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A Dirt Biker Rider’s Nightmare – A Broken Leg

 It had rained for a couple of days and the Friday practice had been cancelled. It hardly ever rains in Mesquite, Nevada or where the motocross track is in what’s called Littlefield, Arizona but it did.  The Virgin Valley River was running strong.  There was even snow capped mountains in the background.  Oh, yeah and Saturday’s #RMX Series race was on.  Did you know that you can not purchase a pair of rain boots in Mesquite.  Walmart just laughed at us when we asked where they were.  Grandpa and grandma had to run into St. George, Utah to #Cal Ranch to buy the boots and of course I wear a size 13 boot.  But the race was on.  Pre-race practice was starting at 7:00 am PST and I was ready.

I had a good practice run and the day went okay.  I still need to get my suspension done because the 2021 #Yamaha YZ250F comes set up for somebody who weighs around 170 lbs with full riding gear.  I weighed myself with all of my gear and found out that with gear I’m around 6’1″ and 277 lbs.  Hey, my #Gaerne SG-12 boots weigh over 11 pounds.  There is roughly 27 lbs of riding gear that I put on.  TJ Bronson of #891 Suspension has all the calculations and will be working on the bike here in the future.

Dan Felix of #Felix Designs took a couple of photos of me racing…thanks Dan.  I am proudly wearing his great design on my helmet.  Also, thanks to #FlowVision for the great goggles.  They are amazing!
Well, the rest of the story about my day at the track.
As you could guess, the mud was terrible; the ruts even worse and the track was extremely dangerous. The Littlefield Paramedics were busy helping people the entire day.  Riders were even LifeFlighted out to St. George with lacerated livers, broken ribs, concussions, and broken legs.  One pro rider even had to have the bike peg removed from his body surgically…ouch!
My last race of the day was going to be the 450 Beginners and I entered it for more riding time even though I was riding my 250. 
I’ve worked really hard on my HoleShots and have gotten pretty good at them.  This last race of the day would be one of my best.  Great start and great ride.  I was riding hard against the bigger bikes but after the white flag which meant it was the last lap towards the finish line I was actually battling for second place.  The ruts were so deep that they were up to my fenders and above my pegs but I was riding better than I ever have.  I was flowing around the track in the zone.  Then it happened! The rider coming up from behind me got into the same rut and hit my rear wheel which caused me to lose control and my boot came off the peg and got caught under his bike and my bike.  I was in a lot of pain.  My grandpa and the Felix Family came running over to the crash.  The other rider ended up breaking his hand in the crash.  The Paramedics drove up immediately to help out.
After asking me a ton of questions they loaded me into the back of the truck.  They took off my boots which hurt like heck.  The foot and ankle was swelling really quick.  There really wasn’t much to see after they cut through my racing socks but I knew that it was bad.  My grandpa who is First Aid Certified and a Fire Marshal suggested a plastic ankle air brace but they didn’t carry one on the truck but said that they could splint it so they had a temporary splint made of cardboard and wrapped the leg for transportation.  They asked my grandpa if he was going to take me to the emergency ward at the local Mesquite Mesa View Hospital and he told them of course.  The Felix Family helped load the bike and tools and the Paramedics helped load me into the front seat of my grandpa’s Titan.  
We checked in and had X-Rays taken.  The Doctor on call came back after the Radiologist had told him that there was a break on the Fibula and ankle and had the nurses and assistants put on a soft cast.

Me laying in the hospital bed with the soft cast on waiting to be released.  The next step was getting a CT scan on the leg and ankle.  Yeah it was broken and pretty bad too.

The Doctor pointed out the breaks in red highlighted areas.  Fibula deep breaks as well as on the ankle itself.  I’m getting a cast for a week and then they’ll decide if they have to do surgery on the break to hold it together.  They told me it going to be 3-4 months with a month of rehab after the cast comes off.

This was before my appointment getting the cast.  They put me into a boot to get around. Oh well, it looks like I’m out to around June or July.  Bummer!!!!
UPDATE ON MY LEG – BRAND NEW #YAMAHA BLUCRU CAST


I did get some neat news from #Gaerne in an email today.

Gaerne USA bootco@sbcglobal.net

Attachments2:42 PM (5 hours ago)

to me
Hello Taylor,
We had Gaerne Italy email over your email thread to them discussing your injury and potentially moving forward with some sort of Rider Support discount.
First off, we are sorry to hear about your accident and your injury! Sounded like a pretty brutal crash from how you described it. Pretty crazy how dangerous this sport is that we all love so much! Glad to hear the injuries were not worse and after some time to recover, it does sound like you will be back on the bike and stronger than before!
Secondly, we would be more than happy to consider you for a spot on our Rider Support team, which would provide you discounts on Gaerne products and can help get you all set to go when the time comes to start riding again! please take a look at the attached Rider Support contract, the 2nd page will include the product list and the discount prices, the 1st page will be the actually contract so if you would like to officially join the program feel free to fill that 1st page out and email it back to me here and I will get you officially into the system.
Sincerely,
Gaerne USA
I absolutely love #Gaerne and completely understand that the boots were not meant for this type of impact on the leg but looking forward to a new pair of boots when I’m healed up.  I also believe that my knee was secured with my #Asterisk Carbon Knee Braces; thanks #Asterisk.
COUNT ON IT!

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