Injury Update: Lorenzo Suding
What’s up with that Italian DH rider Lorenzo Suding?
"Hello mountainbikers. Some have noticed my absence at the races lately. On the 5th of July I fell asleep behind the wheel and crashed my van into two cement flower blocks, resulting in a serious brain trauma. FYI the flowers weren’t damaged. I was traveling alone in my van and thankfully no other people were involved. I fell into a coma and woke up in the hospital the next day. Although they found a few other older injuries, I didn’t know of, I got away with it with no further heavy injuries or broken bones. This way I was able to sign out after a couple of days. But it got worst, before it got any better.
Half the season passed before it happened, and I was preparing for the Italian Champs that week. I wasn’t able to defend my title, and worst of all, I wasn’t in shape to race the remaining three WCs and World Champs in Norway. Knowing that another trauma could be bad news I decided to take recovery seriously. The only person responsible for this is myself. Bryn and Jill were very cool about it and have helped me with their advice.
Many people worried and showed some love. Towards Team Norco International it felt like I let them down, along with my personal sponsors Exceptio Sport, Pila and all my supporters and friends. Brain traumas are a long and delicate thing. Everything feels strange. For me, it was like being in the body of someone totally different. A dazed and very confused guy that doesn’t know what’s next. All this thanks to some loss of memory, coordination, eyesight, motor functions and nausea. Although it goes slowly when you feel like this, time passes and luckily you go back to who you were. That period of time was definitely a very interesting experience. I had to face it and let my 2014 season finish early. We’ve all dealt with injuries, I’m not any different, I had to face it. The only thing left to do is wait until the day I can handle to ride my bike. I look forward to getting back to riding DH and competing.
My WC results this season: 26th Pietermarisburg, 20th Cairns, 30th Fort William, 42nd Leogang and I want to thank Bryn Atkinson and Jill Kintner for this great opportunity, taking me onto their program and I’m also very grateful to Exceptio Sport and Pila in the Sky for believing in me. Not to forget all of the team sponsors of team TNI, especially Norco Bycicles. For now I wish all the riders competing at Hafjell World Champs to ride it like they stole it. Stay clear of the pretty flowers. Looks can be deceiving…"
-Lorenzo Suding
Author Info:
Member since Jul 22, 2013
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The Solution:
Pull off somewhere and take a 10-20min nap. It works. If u r still nodding off then pull off somewhere again and nap more.
Sometimes NO amount of caffeine or sugar will keep u from being drowsy and the only solution is a real nap.
Fun fact - Redbull was originally produced for truck drivers in the Philippines (or somewhere nearby) to prevent them from falling asleep behind the wheel.
It's really nice to see that Lorenzo is doing much better and here's to hoping that Team Norco has him back for 2015.
All the Best Lorenzo
Go figure...