{"id":1403,"date":"2009-03-27T23:57:53","date_gmt":"2009-03-28T04:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nuxx.net\/blog\/?p=1403"},"modified":"2009-03-28T00:11:52","modified_gmt":"2009-03-28T05:11:52","slug":"this-is-why-we-wear-helmets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/blog\/2009\/03\/27\/this-is-why-we-wear-helmets\/","title":{"rendered":"This Is Why We Wear Helmets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><center><\/p>\n<table cellpadding=1>\n<tr>\n<td bgcolor=\"black\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/gallery\/v\/random_stuff\/stitches_27mar2009\/P3270455.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/gallery\/d\/82073-2\/P3270455.jpg\" height=480 width=640 border=0 alt=\"More of Dr. Maristela stitching up my face.\"><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>With the nice weather today and a report that most of the Stony Creek mountain bike trails were ridable, I decided to head out there with my new-to-me single speed and give it a go. While exhausing, things went great all the way <a href=\"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/gallery\/v\/moblog\/20090327184841.jpg.html\">to the top of Mt. Sheldon, where this photo was taken<\/a>. After that I started to head down The Roller Coaster, where things were equally fun, until I started into the back half of this trail.<\/p>\n<p>Immediately after descending a rather root-y area and crossing some two-track path (marker #24), there were a couple of decaying logs which I had to ride over. (This crossing \/ section can be seen in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=APxIu4Ns5C8\">this video, right after 1:45.<\/a>) As I went to ride over them, my front wheel sort of sank into the log, my bike stopped, and I went over pulling the bike on to me. I immediately knew that things weren&#8217;t right, because I could taste blood and felt a little out of it.<\/p>\n<p>After checking parts (teeth, tongue, lip, etc) and taking <a href=\"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/gallery\/v\/moblog\/20090327190913.jpg.html\">this photo to assess the wounds<\/a> (warning, a bit graphic), I realized that I was a bit messed up. At that point I gathered my stuff and started walking back to the parking lot. Thankfully someone (Mike Moss, Stony Creek&#8217;s excellent MMBA Trail Coordinator, I presume) had recently posted accurate maps of the trails, which include the numbered intersections making the walk pretty quick.<\/p>\n<p>Once back at the car I put everything away, cleaned myself up a bit, then went to meet Danielle at my house. She then drove me to the Urgent Care facility at M-59 and Heydenreich where I received excellent treatment from a bunch of different nurses and Dr. George Maristela. While there I received a <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tetanus\">tetanus<\/a> booster shot, general check-over, five or six injections (very painful) of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lidocaine\">Lidocaine<\/a>, and the seven (particularly fine) stitches which were needed to close the wound.<\/p>\n<p>The final tally is a Y-shaped cut on my upper lip which tool seven stitches to close, a cut on my nose, a mole on the left side of my face which was mostly ground\/cut off, a bruise on my forehead from the helmet, and various other scrapes and bruises. I also have a seven-day prescription for Cephalexin (Kephlex GEQ). Thankfully there were no problems with my tongue, teeth, neck, skull, or any of the hard to fix \/ very important parts. This, combined with really great treatment by an excellent doctor and staff made things, so far, not that bad. This fall could have been much, much worse.<\/p>\n<p>I can&#8217;t help but think that when the visor came off of my helmet (they clip on loosely) my face hit that, which actually cut me, but I can&#8217;t be certain of that. Regardless, I will have to get a new helmet as mine has a nice dent \/ flat spot in the front, and once one falls hard in a helmet it should get replaced. I think in the future I may forego the visor completely and just wear a cycling hat with flip up\/down visor. This will accomplish the same ends as a visor, but without the detachable plasticky bit risk.<\/p>\n<p>Danielle and I brought a camera to the Urgent Care, so (with the doctor&#8217;s permission) she took photos all throughout the procedure. If you&#8217;d like to see the photos, they can be found in <a href=\"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/gallery\/v\/random_stuff\/stitches_27mar2009\/\">the Stitches! album here<\/a>. Here are some of the more notable photos:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&middot; <a href=\"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/gallery\/v\/random_stuff\/stitches_27mar2009\/P3270436.jpg.html\">Me, a bit cleaned up but with a split upper lip, before leaving the house to go the Urgent care.<\/a><br \/>\n&middot; <a href=\"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/gallery\/v\/random_stuff\/stitches_27mar2009\/P3270448.jpg.html\">A very, very painful injection of Lidocaine.<\/a><br \/>\n&middot; <a href=\"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/gallery\/v\/random_stuff\/stitches_27mar2009\/P3270453.jpg.html\">Stitches going into my face.<\/a><br \/>\n&middot; <a href=\"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/gallery\/v\/random_stuff\/stitches_27mar2009\/P3270460.jpg.html\">Firmly holding the bed frame during the last couple stitches, which I could slightly feel.<\/a><br \/>\n&middot; <a href=\"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/gallery\/v\/random_stuff\/stitches_27mar2009\/P3270469.jpg.html\">Wincing at the last couple stitches, which hurt a bit.<\/a><br \/>\n&middot; <a href=\"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/gallery\/v\/random_stuff\/stitches_27mar2009\/P3270474.jpg.html\">Procedure complete, laying there a bit bloody waiting to be cleaned up.<\/a><br \/>\n&middot; <a href=\"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/gallery\/v\/random_stuff\/stitches_27mar2009\/P3270478.jpg.html\">After being cleaned up, just about time to leave.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the nice weather today and a report that most of the Stony Creek mountain bike trails were ridable, I decided to head out there&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/blog\/2009\/03\/27\/this-is-why-we-wear-helmets\/\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">This Is Why We Wear Helmets<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cycling","category-health","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1403"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1408,"href":"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1403\/revisions\/1408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nuxx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}