Get well Jesse - From all your Friends!

Today was one of the most painful days I’ve ever experienced. But here’s the catch…. It wasn’t me who was in pain.

Glen, Reece, Jesse and I were riding some trails out in K-country in the outback, basically in the middle of nowhere. We were having a blast hitting some new gaps and pinning some fresh dirt when we ran into a fairly large hip that was a bit technical to get speed for. Our whole gang practiced the run in for about half an hour, each of us trying to decide if it was worth the risk to hit this new hip gap.The lip itself was a bit poor compared to the quality of the other lips on this trail. I decided that it wasn’t worth the risk to hit the gap, but Jesse decided to Ginny pig the booter, and see how she goes. I figure the gap is about 20-25 feet across to where you land, and the lip/landing is around 5-6 feet from flat bottom – so it’s fairly big. Plus the lip was really steep, which meant that when you hit the gap you will be going very high! Sounds fun right??? Nope, not at all.

Jesse pinned it into the gap, it wasn’t a question of having enough speed, he was going to make the gap. But the lip popped him really high and funny, probably around 15 feet off of the ground at least. He over shot the landing by 10-15 feet, making a smooth run-out almost impossible. I think he made the right choice by ditching his bike in the air, but ultimately it would lead him into a world of pain. THUMP!!! “I’m broken everywhere!”

Glen, Reece and I sprinted over to see that his ankle was twisted 90 degrees in the wrong direction, and that his arm had been basically flipped around with a bone sticking through the skin. His helmet visor was completely shut covering his face, but he immediately knew that his ankle and arm were harshly broken. We all assessed the situation and decided he needed an ambulance right away! After all, his glove was starting to act like a sponge for all the blood which was coming out of his arm – it was so gross. Reece even went as far as saying “I almost threw up when I saw his arm”.

I raced down to my Jetta in order to drive into town because none of us had cell phone reception in the middle of nowhere. About half way to town I noticed a pay phone on the side of the road, so I called 9-1-1, and they sent an ambulance right to the pay phone…talk about luck. I guided the ambulance and about 4 other EMS / Park ranger vehicles to the origin of the accident where Jesse lay. He had been laying there for more than an hour when help finally arrived. When I saw him next he had put his ankle back almost straight with the rest of his leg, but you could still tell it wasn’t supposed to look the way it did. The medics packed all his wounds up into “speed casts”, then strapped him down onto a portable stretcher, which later all of us carried out of the back country.


One the medics gave him this pain medication…well he was loving life – cracking jokes, etc. So I would assume he wasn’t feeling too much pain at that point. After that, we got him into the ambulance at the bottom of the hill, where he was loaded up and sent to Foothills hospital to get the care he needed ASAP.

Through out this time I learned so much about how strong Jesse is as a person. He handled loads of pain all at one time. I know some people complain about a broken wrist, or a broken collar bone, but just imagine having that, except your bone is sticking out of your arm, and your leg is bent 90 degrees and pointing the wrong direction. Add in a ton of humidity, mosquitoes, and an hour of waiting for help… Jesse is a tough kid. Way to handle yourself dude, I know I would have been screaming my head off.

A big thanks to the EMS that helped Jesse out in his time of pain, with a fairly quick response time, and the fact that they put him as #1 priority for the day. A ton of people arrived on scene making light of such a poor situation to be in. Also a HUGE thanks to Reece who stood with Jesse the whole time making sure he was comfortable, swatting flies off his open wounds, and just in general being a wicked friend. Also Glen was running around coordinating everything between the EMS and Jesse before help had totally arrived. Together as a group we tried so hard to make sure Jesse was in the least amount of pain as possible, for the shortest time possible… Hopefully because of us his healing time will be shorter than if he somehow had stumbled out of the woods.

That’s how my afternoon went down, hopefully you guys had a fun time riding bikes… I know I did for a full run, and then half of the next one…

Healing vibes to Jesse – feel better buddy!

A quick video of the aftermath: