this sunday i went to a long downhill with an unknown group (about 15 people)...
we went for a 40mile downhill dropping from 11500ft to sea level...
just starting the run, disaster happens. a guy on spandex hits the dirt head first into a rock at about 25mph and dives head on to a pointy rock in front of me and another dude.
he takes a couple minutes to move, then he turns and i see a gaping hole in his helmet. tried to tell the guy to not move (i was worried he might have broken his skull or something) and ask a few questions to the guy, who just laid there not even remebering what his name is or where he is at.
for a few seconds i stood in disbelief thinking this guy ripped open his head on top of mountains in the andes of peru, at least 12 walking-hours away from the closest doctor. he was a little bloody and very dirty, so i tried to look into his pupils to see if they were unequeal or something.... when the guy took his helmet off and unbelievable his head was in one piece.
holy **** i said. this was not this guy{s time i thought.
so, me with another older dude in his 50s with his son stop by and we wait for 15 minutes while the guy catches some air and regains full consciousness....
since we were in the middle of nowhere and the guy seemed to be ok to walk, we decided to keep rolling for the remaining 30 miles to the closest main road where we could be driven back to lima.... (not that we had much choice... either that or carrying the guy back up the mountains 2000ft higher to the closest village where we would have had to wait until a truck or mining dump-truck could drive us 6 hours back to lima)
of course this guy was veeeery slow.... in the next few miles, me, the older dude and his son would ride for 1-2 miles, then wait until the broken helmet dude would catch up. (and along him, another casualty, a 60something dude with a broken derraileur).
we got back to the desert at sea level (20 miles away from the nearest highway) almost at 5... we waited for the guys to cross the desert together (it was almost dark, and we had no provisiones for night riding or any water left, the whole dh was supposed to be 4 hours, not 8)....
so we crossed the dessert in the dark without visual references or a compass, pretty much going by feeling.. until we got cell signal and we could call the rest of the group who had left those guys behind.
how seriously ****ed up is that. leaving an old dude with a broken derraileur with no water, and a guy who broken a helmet with his head behind to cross alone 10 miles of tough dh and a 20 mile ride across the dessert at dar... and none of them had much experience or had done this route before
we re-united with the group and were very pissed at them leaving the 2 casualties behind... and they bitched how they waited for 3 hours and blablabla.....
helmet for reference.... imagine the impact.... besides the hole, the helmet is also broken in two pieces from front to back across the left side.
the other guy who stayed with us
we went for a 40mile downhill dropping from 11500ft to sea level...
just starting the run, disaster happens. a guy on spandex hits the dirt head first into a rock at about 25mph and dives head on to a pointy rock in front of me and another dude.
he takes a couple minutes to move, then he turns and i see a gaping hole in his helmet. tried to tell the guy to not move (i was worried he might have broken his skull or something) and ask a few questions to the guy, who just laid there not even remebering what his name is or where he is at.
for a few seconds i stood in disbelief thinking this guy ripped open his head on top of mountains in the andes of peru, at least 12 walking-hours away from the closest doctor. he was a little bloody and very dirty, so i tried to look into his pupils to see if they were unequeal or something.... when the guy took his helmet off and unbelievable his head was in one piece.
holy **** i said. this was not this guy{s time i thought.
so, me with another older dude in his 50s with his son stop by and we wait for 15 minutes while the guy catches some air and regains full consciousness....
since we were in the middle of nowhere and the guy seemed to be ok to walk, we decided to keep rolling for the remaining 30 miles to the closest main road where we could be driven back to lima.... (not that we had much choice... either that or carrying the guy back up the mountains 2000ft higher to the closest village where we would have had to wait until a truck or mining dump-truck could drive us 6 hours back to lima)
of course this guy was veeeery slow.... in the next few miles, me, the older dude and his son would ride for 1-2 miles, then wait until the broken helmet dude would catch up. (and along him, another casualty, a 60something dude with a broken derraileur).
we got back to the desert at sea level (20 miles away from the nearest highway) almost at 5... we waited for the guys to cross the desert together (it was almost dark, and we had no provisiones for night riding or any water left, the whole dh was supposed to be 4 hours, not 8)....
so we crossed the dessert in the dark without visual references or a compass, pretty much going by feeling.. until we got cell signal and we could call the rest of the group who had left those guys behind.
how seriously ****ed up is that. leaving an old dude with a broken derraileur with no water, and a guy who broken a helmet with his head behind to cross alone 10 miles of tough dh and a 20 mile ride across the dessert at dar... and none of them had much experience or had done this route before
we re-united with the group and were very pissed at them leaving the 2 casualties behind... and they bitched how they waited for 3 hours and blablabla.....
helmet for reference.... imagine the impact.... besides the hole, the helmet is also broken in two pieces from front to back across the left side.
the other guy who stayed with us
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Glad you were able to help out!
