Good morning children. As you may or may not have known, this past weekend was STAR school at Mid-America Motorplex. I was very excited about the weekend since it was at a track I know pretty well and now that I've been racing a little I had some specific areas I was hoping to improve. Unfortunately on Saturday I found my limit on corner entry speed into turn 7. I went into the turn a little faster than normal (probably 65-70 mph) but I didn't think it was too fast. In fact, I never thought that I wouldn't make the turn until, well, I didn't make it. I threw the bike into the corner and soon after the front wheel just tucked under. The bike slid across the track and into the grass, and Kris came tumbling after. I did a nice barrell-roll that seemed to last forever. When I finally got stopped, I had to spit out a little dirt which had made its way inside my helmet. I could feel a cut on my cheekbone directly below my left eye and felt that my right shoulder wasn't quite right, but I immediately got to my feet and walked away from the corner. A couple of instuctors stopped and I hitched a ride back to the pits with one of them while the other rode the RC back. The EMT's didn't think my collarbone was broken which was my first thought since that's a common injury. They gave me an ice pack for my eye and told me that they could take me to the hospital to get checked out if I thought I needed to. I really didn't want to ruin everyone else's day since they would have to stay off the track while the ambulance was gone, so I went back to the pits to sit a while and see if anything improved. It was apparent that I was going to have a nice black eye, but my shoulder really worried me. I was hoping that I just pulled some muscles. After half an hour or so, I decided it would be best to find out what was wrong, so I called my parents to come pick me up and take me to the emergency room. They took a few X-rays. The technician asked me "How did you land again? Did you land on your back?" I asked her, "scapula?". "Yep." I had fractured my shoulder blade. Apparently, this is a very difficult bone to break. It's only the second one they'd ever seen at that emergency room; the other guy had fallen off a 40-foot ladder. Right now I'm really bummed because I was supposed to race July 5-6 at MAM and was really looking forward to that weekend. I also missed out on the opportunity to improve my riding at STAR school. I'm thankful that I can at least walk this time (this is much better than a broken heel!) and I'm not in much pain unless I try to raise my arm. It'll heal and I'll be back.
I'll be at the MAM races in a couple weeks to cheer you guys on. Be sure to come up and poke fun at me. 8)
-Kris
Terribly sorry to hear that Kris. How long will you be out? Feel better. ;)
What a pain! (literally) :'( :'(
Sorry to hear about your get off. I hope that you heal up soon.
I look forward to seeing you at MAM (God willing)
Dawn :)
Hoping for a speedy recovery man! :)
Paul Mason broke his scapula 3 times within 10 months! :o :o :o First in a street accident, second and third at Gatweway. I wonder if this is why he's not racing this year?
I go see the ortho doctor this afternoon. I'm guessing he'll say 6-8 weeks. I'm not in pain as long as I don't try to lift my arm.
QuoteI go see the ortho doctor this afternoon. I'm guessing he'll say 6-8 weeks. I'm not in pain as long as I don't try to lift my arm.
You should stop lifting your arm then... ;D
BTW, I saw on fireblades.org where you said your upper was destroyed. I take it you can't try to do any repairs to it at all? I plan on using the fairing repair thread on here later today to see if I can stitch up my tail section. I will let you know how it turns out if you think there are any possiblities of repairing your upper.
Re: the upper
Parts of it are gone. I'll have to look at it again but I don't think there is enough material in the right places to fix it. I'll watch for your results though and thanks for the thought. ;)
Geez, Kris... keep your arms down and get better soon!!!!!
Thanks Kim. :)
I'm going to St. Louis this weekend to hang out and try the sympathy card with the girlies at the bars. Think it'll work? ;D
QuoteI'm going to St. Louis this weekend to hang out and try the sympathy card with the girlies at the bars. Think it'll work? ;D
Sure....
... until the girl's 6'5" boyfriend turns you around by the shoulder asking why you are hitting on his girlfriend.
Dawn ;) ;D
Sorry to hear about your shoulder. If I could pick which bone I broke, I think my shoulder would be in the top 10. Head, neck and back being the last ;D
If you feel like putting the time in you can probably fix your upper, even with peices missing. Check out the fiberglass thread, I'm sure I can guide you if you need it.
If you're going to use the broken arm to pick up girls be sure to mention that you were avoiding a squirrel or something fuzzy on the track ::)
QuoteIf you're going to use the broken arm to pick up girls be sure to mention that you were avoiding a squirrel or something fuzzy on the track ::)
Good strategy! ;D
Actually I won't need the sling anymore. They took more x-rays yesterday and there are several cracks but they aren't too close to the joint. The doc wants me to start moving my arm and getting the mobility back. Good news! ;D
Yaaaay!!!
QuoteGood strategy! ;D
Actually I won't need the sling anymore. They took more x-rays yesterday and there are several cracks but they aren't too close to the joint. The doc wants me to start moving my arm and getting the mobility back. Good news! ;D
That means you won't need to pick up the girls after all ;D.
Yeah, the shoulder blade thing sucks. I crashed coming off of the back straight at Homestead. (At least that is what they tell me because I do not remember a damn thing about the race). I got a concusion, dislocated shoulder, broken scapula, bruised ribs, bruised lung, etc. But the shoulder thing hurt the most for the longest. It still aches from time to time. When I was at the emergency room they did a bunch of heart tests because the doc said impacts that are strong enough to break the scapula often tear something loose around the heart :(
I looked in horror at the orthopod that told me I had to lose the arm sling, it was the only thing that kept my shoulder from really hurting.
Good luck on the rehab.