#^$%@! - Mammoth TR

National Championship DH race this weekend. I love that course (upper Velocity to Chainsmoke). The first practice run was totally terrifying, the rock gardens at the top are nuts, but by race day, I had it. I had cleaned every section and it's such a blast.

Got up to the top for my race, and as usual, I was nervous as hell and feeling like crap. But for the first time ever, I got into the start gate, chilled out and started feeling nothing but focused. I usually race stiff and nowhere near as well as I ride in practice, but for a change, I felt fantastic during a race. Cleaned the top, railed the nasty g-out corner, and then somewhere in the loose stuff, I dabbed a foot. My friends watching said it didn't look like anything at all - it wasn't even a hard dab, but I heard a pop, knee collapsed and I said out loud "Oh God, ACL." Being an idiot, a split second later I said "Fuck that shit, this is the National Championship and I'm winning it." Yes, I need therapy. I jumped back on my bike, couldn't really weight what used to be my "good" knee and took off. And I somehow was riding really well again - friends watching said I was killing it and looked great. Until I dissappeared into the trees and never came back out. Everything was fine until the next time I dabbed with my right foot. This time it felt like my foot came up to my chest in the wrong direction. I screamed, couldn't get up to get my bike, and that was that. First time I've ever had to get carted off a mountain, because at that point all I could do was crawl. I cried for a minute thinking about skiing while I was waiting for the truck, and then decided to cut it out and just focus on getting fixed and ready for the next thing I can do. And then I drank a LOT.

But anyway, I'll be fine, whatever it is that's wrong with my knee (right now it's just stiff and swollen but I can weight it and bend it, albeit really slowly because it's stiff), and despite everything, I can't wait to race again next season. (with double knee braces in the future...) I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that it isn't what I think it is and maybe it'll be okay for winter... Ortho's office opens in 44 minutes so I can call for an appointment.

Dammit.

bugger, heal up fast, kiddo.

aaarrrgh! no effing way.

sounds like you were dialed in. what a crappy way to DNF, you didn't even wad.

i'm really hoping its jsut a mild sprain for your sake, you have been under that knife way to much.
way to keep your head up.

'the maggot collective', a.k.a 'the knee reconsturction support group'

2 racked up AG's at once!?!? Alta won't be the same early on potentially without you 2 at the top of your games.

Sorry 'bout the race; we were rooting for ya. Heal up; winter is right around the corner.

You better be able to ski this season. I still haven't gotten to make turns w/ you two.

Sucks your race run was ended prematurely. I hope it's nothing serious. Keep us updated.

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Originally Posted by basom

way to keep your head up.

'the maggot collective', a.k.a 'the knee reconsturction support group'

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No kidding... The DH crowd was full of sympathizers with rebuilt knees too. Hell, we were sharing stories of needing stitches on the ride home and I think it took an hour for the five of us to run out of personal accounts. Always good to be around people who understand... :)

re: keeping my head up... I had a couple people comment that by the time they saw me being carted off, I was smiling so they figured I was alright... I was actually laughing at myself because at first I was wishing I had a baseball bat to bust my helmet into a million pieces. (Not sure what my helmet did to deserve that, but I guess it would just be less expensive to replace than my bike would be...) I think I went through the whole denial-acceptance-sadness-anger-screw it I'm getting drunk cycle in about 20 minutes. Now I'm just dying to see my doc so I can get moving getting it fixed. 13 minutes until I can call for an appointment...

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Originally Posted by altagirl

I cried for a minute thinking about skiing while I was waiting for the truck, and then decided to cut it out and just focus on getting fixed and ready for the next thing I can do. And then I drank a LOT.

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That's tough.

Sorry about your race and your knee, though. :( Heal fast!

Good luck and +++++++++++++vibes from the EC. Hoping it isn't as bad as you think.........

Thanks guys!

My OS had a cancellation this morning so I'm there in an hour.

good luck AG

cant imagine early season Brighton & alta with out seeing you 2 every day i am out

Dammit all to hell.

Sorry to hear that AG. Hoping for the best with the doc visit. Heal fast and heal well.

Noooooooooooooo!

I'll be thinking only the best outcomes for ya AG...please keep us posted.

that sucks big time. Hope you guys heal up quickly.

best of luck AG. Also postive thoughts for Steve Wentz. I heard he broke his back :(

edit: here's some more details: http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/sho...=1#post1263514

Sorry, AG.

++++++++++ Hope it isn't as bad as you think.

good luck with the OS.

Hope you heal up fast, your accomplishments thus far are impressive!!

I'm very sorry to hear about your knee. But also excited to hear about how you were killing the course. You guys ride sooo fast. :eek: I'm sure, at that level of competition, there's not much room between winning and wreaking.

Hope the Doc gives you the best news possible. :cool:

You guys can barrow my BW350. No tall seat to kick your leg over, lots of traction, and electric start. ;)

That's nuts. :( Heal up fast lady!

So sorry to hear that! Heal up fast - you are THE maggette mtb role model! Hope the news is not bad when you see your doc!

Fingers crossed- hoping you hear good news at the Doc.

Back from the doc...

My ACL isn't "grossly unstable". Meaning it isn't any looser than my other knee (but that one has been kindof stretched since my last injury). Therefore my ACL could still be intact, but with swelling it's hard to know for sure because the swelling could be making it feel that much more stable than it is. X-ray showed that the little notch that often rips off when you tear the ACL is still intact, and also that I still have good space/no arthritis (which is somewhat amazing). So that's all good, and he could tell that my MCL, LCL, PCL are all definitely fine. So it's just the ACL and medial meniscus that are in question. MRI tomorrow afternoon and then I'll go back in next Monday for results and to get a better exam without all the swelling (i.e. I need to keep my knee elevated and iced for a week). It's not ridiculously swollen right now, so that's good. And I'm walking on it better now than I was yesterday.

He said with the swelling and popping it's most likely not nothing... but it could just be meniscus tears that caused the pops and instability. And in my other knee that was like 5 weeks until I was back on my bike. So maybe... (fingers crossed)

Anyway - back to focusing on getting the swelling down, taking care of myself, and I guess just upper body at the gym for the next week. Sucks having two gimps around the house (our poor dog is starting to really need some exercise). Guess we just have to take turns fetching ice. Luckily he said I don't need crutches right now because Mr.AG is using my old ones and we only have one pair for some reason...

Edit: Hey! That sounds like good news. I hope the MRI comes out negative. Now you just need to teach the dog how to fetch beers for the both of you. :D

I was driving up 395 on Wednesday and stopped to get some gas in Bishop. A guy at the pump next to me noticed the mtb on my Jeep and asked if I was in town for the races. My response, "No, I suck." So, we shot the shit while our cars were filling up. Turns out he worked at Mammoth and helped build some of the courses. He mentioned the dh course was off chair 3 and mumbled something scary about, "The rocks...[shakes head]...they're ridiculous... I couldn't even imagine riding that course."

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Originally Posted by hev

best of luck AG. Also postive thoughts for Steve Wentz. I heard he broke his back :(

edit: here's some more details: http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/sho...=1#post1263514

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Dammit. That really sucks. Super glad to hear he's supposed to recover fully.

We saw a number of people getting carted off over the course of the weekend, but I didn't even hear about that one. Where did he wreck?

well at least that is initially good news. Good luck with the MRI

Super lame AG! Sorry to hear about the knee...but fingers crossed you're right there with your hubby in line for first day on the new Alta lift...

And on a selfish note: "DANGIT there go our free Moab shuttle drivers!!!" ;)
Or maybe you both want to come down to the desert and drink a lot between shuttle runs??? Hehe.