Oh, crap!

Glad to hear you're moving around OK, but back injuries are no joke. Make sure to educate yourself and force your docs to take it seriously. And get imaging (though it sounds like you already have). I still have problems from an on-the-job back injury from over 20 years ago that was never imaged and as a result never treated properly. I wished I'd pushed for more than PT at the time, but I didn't know any better back then.

8 weeks means you're still good for Summer Camp...

 

Dirt floor and wearing socks without shoes. You're a madman.

Sorry to hear about the ski injury, but at the same time I'm glad you're still walking around. I'm still in pain from a knee injury I got in February on a ski trip, and I skied the next two days after it happened without much problem!

 

That SUCKS! I'm sorry to hear you're hurt - take care of that back injury! Like others are saying, those can keep biting you if they don't heal properly.

 

Thanks for the kind words, guys. I don't really use social media anymore so it's kinda therapeutic to talk about it here. Ha.

Already got the CT scan, fortunately it's a 10% compression fracture (10% shorter than it should be?), with no nerve damage or danger of that, and according to the Dr should be a pretty straightforward heal if I keep impacts and loads off of it.

I'm already walking on it (which was the dr's rec), and back at work (IT job, thank god), so I'm pretty hopeful. I walked to my own CT scan which they thought was pretty unusual for someone in the ER with a back injury.

And unfortunately I'm no stranger to back injuries. Extreme sports have always been the devils playground for me, which is why I quit riding DH MTB a few years ago and stick to trail riding now days.

I always joked that tracking cars was my "old man sport" to preserve my body, and that might be more true than ever now.

 

For sure, take it easy, last thing you want is for it to rear up later on, I have two friends with old back injuries that crept(?) up on them as they aged, one nearly crippled now. I'm sure technology and treatment has improved immeasurably - make the most of it!

Good luck, hope you make a speedy and full recovery!!

 

Geeze man. As one of the older guys in the group, play safe and heal right or you'll regret it for years.

I always lived vicariously through your and a few others here so don't **** that up for me, lol. Get well and then get back at it, in that order.

 

Noooo on closing day? Hope you heal up quick. Car is looking super nice. My brother is working on the mountain and I made a trip up there a couple weeks back. Such a nice way to spend the day

 

Thanks guys. I'll do my best not to let you down Six!

And yeah, closing day, at 3:45 none the less... pretty sure I just became a statistic.

 

Shucks dude, sorry to hear about the injury, but hope it's a speedy and complete recovery! Glad you can at least move around in your current state.

What actually happened leading to the injury? You didn't say "last run" did you? My buddies and I always make sure to say "two more and skip the last" to avoid tempting fate...

 

Lol, I'm going to have to remember that one.

Sorry to hear about the accident Fire. I destroyed my shoulder skiing a couple years ago it was a real shitty way to end the season (on opening day nonetheless). Glad to hear you've got a relatively short recovery period. Keep up on the PT and start getting interested in yoga

 

Thanks guys. It's honestly not as bad as you'd think, I do have a high pain tolerance, but the pain really isn't unbearable. They tried to prescribe me some pretty crazy stuff and I noped outta that real quick. Just rockin over the counter ibuprofen. Not a big pharma guy, too many friends ended up addicted to that **** after accidents. I'd take it if I had to of course, no judgement at all, but will always say no thanks if I can.

And Zak, we have the exact same saying around here.

As for the accident, I dropped a normal rock feature that drops into the groomer. Maybe a 5-8' drop depending on how you hit it into a nice slope landing. Super easy and smooth, done it 1,000 times. This time it was overcast and flat light, and I ended up with a lot of speed into a mogul field. These are moguls that weren't there before, though they do often form in that area after it snows. And these were some big moguls, we like to call 'em vw bugs (size/shape). Anyways the first one I scrubbed as much speed as I could, straighten out and kinda aired it, land into the next one realizing there's no way out, try to lay it down (heel edge), launch the next one in a scrub sideways, land into the uphill of the next one straight on my tailbone. Usually bumps like this would have some give to 'em but they were frozen solid with like 3" of diced pow on 'em. I heard something crunch and knew I was fucked. Screaming there on the ground my buddy rolls up, first thing I tell him (he reminded me after) was that I could feel my legs. Kinda re-assuring myself more than anything I think at that point. I knew something was wrong and was kinda grateful at that time to be able to move my ****, but still in writhing pain. Ski patrol rolls up and and gives me the on-site check down. Wiggle your toes, pressure points down the spine, etc. No extra pain on any of the points. Tells me nothing is broken in that way, but clearly I've got a spinal compression of some sort, gives me the clear to try and stand. I stand up and pain levels maybe at a 6 or 7, but just radiating not pinpointed like you'd think. Basically **** just hurt. I take a few steps and tell him I think I'll ride it out, the ski patroller tells me I seem like a tough dude but I should take the ride, which obviously was the right call. Never been in one of those sleds, and never thought it would be me. **** happens fast.

Good buddy of mine ended up upside down in some steeps last year, head first into a tree, broke his neck. Just grateful for what I have. Gotta come back stronger.

 

Damn dude, rough stuff. Kind of annoying that the brutal injury crash is always on something like that: a feature you've done a thousand times and think nothing of, or on a green or blue run when you're not paying absolute attention.

I'm with you on sticking with the over the counter stuff when possible. Always blew me away during previous injuries how eager some of the docs were to put you on serious pain meds. And I don't think I have some incredible pain tolerance or anything either.

 

Sorry to hear man. Take some time off.
I wear a fabric/plastic back brace in the garage which really helps. Under 40/former tech.

Keep doing what you love!

 

Spinal injuries are scary. I just found out yesterday that some of the problems with my headaches are from some unknown spinal injury. The ligaments between my C1 and C2 vertebrae are loose due to something in my past. The C1 moves about 10mm in relation to the C2 when I tilt my head and 3.5mm is considered a severe condition. It may have been fatal if I ever wrecked on track. Good thing I stopped when I did.

 

Scary ****, Six, thanks for sharing. I knew you hung up the towel for track driving but never knew the details. My injury has given me more respect for basic **** like walking, or being able to drive a car in anger. Theres alot more skeletal and muscle strength than I realized to drive a track prepped car and I'm itching to get out there.

I made it to the track this weekend to watch the homies, and it was kinda a sketchy day with oil and dirt on the track so I didn't miss much. Was nice to see all the homies compete and catch up with some people I hadn't seen in a while.

I'm not going to push it but hopeful that next trackday I can make it out, if at least to shake down the car. I ended up in the pits chatting with a spinal surgeon in a GT4 about my injury, he even wanted to look at the imaging and stuff, was a really cool guy. He told me I should make a full recovery and not need surgery based off my diag and images. What a cool guy to do that at the track.

 

Usually you’ll meet folks with useful pertinent skills at the track, but not usually like that! Glad to hear he had positive things to say.

Also glad to hear you’re still getting out. My favorite thing to do while injured is to watch my friends doing the stuff I like to do when I’m not injured.

 

Back at it with light duty. Got tired of sitting around after 2 weeks and feeling strong enough to get some little projects done.

First up was coating that splitter, it got a raptor liner coat. Really tough ****, and seemed to stiffen it up even more, so a win/win.





Next overdue task was greasing my zerks (yeah I kept zerks on my supermiata bronze bushings), and I gave everything a good cleaning so I could inspect it. After 2 seasons I'm super happy with how these bushings are holding up. No signs of issues and suspension still moves smooth as butter.











I finished installing my tire spats too. Digging how they came out.





Got my brake ducting re-installed. Much better than it was before, straighter path for the air and out of the way of any rubbage.





I also re ceramic coated my wheels, to keep the brake dust at bay. Not pictured but they came out nice.

Just gotta bleed the brakes and I'll take the car to work later this week perhaps.

 

Looking really good!

Something I did for a non-chafing brake duct support was running HD zip ties through vinyl tubing... I didn't have to account for intercooler tubing, so YMMV...

 

Hook and loop cinch straps work great for brake duct hose. Lots of holding power, reusable, and no chaffing. They also sell them with an eyelet if you want to mount to a chassis instead of wrapped around a sway bar.

 

Had a feeling you wouldn’t be sedentary for too long haha. Good stuff! Front end is looking good. I should hit my splitter with some bedliner. They look so much better coated than painted too.