Kicked While I Was Down By a Broken Leg!
Good morning! I know a lot of you won’t be reading this in the morning but that is when I write it. This is my special time when I sit with a really good cup of coffee in a quiet, pre-dawn, house and reflect on the crazy life I have lead so far. There are days when I cry, thinking about how badly I screwed it up and days when I cry with joy about the wonderful things that have happened along the way and how blessed I have been. So pretty much I cry a lot. Life has been such a roller coaster of ups, downs, and corkscrews. There are days, heck months when I just want to get off because I am getting sick and tired but then there are moments when you are at the apex of a climb and just for a moment you feel weightless. Like nothing in the world can get you down, all of life’s cares release and you just smile. Well, this isn’t one of those moments!
It was mid-February and my life was still a complete mess. We had just begun the remodel of our marriage and the shop was still an unruly monster that I didn’t know how to control. My only escape from the reality that I had created was to ride my dirt bike. I had quit drinking (one of many times in my life) so riding was the only time that my brain could let go and focus away from the mess I had created. Work was taking a ton of my time and I was in the very early stages of figuring out how to be “present” for my family. That word is in quotes because I was doing a terrible job of that still. I will go into that later. Anyway, one of the only times I had to ride was early in the morning on Saturday’s. So I started the “Dawn Patrol” on Saturdays before I opened the shop.
It was a cold February morning and I met a group of friends out at Peach Valley for a ride to clear my head before work. I remember that it was 27 degrees and cloudy. None of us were sure we really wanted to ride because of how cold it was but we decided to suit up and give it a shot. We all let our bikes warm up a little longer than normal and then started to turn some laps on the little practice track we had laid out. It was all going well, the temperature wasn’t actually too bad, the traction was pretty good and the worries and cares of life were slipping away as I focused on riding. I caught a friend of mine at the top of a hill and started to pass him around a left-hand turn. I was on the outside and had plenty of speed to get around him before the next little jump. I opened the throttle and began to accelerate when I heard his 450 light up. He was going to try to keep me at bay but I wasn’t having it. We charged towards the jump hard, side by side with ear to ear grins! As we approached the jump things started going south. We were drifting closer together and as we left the jump we were literally elbow to elbow. While we were air born we got even closer, and at the apex of our jump, we were tangled up. I just remember panicking and trying to kick him away with my left foot. Unfortunately for me and my lower leg, I waited too long to kick and we came back down to earth with my left ankle directly underneath his 450’s rear wheel. I am sure you can imagine the effect of a 250-pound motorcycle with a 180-pound human landing on bones. It wasn’t good! I was ripped off of the bike and laid on the ground wondering what had just happened. Well… I can tell you what happened. The combined weight and force equaled one bazillion psi of pressure on my tibia and fibula and they exploded!!! My friends got me to the hospital quickly and I had emergency surgery to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. In the time it takes for a 450 to fall from the sky I was in a physical and financial world of hurt.
The leg was bad, and the hospital bill was going to be steep even with insurance but the real rub was that I was a one-man show at Highland Cycles, and now I was going to be a 3/4 of a man show in a wheelchair. I was already in the pit of despair emotionally and now I was physically in a real tight spot (O brother where art thou reference) too. I didn’t know what to do and I began to panic as I sat at home a couple days after the wreck. I had to get back to work but I couldn’t even drive. To say that my outlook on life was grim is an understatement of epic proportions. But, like every other obstacle in life, when I was at the bottom a miracle happened that changed the direction of my life for the better!
Thanks for reading again! I know this is a bit of a cliffhanger but I have to keep you all coming back right?? Have a great day and remember to be thankful for all you have.
Today I am grateful for Sunshine on the Rocky Mountains, DIRTBIKES, and Breakfast!
