Chest impact - pesky roots

Anonymous

OTB - land on roots =



Imprint of the root there

Anyway, bust up chest. Not sure anything is broken. Hurt like hell initially and has been quite a pain for a week but getting a lot better now. Poking around the ribs don't seem to hurt majorly that would indicate an actual break, though a couple of small knobbly bits I can feel but everything seems in place. Think in general it's loads of bruising pains and general aches that remain rather than a break, so I've not bothered getting it checked out (A&E 4 hours - yeah right, GP - next appointment in three weeks, hmm, Drop-in - "I can't cope with that, I think you should go to A&E", no thanks).

Main pain issue I have now is actually from the back but that's all related to the bigger vertebra breaking off I had last year(!).

So anyway - question actually is whether it's worth getting protection for the chest & ribs for normal trail use? This was a normal trail that I've done hundreds of times before no problem. Just stuffed up a gnarly root section possibly by hammering in too fast and not paying attention, clipped a tree with the bars, slipped and over I went.

I'd not normally use protection for the local trails except knee pads. Chest protection stuff I was thinking to get for DH stuff, but now with this happening and having bust my ribs about 5 other times over the last 10 years in various incidents(!) I think maybe it's worth getting something.

I've seen the under shirt thin padded stuff like the 661 Sub Gear, but would that stop something like this, is it worth it?

pilch

Faaaaack that must have hurt!

Maybe you can get something with d30 in it?

I doubt it will be cheap though, i've got some xc pads with it in, pretty amazing stuff

YeehaaMcgee

Only you know whether or not you need/want protection.
But - you'll hurt pretty much all of your body at some point whilst mountain biking. You can't realistically defend yourself from all possible injuries.

Anonymous

Seem to be going through the list of body parts to injur fairly well.

Other thing is I'm debating if it's okay to ride. Seriously painful last week but cleared up a lot this week so far, but I've kept the exercise down and resting it a lot. Keep thinking what if I've cracked a rib and therefore shouldn't ride, but as I say I think I'd know if I have. Then again, some of the bones feel a bit odd, but not painful. Maybe they're just ones floating around on their own from my previous smashes

As for whether I'd feel I need/want the stuff, it really depends how effective the stuff is and weigh it up with the inconvenience of wearing it, plus my attitude to risk. If a thin thin is likely to do very little then I'd take the risk without it. I could decide to wear something but I'd not know if it works until I crash.

DodgeT

Looks nasty! How the hell did you manage to hit it so hard?
I sometimes wear a sub top, but they can be as hot as hell. Would probably help in that type of crash, but to be fair, how often are you gona crash like that?

Anonymous

Not sure how, but it's a section with some fairly chunky slightly off camber roots at the start. Usually cautious over them and lay down the power after, but keep feeling the momentum is a bit slow so think I decided to blast over. Tonnes of suspension and skills over roots are typically fine, but this time something caught, went over and just slammed chest first into a big and hard root or few.

Maybe I need to learn to land better, but it's over in a flash I have no time to plan ahead. Think I ended up with hands out but still slammed the chest on the ground.

Stevo_666

Sounds like you were unlucky - for me the chestplate of my body armour is the only bit of the gear I wear that hasn't seen some action. If you are feeling a bit paranoid after that then there are a few 'torso only' bit of body armour that I remember seeing on CRC.