# The price to pay for not wearing armor!!!



## 62kona (Mar 25, 2008)

So I was at the local dirt jumps yesterday, and was trying to decide if i should bring my full armor with me. It was hot out. I was getting pretty good at them and havn't crashed hard in a long time. No one else out there wears full armor. (STUPID STUPID idea!!!) So I left it in the car and started my session. After getting pretty confidant on a big rhythm section I ate it hard! It tore a big hole in my arm and scratched up my whole side and shoulder. I had to go to urgent care and for $1400 they sewed me back up. And it would have been at least twice that at the ER. And the worst thing is that I know if I were wearing my armor, non of this would have happened. I don't care where I am or what I am doing, I am going to be wearing my armor. And I suggest the same for everyone else. Its not worth it to not wear it.


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## dhmike (Oct 16, 2007)

tough lesson to learn.


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## Evil Patrick (Sep 13, 2004)

62kona said:


> I don't care where I am or what I am doing, I am going to be wearing my armor.


Like, even in the bathroom in the morning after you roll out of bed?

And your GF is gonna look at you funny when you're "gettin' busy".


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## Mr.P (Feb 8, 2005)

Grasshopper, one must learn...

One only take dirt nap, when one not don the pads.

P


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## schoolie (Feb 27, 2007)

This thread is worthless without pics


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## darkest_fugue (Sep 25, 2007)

it always happens when you dont wear the stuff doesnt it, last week i was out on the SX and decided to make a small detour home to where theres some small steps, jumped 3 no more than a foot off the ground but didnt condsider i was landing on a tiled pavement with not much grip, front wheel washed out on me and came down hard on my left knee, im still suffering with it a week later,
on sunday i made a stupid mistake on a drop and went straight over the bars on my head shoulder and you guessed it, left knee again, luckily this time i was in full armour, i always wear the whole damn lot when i set out to downhill or freeride,

unfortunately i when i went over i used my hands to break my fall and hurt my right wrist and thumb, not too badly but im terrified as i make my money playing guitar, i need to invest in some wrist guards or something!!!


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## Prettym1k3 (Oct 11, 2005)

I always wear a helmet, gloves, and glasses/goggles. But even at Northstar, the only additional thing I wear is knee pads.

I did scratch up my tattoo'd arm, and my shoulder (on top of cracking my helmet) when I wrecked on Livewire at the end of the season. But the only other injury I sustained was whiplash and a stiff neck. A Leatt brace would have taken care of that.

But I can't imagine what would have happened to my face if I wasn't wearing my full face helmet. Makes me cringe.


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## bxxer rider (Jun 7, 2008)

Evil Patrick said:


> your GF is gonna look at you funny when you're "gettin' busy".


ooooh been there loads of times, been looked at quite often while ""gettin' busy"" why are you wearing that for??????? always fun it makes things interesting


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## Mr.P (Feb 8, 2005)

Evil Patrick said:


> And your GF is gonna look at you funny when you're "gettin' busy".


You know what will happen if you don't wear protection during your shag session. 

Bambino! 

P


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## d_m_b (Jun 8, 2007)

that's why i ride in this:


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## JeepXJ3 (Jun 3, 2008)

d_m_b said:


> that's why i ride in this:


im sure you get all the ladies :thumbsup:


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## jamesdc (Oct 31, 2005)

Damn that sucks man, I heard from Steve last night that you went down. The whoops is a bad place to fall


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## horse of iron (Oct 22, 2007)

that is definitely too bad man. Whenever I second guess whether or not to put armor on I automatically throw it on, maybe i'm just superstitious or something but its like when you get that feeling that maybe you should go the speed limit on the freeway for once and a cop fly's by you a few miles down the road...I almost didnt wear my full face last time I went to the pleasanton dirt jumps, according to my GF we were there for 10 minutes when a guy came over to her and told her i was down hard and bleeding. readers digest, concussion, bi-lateral fracture of my maxilla (mouth), broken nose and 3 stitches in my lip, the face guard on the helmet cracked and smashed into my face, but better then just straight dirt to the dome


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## scabrider (Oct 3, 2004)

one time a car hit me when i was riding to school, now i never ride on the street...


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## MDJ (Jan 21, 2005)

I just went for a lunchtime ride down a very rocky trail. As I left the house I told my wife that I don't need my knee pads. Sure enough, first crash there in a couple of years and tore up my knee. And punctured the lowers of my 36 (sucks!!)


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## SHIVER ME TIMBERS (Jan 12, 2004)

to learn by your lessons is great
to learn by others mistakes is priceless


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## SHIVER ME TIMBERS (Jan 12, 2004)

jamesdc said:


> Damn that sucks man, I heard from Steve last night that you went down. The local spot is a bad place to fall


you never learn about not mentioning names....even the original poster didn't mention the name....

When will you stop mentioning names on the Internet


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## Hesh to Steel (Oct 2, 2007)

d_m_b said:


> that's why i ride in this:


If "bmore" is Baltimore you should probably just wear that all the time.

Anyway, back on topic, I wear a fullface, knee/shin pads, forearm/elbow pads, rockgardn trailstar and some armored gloves when I ride. I don't like bleeding.


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## VORSTEIN (Oct 4, 2008)

Why buy armor and not use it? :madmax: 

I don't get it...  
Just wear it if you have it.....


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## Rudster (Jun 25, 2008)

pics? You wanna drive the point home about wearing body protection? post some pics of your carnage.


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## clockwork (Dec 9, 2006)

I live in AZ and as much as I dislike wearing my suit I always put it on as I have a family to support and my wounds don't heal as quick as they did when I was younger.Plus the main benifit is that I am able to ride the next day 95% of the time .


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## CountryBoy (Oct 24, 2006)

I rarely wear armor and eat sh*t all the time. You just got to learn to crash right! I do always were knees guards though.


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## 62kona (Mar 25, 2008)

Sorry guys, having a hell of a time trying to download pics from my gf's old ass mac. :madman: I'll get some up later. Its not looking pretty right now. But the $1400 and the down time is what is killing me. 
Ya, that was a stupid decision to buy the armor and not wear it. And I usually do wear it all the time, just decided not to this time. 
But I did get some pretty good pain meds.


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## 62kona (Mar 25, 2008)

Well, I just took these with my blackberry, so I hope they come out good enough. I don't think you can see them, but there are five stitches in there.


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## 62kona (Mar 25, 2008)

Jamesdc-Ya, its def a bad place to go down. I was gonna do a lot of riding this weekend too.


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## 62kona (Mar 25, 2008)

SHIVER ME TIMBERS said:


> to learn by your lessons is great
> to learn by others mistakes is priceless


 Well I hope you learned something then. :thumbsup:


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## Rudster (Jun 25, 2008)

chicks dig scars......


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## bxxer rider (Jun 7, 2008)

Rudster said:


> chicks dig scars......


haha ive got more scars on my hands then i can count (and yes it is more then 2!)


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## Flystagg (Nov 14, 2006)

yep, I've got a couple of those, cursed myself for just wearing knee shin pads on one street session.


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## FoxRider77 (Jul 28, 2005)

Done that once, now I always wear my elbow pads when I'm doing anything remotely dangerous.


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## MDJ (Jan 21, 2005)

62kona said:


> Sorry guys, having a hell of a time trying to download pics *of* my gf's old ass.


Fixed. At least that is how I read it at first


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## boogenman (Sep 22, 2006)

I would not wear armor on DJ's just DH riding


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## Rover Nick (Jul 13, 2006)

CountryBoy said:


> I rarely wear armor and eat sh*t all the time. You just got to learn to crash right! I do always were knees guards though.


Thats all great in theroy, but it all depends on where you ride and in what conditions you ride.

In the case of me and Clockwork, we ride where it is very rocky, no sodt soil anywhere. When you go down, you almost always go down into a pile of sharp rocks and gravel. You go down hard and you get torn up almost every time.


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## PSK (Mar 30, 2006)

thats nothing


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## MTBKauai (Mar 20, 2004)

CountryBoy said:


> You just got to learn to crash right!


Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Please post again after you've been hospitalized.


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## FRMt.biker (Oct 30, 2008)

I now wear my full face all the time. I feel kinda dumb somtimes, especially when riding through town to the trails, but my teeth and face are just worth too much.


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## FROGMAN524 (Sep 23, 2008)

PSK said:


> thats nothing


Where is this on your body and what did it come from? story?

ps, Just got a 661 Pro Pressure suit and plan to wear it all the time. Crashed hard yesterday and tore of my back, shoulder and elbow.


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## yellowjeep (Aug 20, 2008)

FROGMAN524 said:


> Where is this on your body and what did it come from? story?


Yeah man whats the story? That is brutal


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## SHIVER ME TIMBERS (Jan 12, 2004)

PSK said:


> thats nothing


it's only a flesh wound


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## Jerk_Chicken (Oct 13, 2005)

Not like this is much comparable to stunt riding, but I was riding in Italy about two months ago and on the second ride, I took a nasty fall at between 30-40 onto some stones. Was ejected right off the bike when the wheel turned sideways through a rocky descent on a fireroad of all things, and then I landed right on my left elbow. I immediately thought I broke it, as it was the hardest impact I've ever had biking. When I got up, in extreme pain, both wrists (which still hurt today and I have some limited movement I'm recovering), I looked down and saw my leg blowing up. It didn't feel broken, but it was a fist-sized hematoma developing as we were both looking at it. Lots of cuts, tears, and impact damage. I reasoned (correctly) that if we continue riding, the swelling will go away and not come back until I'm done with the ride. Not only that, the only other option out was an airlift when I was perfectly fine. The bike didn't even suffer damage. So we rode the remainder 650km vert/15km linear or so down to the campground.

Anyhow, since it was a vacation, I just bandaged up and rode for another five days. When we came back home (at the end of the vacation), I noticed that leg started swelling up. Immediately, I was given prophylaxis injections of Heparin to prevent an embolus due to a thrombosis. It was a few weird days of just waiting, but the sonogram finally cleared me.

I still am healing from the crash, but the rest of the time out there was worth it. Pain and all.


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## damion (Jun 27, 2003)

*Photos!*



MDJ said:


> I just went for a lunchtime ride down a very rocky trail. As I left the house I told my wife that I don't need my knee pads. Sure enough, first crash there in a couple of years and tore up my knee. And punctured the lowers of my 36 (sucks!!)


Now that I want to see. (the fork, not the knee)


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## Iceman2058 (Mar 1, 2007)

FROGMAN524 said:


> Where is this on your body and what did it come from? story?
> 
> ps, Just got a 661 Pro Pressure suit and plan to wear it all the time. Crashed hard yesterday and tore of my back, shoulder and elbow.


Dammit man, that's tough. Did they manage to put them all back on again afterwards, or what?


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## 62kona (Mar 25, 2008)

PSK said:


> thats nothing


Nice close up. When I tried downloading my close up, it said it was too big. But thats almost just what my arm looked like before they stitched it up. It was a big ol hole!


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## PSK (Mar 30, 2006)

The first time I washed out and landed in a bunch of rocks. I cut the muscle and needed 3 layers of stitches. There were 30 something total and I can feel rocks still inside there. About 3 weeks ago I hit pole humper on my enduro. It was a bit windy and I went down ripping it all open again. It's a wicked scar.


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## yellowjeep (Aug 20, 2008)

Damn man.


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## clockwork (Dec 9, 2006)

wicked!!!!!!!!


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## cranberry (Nov 15, 2005)

Best Thread Ever!


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## FloridaFish (Mar 29, 2004)

PSK said:


> The first time I washed out and landed in a bunch of rocks. I cut the muscle and needed 3 layers of stitches. There were 30 something total and I can feel rocks still inside there. About 3 weeks ago I hit pole humper on my enduro. It was a bit windy and I went down ripping it all open again. It's a wicked scar.


very nice work......elbows are useless pieces of flesh.


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## yellowjeep (Aug 20, 2008)

Oh sweet! The finger though the skin is awesome.


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## clockwork (Dec 9, 2006)

damn .........


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## nachomc (Apr 26, 2006)

I have good broken leg pics


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## Prettym1k3 (Oct 11, 2005)

So many reasons why I could never be a doctor...

I'm okay with hospitals, have tons of time under the needle (tattooing), but man... some of these pictures just make me gag.


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## D-G (Nov 18, 2008)

Now this is what I joined this forum for...blood and guts baby!!!!!!
More pics more pics!!!!!


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## pdh (Jan 20, 2004)

Had armor on, but not the thumb loop


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## SHIVER ME TIMBERS (Jan 12, 2004)

love these threads...makes you want to keep on wearing armour


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## SHIVER ME TIMBERS (Jan 12, 2004)

62kona said:


> Well I hope you learned something then. :thumbsup:


yes indeed


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## Freerydejunky (Sep 21, 2006)

PSK said:


> The first time I washed out and landed in a bunch of rocks. I cut the muscle and needed 3 layers of stitches. There were 30 something total and I can feel rocks still inside there. About 3 weeks ago I hit pole humper on my enduro. It was a bit windy and I went down ripping it all open again. It's a wicked scar.


It looks like your arm has a vajayjay


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## DHgnaR (Feb 20, 2008)

It's kinda weird, when I went to the east coast, I'd say almost 80% of the riders were rocking full upper body armor. Here on the west coast, I'd say no more the 40% of riders rock full gear, and if they do they're usually old or beginners. 
I had a nasty crash at Angel Fire this year, took a small tree stump to my upper spine and separated my shoulder. Now I wear a core saver. Gonna pick up a Leatt brace too when funds allow. 
Sometimes there's just freak things that happen too. Last week a good friend of mine crashed at our local spot. Took a rock right in the face hole of his TLD DOT helmet. Shattered his goggles, causing over 50 stitches under his eye, and broke almost every bone in the right side of his face, including his eye socket and jaw. Think he's missing a good amount of teeth too. Made me second guess riding DH... still gives me chills every time I think about it.


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## Nick_M2R (Oct 18, 2008)

dam, im wearing steel plate from now on after seeing these pics, some very nasty sh#t


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## CHUNKY NUGGET (Jan 23, 2005)

Man this thread is Brutal! I aint got nothing to compare, which is great! Gotta admit im not wearing all my armor either but i think i mite start. Im just getting into Tattooing and my hands etc gotta stay in good nick cause its my future. Its not stopping the riding though, ya cant stop doing what ya love just cause its risky. This is what lifes all about.
Gore it up boys


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## davec113 (May 31, 2006)

The lesson here, in case you haven't figured it out, is to NEVER buy armor.


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## bad andy (Feb 21, 2006)

Every once in a while I like to look over my armor and smile at what DIDN'T rip into my arms or legs.

my armor has some serious gashes. :O


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## RTG (Feb 22, 2008)

davec113 said:


> The lesson here, in case you haven't figured it out, is to NEVER buy armor.


If there's any lesson it should be to NOT bike.


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## tibug (Dec 5, 2006)

Worst crash I've ever had is trying to bunnyhop over a picnic table on my bmx...1st time; sort of a manual nosedive type thing-came out clean; 2nd time; sort of just kind of rolling off nose first-came out clean; 3rd time; ripped my face open...

Ok, well I ripped my gum all the way down below my chin...to the point where the ER doc was worried that I was getting air and crap down in between the tissues around my esophagus or something...gawd am I glad I set it up so I wasn't landing to asphalt...I would have SERIOUSLY effed myself up if I did.

I was lucky though...no broken bones, no tearing of any major nerves, no concussion, a few surface abrasions on my face, no knocked out/loose teeth,...just a ripped open gum with a crapload of grass and stuff in it that I had to gargle and spit out (hurt like a mofo) a shitload of stitches in my gum (soft tissue=multiple layers of stitches) and soft foods for a few days...ACTIVIAAAAAHHH!!!! On the way to the hospital, I was still well enough to talk on the phone to tell mom what happened...didn't even barely hurt...worst part was the novacaine they gave me in the ER before the first surgery...then I was admitted, stayed the night, and had the final surgery with the face/throat/ears doctor or whatever she was...went home after about 16 hours spent total...

Upon request, I will upload the full (maybe partially edited) video of the crash. This is just part of it...let it load and skip to 6:16 if you just want to see the crash...and yes, my friend was laughing at me the whole time.





MTBMX from Tibug George on Vimeo.


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