on how rigorous he is with the physiotherapy, and how well the bone and tendon heal...

I didnt realise that you could use 112 in this country also? And that it hooks you onto a stronger signal...

[ccc]

Some good points you raised there Chris. I'm off to Wales myself at the end of the month so some of the stuff you've said will come in handy.

Firstly, hope your brother gets well soon and there aren't any serious lasting effects.


112 works in all EU member states. Interesting point about the gprs signal, never knew that 

You can get waterproof versions of most OS maps. They cost a few quid more, but then at least you're not faffing about with having to fold a map into a bulky map case.

From what you say, you seemed pretty prepared. I suppose its easy to look back and say "I should have taken that with" or "I could have done that", but to be honest, I wouldn't have thought to pack a space blanket or a large dressing. My riding pack is mostly bike tools and spares, maps, sweets and a medium sized first aid kit (which I'm now off to restock  )

I don't normally ride with armor, but if I'm doing a trail I've never ridden before I will wear my race face fr knee/shins.

I also know what you mean about the iPhone. I hate it that I have to take my gloves off before I can use it and as you say in the rain, its useless. Thinking about leaving an old nokia charged up in my pack for emergencies.

[RAFChris]

Wow, I'm glad your Bro didn't end up with the really serious injuries that he could have, hope he recovers soon!

Personally I always ride wearing a helmet, leg and arm armour and to be honest, I usually ride with a 661 assault pressure suit on too. I carry a basic first aid kit (got it from millets... dressings, bandages, painkillers, antiseptic etc) and a phone... I don't usually ride really off the beaten track so trail maps are all i usually carry.

I'm lucky enough to have been trained in basic battlefield first aid as part of my job (everyone in the services is) which involves dealing with breaks, spinal injuries, large arterial bleeds etc, however there are courses that you can do in wilderness first aid http://www.wildernessfirstaid.co.uk/ if you'd like to up your skills.

Also, as I have a couple of medical conditions I always ride with a medical ICE data tag http://www.utagice.com/ which the paramedics can plug into their kit and will bring up all your medical details, contact details etc.

As to the 112 number, it is the European wide emergency services number and will work whether you are in the UK or mainland Europe so is always one to remember.

Once again, I hope your bro makes a full and speedy recovery!

[cramaj]

wow... who had the biggest fright you or your brother? sounds a wee bit scary.

My group of riding pals all wear full face helmets, even for trail centres. This is due to the condition of a full face helmet after one of them broke a collar bone. If he hadn't been wearing the full face then the collar bone would have been the least of his worries. We all wear shin and elbow protection, all the time, for the following reason................ three days in the Alps and wee bruv (meta6) sails through unscathed, return from Alps and go to local woods for a run out and numpty head falls and cracks his ribs. The point being it is usually when you are least expecting it that the crashes happen.

As for fireroads, this is where you build up more speed than you intended and are a little bit less wary. Always a recipe for disaster.

We never carry any medical kits, so perhaps there is leason to be learned there. As said above - you had a space blanket and large bandage - is there much more you could do?

All the best for your brother.  

[nickfry]

Wow, just goes to show!

I'm like RAFChris, and I was in the army and now in the fire service so I'm pretty up with my first aid ,but, in the heat of the moment, and it being a mate/bro it's a whole different ball game.

I did the 'Gap road' in the Brecons yesterday and I don't know if you've done it but it's pretty gnarly. I was doing it for the first time so I listened to my mate, and wore my new Met parachute and Raceface FR arm and leg armour. Normally though I just wear my lid and some shin guards.

First aid kit wise..... Not a lot, and we didn't have a signal on the mobile at all.

There but for the grace of god.....

Hope your bro makes a full and speedy recovery and isn't put of riding again!!!!

Nick

[jonboy1886]

sorry to hear bout your bro, all the best for his recovery. its something which is always at the back of my mind tbh.due to riding mainly dh trails in last year or so i tend not to carry much kit but will always wear f/face and body armour. for trail riidng i try to pack a decent bag, but other than a very basic 1st aid kit and a space blanket (old leftover from snowboarding trip tbh) not much. i tend to wear 661 knees & elbows on any ride. maps & phones should be packed in there i suppose...
to second cramaj i went to alps last year on mini without any real issues, first day back went for a run out through some dh ive ridden tons before & had a good off. without the full face i would have had some injuries. its always when you think it wont happen

[Vic-Tim.com]

Hope your bro mends up soon!

I have got into the habit of always wearing my 661 Patriot knee pads, even on XC rides and I always wear a helmet ( ever since being hit by a car when I was 16 and I dented the bonnet with my lid rather than my face ).

I do have full DH kit, but only wear it for DH duties. I still feel it is a bit overkill for 'normal' riding ( and it doesn't half hinder your technique ).

I always have my first aid kit and know how to use it....never had to use it on me or my buddies but have looked after enough people I've found on trails and on the hills to justify it being in my bag.

I've always thought if you don't know the basics of first aid you are not a good riding buddy...get your ass on a course!

Thanks for sharing the tail with us.

Tim S

[fly6154]

I wear 661 knee pads,thinking of getting Lizard skin shin pads,elbow and forearm guard and Met parachute.More is better in my opinion,Ive seen peeps on the trail at LLandegla without a helmet real real silly.Hope your bro fully recovers and gets back out there.

[ChrisG1975]

Wow, I'm glad your Bro didn't end up with the really serious injuries that he could have, hope he recovers soon!

Personally I always ride wearing a helmet, leg and arm armour and to be honest, I usually ride with a 661 assault pressure suit on too. I carry a basic first aid kit (got it from millets... dressings, bandages, painkillers, antiseptic etc) and a phone... I don't usually ride really off the beaten track so trail maps are all i usually carry.

I'm lucky enough to have been trained in basic battlefield first aid as part of my job (everyone in the services is) which involves dealing with breaks, spinal injuries, large arterial bleeds etc, however there are courses that you can do in wilderness first aid http://www.wildernessfirstaid.co.uk/ if you'd like to up your skills.

Also, as I have a couple of medical conditions I always ride with a medical ICE data tag http://www.utagice.com/ which the paramedics can plug into their kit and will bring up all your medical details, contact details etc.

As to the 112 number, it is the European wide emergency services number and will work whether you are in the UK or mainland Europe so is always one to remember.

Once again, I hope your bro makes a full and speedy recovery!

Cheers Chris...

I used to be in the army a while back so have had some battlefield first aid training too...but it is a while back and could do with some refreshing.  Those courses look quite good...  In this case things ended up fine....we weren't as far away from a road as we could have been, and the ambulance did head in the right direction and we did end up being able to meet it, and the injury wasn't as bad as it could have been... just makes you think what could have happened though...

Some good points you raised there Chris. I'm off to Wales myself at the end of the month so some of the stuff you've said will come in handy.

Firstly, hope your brother gets well soon and there aren't any serious lasting effects.


112 works in all EU member states. Interesting point about the gprs signal, never knew that  

You can get waterproof versions of most OS maps. They cost a few quid more, but then at least you're not faffing about with having to fold a map into a bulky map case.

From what you say, you seemed pretty prepared. I suppose its easy to look back and say "I should have taken that with" or "I could have done that", but to be honest, I wouldn't have thought to pack a space blanket or a large dressing. My riding pack is mostly bike tools and spares, maps, sweets and a medium sized first aid kit (which I'm now off to restock  )

I don't normally ride with armor, but if I'm doing a trail I've never ridden before I will wear my race face fr knee/shins.

I also know what you mean about the iPhone. I hate it that I have to take my gloves off before I can use it and as you say in the rain, its useless. Thinking about leaving an old nokia charged up in my pack for emergencies.

Yeah, I think that I will try to find an old phone to take out on the trails... As much as I love my iPhone, it was sooooo frustrating not even being able to get into the phone never mind dial 999!!!!!

wow... who had the biggest fright you or your brother? sounds a wee bit scary.

My group of riding pals all wear full face helmets, even for trail centres. This is due to the condition of a full face helmet after one of them broke a collar bone. If he hadn't been wearing the full face then the collar bone would have been the least of his worries. We all wear shin and elbow protection, all the time, for the following reason................ three days in the Alps and wee bruv (meta6) sails through unscathed, return from Alps and go to local woods for a run out and numpty head falls and cracks his ribs. The point being it is usually when you are least expecting it that the crashes happen.

As for fireroads, this is where you build up more speed than you intended and are a little bit less wary. Always a recipe for disaster.

We never carry any medical kits, so perhaps there is leason to be learned there. As said above - you had a space blanket and large bandage - is there much more you could do?

All the best for your brother.   

Thanks... I think I probably did have a bigger scare....although he obviously had a lot more pain!! In the hospital later as it was dawning on him that it was quite serious and would stop him doing a lot of stuff, all I could think of was how glad I was that we were in the hospital and not on the hillside!!

I think you're so right about the accidents happening when you're least expecting it...  I think I will try to wear arm and leg pads whenever I'm out from now on.... and especially in the Alps in a couple of weeks in time!!

Thanks for the good wishes everyone...

[mc]

Your bro is going to have one big battle scar!  

As for kit, I pretty much always wear my Kyle Straits knee pads.
I value my knees, and having already smashed one, know how much grief a bad knee can cause.
However, for normal rides involving uphill, it's XC lid only, unless the downhill warrants a full facer.
The full upper body armour, and full facer only get used for when I'm doing stupid stuff.

As for first aid kit, I carry nothing, other than my mobile phone.
However, I always make sure I've got at least one extra layer of clothing, so that if I do need to stop for any length of time, then I know I won't get cold.

I reguarly ride with qualified doctors, and there best advise is to carry a working mobile phone, and know where you are.
A normal first aid kit is not much use when on the trail, as what are you going to do with a few plasters and bandages?

However, the main thing is how quickly you can get help in an emergency.
It's all very well having a brilliant first aid kit, but if you're stuck in the middle of nowhere with a proper emergency, with no way to get help, then the first aid kit is not going to be much use. Being able to get professional help, and direct it to you is the main concern.

When I say proper emergency, I mean something where the only option is the emergency services to get them of the trail.
It really annoys me to see ambulances called out, because somebody's came of and injured themself, yet they're perfectly capable of walking down the trail to the ambulance. If you can walk down the trail to the ambulance, then why don't they keep walking, or get one of their mates to come and pick up them up?
Or if somewhere with a ranger, then phone the ranger to come and pick you up and take you back to your car. They don't put the ranger's phone number up on the notice boards, and give out cards with their number just for the sake of it.

[iain1775]

Mate that was very sobering post!
Hope your Bro makes a good recovery, but I also hope it doesnt put either of you off doing this or anything else in the future. Yes you may be out in the wilds and should be as prepared as you can be, but life is inherintly risky anyway so we may as well live it the best we can doing the things we enjoy the most
Thanks for sharing the story, it has definately made me reconsider my approach and preperation to going out 'for a bike ride'

[Hwulex]

That's a gnarly scar dude, healing vibes to your bro.  I know how such an incident can affect someone, my bro's always been a bit XC and some near misses have stopped him getting in to real trail riding.  However some of us are just stupid: I've come through a broken shoulder, broken knee, dislodged vertebrae, twice dislocated hand and several broken ribs so far and I'm getting more crazy by the week.

I always wear hard case knee and shin armour even when just trail riding (which I do on flats), however I'm thinking about getting some Kyle Strait pads for when back in the UK.  If the area in which I'm riding is rocky I'll often wear elbows as well.  If it's freeride or downhill I wear my Rockgardn Flack Jacket: it really doesn't bother me wearing it and the amount of times it's saved my arms, shoulders and back it's worthwhile.

That said, I've been getting a bit complacent of late and doing Whistler double-blacks in only knee/shins. 


Regarding first aid, I did my OFA1 recently (required to work as a guide in Whistler park) which covered CPR, arterial bleeding, spinal, defibrillators, dressings, splinting, etc etc so I'd be fairly qualified trailside.
In my pack I carry basic dressings, swabs, bandages, array of tablets (paracetamol, ibuprofen, codeine, diclofenac), zip ties, scissors, space blanket, sterile wipes, Mars bar etc.  If I'm going way off trail I'll take water purifying tablets as well.

I always carry my phone which has a fairly decent GPS (N95).  If I'm way back-country and there's mobile signal I can set it up to report my location every X minutes as well so in the event of something going well tits up my last known location could be given to the EMS.

The first aid kit and phone are two items which never leave my pack, and my pack is always with me when riding.  I have mates which will just leave the house with the front-door key but I won't for three main reasons: water, spare tube/pump, and first aid kit.

[ChrisG1975]

Your bro is going to have one big battle scar!  

As for kit, I pretty much always wear my Kyle Straits knee pads.
I value my knees, and having already smashed one, know how much grief a bad knee can cause.
However, for normal rides involving uphill, it's XC lid only, unless the downhill warrants a full facer.
The full upper body armour, and full facer only get used for when I'm doing stupid stuff.

As for first aid kit, I carry nothing, other than my mobile phone.
However, I always make sure I've got at least one extra layer of clothing, so that if I do need to stop for any length of time, then I know I won't get cold.

I reguarly ride with qualified doctors, and there best advise is to carry a working mobile phone, and know where you are.
A normal first aid kit is not much use when on the trail, as what are you going to do with a few plasters and bandages?

However, the main thing is how quickly you can get help in an emergency.
It's all very well having a brilliant first aid kit, but if you're stuck in the middle of nowhere with a proper emergency, with no way to get help, then the first aid kit is not going to be much use. Being able to get professional help, and direct it to you is the main concern.

When I say proper emergency, I mean something where the only option is the emergency services to get them of the trail.
It really annoys me to see ambulances called out, because somebody's came of and injured themself, yet they're perfectly capable of walking down the trail to the ambulance. If you can walk down the trail to the ambulance, then why don't they keep walking, or get one of their mates to come and pick up them up?
Or if somewhere with a ranger, then phone the ranger to come and pick you up and take you back to your car. They don't put the ranger's phone number up on the notice boards, and give out cards with their number just for the sake of it.

Its a good point about  when and when not to use an ambulance.  I've never called one before but didnt hesitate this time.  I guess we had about an hours biking left to finish the trail and we didnt really know where we were in relation to the Foresty Commission visitor centre where our car was parked... Perhaps if we knew the area and the trail we might have made a different decision but never having been there before, and not knowing anyone in the area meant it was pretty difficult to tell from the trail map how far it might be to walk... Coupled with the fact that it was raining and cold, there was quite a lot of blood as ity was an open fracture, he was in quite a lot of pain, and I was worried about him going into shock led me to call them...

It did occur to me that the fisherman that we cam across could probably have taken us to hospital (about 25 mins drive away) if we'd really had no other option, although he did more than he needed to by driving us round to find the ambulance, whilst Jason bled all over his leather seats... AND he still offered to go back with a van later that night and collect our bikes from the trail... what a nice guy!!