I Crashed Hard - A Post-Injury Update from Alicia

Hello everyone,

It's been a while since I've written on here, so I'm just dropping in to say hi and give an update. You haven't heard from me much lately and probably won't hear from me much for a while, because my main priority right now is brain injury recovery.

I crashed a mountain bike September 30, 2022, and have been working through a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) since then.

To start, the fact that I’ve recovered as much as I have makes me feel very thankful. A doctor a few days ago called my recovery "miraculous." I feel simultaneously both very unlucky to be in this situation in the first place and very lucky that my recovery has gone about as well as it could have, mainly because I've had excellent care, I'm 27 years old so my brain is still malleable, and my family has been able to help take care of and advocate for me. I spent the first several days after my crash in a coma, then the next time period in something pretty similar to a coma from which I could be woken forcibly but not easily. It was exciting for those around me when I began sleeping only 22 hours each day, rather than my previous 24. A priest was brought in the first night to perform the last rites because I wasn’t expected to live, but then I did. (I'm not remotely religious so it's hard to know what my last rites would have included, but the hospital was working on solving some bigger problems at that time.)

What actually happened, I don't exactly know. I know that I was riding the biggest jumps of my life – Bellingham’s Blue Steel line – and I heard I'd successfully sessioned the set-up jumps but crashed on one of the first big ones (which is a little disappointing to hear, to be honest, since I wish I could ride those without wrecking myself). A nurse who happened to be on-scene helped evacuate me, and I was fortunate to have an ambulance at the ready as part of the jumps event I was doing. Then, I was moved to my local hospital, where I spent about three weeks in the ICU. After that, I was moved to a hospital in the Denver area that specializes in treating brain injuries. My memory restarts roughly mid-November during my stay there. Finally, I was moved to an outpatient therapy clinic in Portland, Oregon, where I continued the intensive all-day every-day therapy before finally being released to go home.

I've been really appreciative of the people in my life during this time period. You all are the highlights of an otherwise pretty grim phase. I shared an update on Instagram that received a surprising amount of kindness and well-wishes. My friend Chelsea Kimball (check out her riding if you haven't - she's an incredible ripper) started a GoFundMe campaign where she shared updates on my progress and collected funds to put toward my recovery. I'm very glad that everyone around me has stepped up in the ways that they have.

I'm also absurdly thankful for my job and coworkers, who have shown more than ever before that they have my back. Everyone I work with, both near and far, has checked in consistently, been willing to work with me on my now-necessary time off, is helping to preserve my job for when I can come back to it, and so much more. None of that was necessary, all of it has been because they're kind, caring people, and when I think about all the jobs I've had in years past, there's no job situation that could possibly have been as helpful as this one throughout this injury. Pinkbike and Outside, you all are amazing and I am so, so thankful to have you in my life.


While of course this injury has made me reassess my risk-taking, I glad that my injury is a sort of predictable outcome of hitting big jumps. While in the hospital, I met many fellow patients who had been victimized by entirely unpredictable circumstances – things like being hit by a car while walking on a sidewalk. I think I’d be having a much harder time right now making sense of my current condition if my injury were something random and unexpected, but the fact that I intentionally made choices that I’ve always known could lead here makes it somewhat bearable.

Now, I’m mostly back. I’m missing hearing in one ear, which isn't expected to come back, missing some peripheral vision, which may or may not come back, and my balance, memory, and processing speed are worse than they used to be. I'm not working right now, largely to prioritize my (now very frequent) doctor's appointments and because stress is definitively bad for my brain, but I’m hoping to come back before too long. I miss my job, my coworkers, the feeling of familiarity... all of it, more than I ever would have expected.

It's funny how our perspectives can change so quickly. Before my crash, I remember feeling exhausted because I habitually sign myself up for too much. I'd just spent a month in Utah paragliding and competing in a weeklong paragliding race, then began the most recent Field Test in Whistler. Despite paragliding and Field Tests being two of my favorite ways to spend time, I just wanted to rest. Now that I've spent almost four months forced to rest, being tired from doing my sports sounds pretty nice. I'm now back living in Bellingham, which feels like a great move toward recovery.

My next steps are a little hazy. Depending on the frequency of my doctor's appointments and how antsy I feel (very, as of right now), I'm hoping to start moving back into my job before too long. I'm not riding bikes right now, but I do expect to get back on a bike in the next few months. (I'm not right now mainly because my balance is worse than it used to be and I really, really need to avoid hitting my head again, since I'm now at risk of a more serious re-injury.)


All of this is a long-winded way of saying I'm kind of not okay and kind of okay at the same time, and that I'll be back. One of my first projects once I start working again will be to write a review of the helmet I was wearing when I crashed, which, honestly, I'm excited to write. That helmet did its part to save my life.

Until then, please take care, everyone. Stay safe and have as much fun as possible.

Alicia