arthur richards

Two weeks ago, I was mountain biking in Redwood Regional Park, up in the Oakland hills. I was doing the standard 8 mile loop - a ridge trail along the western side of a canyon with a steep descent to the canyon floor, followed by a steep ascent to a trail along the eastern ridge. Almost all the way down to the canyon floor, I saw a nice clear line - let off the brakes and went for it fast. I can't totally recall what happened - I think there was some sort of lip or ledge I couldn't see from above. Going over it, I think I threw my weight forward in surprise. When my front wheel hit the ground, I flipped over the handle bars. One of those "oh. shit." moments. I landed on my left shoulder. Fortunately, some poison-oak broke my fall.

I'm actually not positive about when in this sequence of events I got the poison-oak, but I wound up with a nasty case of it all over my body. And I mean ALL over...

Anyway, I bounced up after my fall - dazed but surprised and thankful I could actually get up. I thought I was fine - no serious pain. I gave myself a pat down to check for broken bones etc. When I touched my left shoulder, something definitely didn't feel right. But still no pain and I could move it, so I figured maybe I popped something out of line or who knows. That's when I started to get worried.

A quick look in my bag revealed that I must've also landed on my cell phone - it was totally busted. I figured I could probably walk the remaining mile or so to the parking lot at the bottom of the canyon and figure out what to do from there. After collecting my bike which landed a fair distance down the hill, I started the walk.

A few minutes later, another biker came down the hill. He stopped for me - which turned out to be a real blessing. He - Paul Maciel - whipped up a sling for me out of my jacket and carried my bag for me while we walked to the parking lot. He kept me in high spirits and took rad care of me. Once we got to the parking lot (where he had cell service), I was able to get ahold of my partner (I'm so glad she forced me to memorize her #!). In turn, she was able to get ahold of my brother (who lives close by and has a bike rack on his car) to come pick me up. Paul took me a little ways down the road to the "park residence" (sweet gig!) where they gave me some ice and kept me company while I waited for my bro.

He came shortly later - in style. He brought me a beer, a slice of pizza and an ice pack and took me to the hospital. After the long wait, the x-ray showed my fractured clavicle. They loaded me up with Vicodin and sent me home.

I've spent the last few weeks taking it easy (aside from a trip to Vegas), with my arm stuck in a sling. I lost out on a trip we'd been planning to the Grand Canyon, but it was replaced with an awesome week with my Dad and his wonderful new bride. They took great care of me while I laid around and played with my new ADP1 :)

I'm still trapped in the sling, but am off the Vicodin and am feeling much better. I'm starting to feel much more energetic and have been able to move my injured wing a bit more. But still stuck typing one-handed - argh! I've tried doing some programming work - one handed hacking just doesn't cut it.

The emotional toll this injury took on me caught me by surprise. Being active, adventuresome and on the go, I've done plenty of dangerous sh*t without really thinking twice. This has left me feeling incredibly vulnerable. Walking down the street the other day, my shoe came untied. I ducked into a doorway in downtown Oakland to tuck my shoelaces into my shoe so I wouldn't face-plant again (I have yet to master shoelace tying with one hand). My thoughts immediately went back to 6th grade science where I learned that predators will generally go for the weak and the injured first. I was sure I was done for.

Feelings of vulnerability are certainly not foreign to me, but the injury has given me a new appreciation of the feeling. I'm very lucky and feel very blessed to have received such wonderful care from my friends and family, and am deeply thankful for Paul's kind heart. With all of their help and support, I'm sure I'll be back to feeling invincible again shortly.