Rider Down!

We all have riding buddies. In every aspect of cycling, whether it be mountain, road or anything else involving two wheels and fun, we all have groups of mates we usually ride with. You encourage each other, feed off each other’s riding and just have some all out fun. Last Sunday (12th Oct) tragedy struck and this particular group of friends came together to help a fallen comrade. Tom Gee (or Gee-string to his friends) went down. Hard.

We’d been out for a few laps of the DH course, followed by a jump session on the dirt jumps/freeride tracks – all pretty standard for our group. And then Gee-string lost traction on  a boner log on the lip of a jump, and landed square on the landing with his ankle. A quick commando roll down to the bottom unfortunately also caused injury.

The few seconds after a massive stack are always the strangest; the adrenaline is going and you are trying to realise how you just went from upright and fast to ploughing the ground with your nose. Tom didn’t realise how badly he was injured at first until he tried to move, and then we all heard the dreaded scream of agony.

It was bad – our Gee-string needed urgent medical attention. It’s at points like  this when every rider stops – everyone wants to help a much as they can, even complete strangers. But even though these people aren’t known to you, there’s a biking connection there; a brotherhood.

We all know the risks of our sport. Mountain biking is, after all, dangerous. High speed. Rough terrain. Air time. Every time you sling a leg over your frame you know that at some point in the day you’re going to scare yourself just a little bit – rear wheel drifting too wide; a bit too heavy on the front end in the corner.

We occasionally hear about the bad crashes through social media, our very own website or others like it, but when it happens so close to home and to a good riding buddy, it’s a weird feeling. We have all had that near-crash situation. You always look back and think about how you saved it and prevented a painful experience. So what does happen when it all goes wrong? The rear wheel couldn’t be tamed, or you couldn’t lean that little bit further back to prevent the OTB – or (in this case) your wheel slides out just on the lip of a boner log.

After some incredible work by the Calder Valley Search And Rescue Team, Tom was bagged up and safely on his way to hospital for some immediate re-aligning and healing.

We are so lucky to have mountain-rescue teams that are dotted all over Britain: they are the experts we need, in the tricky situations that normal paramedics can’t reach. They are mostly into mountaineering sports: climbing, walking, caving, cycling – the list goes on. And all of these skills make them supremely good at extracting patients and getting them to safety. For this we thank them. Hugely.

The full extent of Tom’s injuries is still unknown – but he has definitely split his ankle joint, which then caused a dislocation and a few other cracks and breaks. And his arm is broken in several places (hence the odd angle). Both injuries require extensive surgeries including pins, wires and plates. His new nick name will be Robo-Cop. The jump he stacked on has now been named as well; the landing is now known as the Gee spot. So in future you will follow the jump along, take off from the boner log straight into the Gee spot (just for the lolz)…

I guess the whole point of this rambling missive is to appreciate how important your riding buddies are. All it takes is for you to lose traction for a split second, and boof! – a crash, perhaps an injury… And amid all the shock and confusion, all it takes for a little hope and encouragement to return is for someone to sit beside you and keep you calm, offer support and crack a few jokes here and there.

And also of course the Mountain Rescue team, I think many of us take them for granted and don’t properly appreciate the work they do. These guys are all volunteers, and they’re only doing this to help their fellow adrenaline-seekers. These heroes spend hours a week training and giving support to all emergency services and we kind of forget what a safety blanket they are – until one day we will call for them, and they will come.

If you want to donate or get any more information on the Calder Valley Search & Rescue Team take a look on their Facebook page or their website.

We want to give Tom a massive shout out and some massive healing vibes. T-Dawg you the man!!!