A misfortunate connection between rock and front wheel. A simple push in the wrong direction. And before I know it I’m freefalling, bouncing, falling again then tumbling. The terrain is scrub, it’s grass, there’s rock. I’m not sure which way is up, which way I’m facing but I did know I needed to try do something to slow or stop my travel. I splayed my arms out, or at least I felt like I did and somehow for something caused me to stop.
Lets backtrack a wee bit. With a long weekend fast approaching and a long desire to ride The Old Ghost Road I called up my friend Pete to jack up a trip. Pete is a bike packing fanatic, it took 2mins of chatting and another adventure was born!
It was day 1 and we had ridden 27km. Amidst the panaromic views, stark ridgelines, snow capped peaks and endless valleys. I was in awe, loving it all, in my element. Then a simple mistake, a fall and suddenly I’m sitting above a rock slab, 50m below the track, thinking WTF!! Gravity kicked me in the guts by allowing me to witness my beloved bike bounce off a rock and land 10m further down…oh well better than my head I guess. A quick asessment of the damage revealed a broken wrist and a gash above the knee. Ok nothing too serious…but faarrrk a broken wrist?
With Petes help I clambered back up to the track, he then retrieved my bike…impressively no obvious cracks in the frame, thank you carbon! Running out of daylight hours, the decision was made to walk to the next hut (our intended overnight stay) just 3-4km away. The intrepid duo of brothers behind us were more than helpful and offered to walk our bikes while I focussed on walking and Pete monitored me for shock! It was only twice that I almost fell over…ice & bike shoes not such a good mix!
Painrelief, hot food, warm clothes & snow in lieu of ice for the wrist before hunkering down for sleepless night. (On a side note, people who snore really shold be forced to camp at a 500m distance from the hut!). The following morning, I arose stiff, sore and swollen knowing the only answer was a long day on the feet to make our way back to the car at Lyell. Trip = fail.
And so begun the 30km hike a bike, in bike shoes, pushing my bike with my one remaining useful hand. At least the views were still good and the terrain was mostly downhill. A long 6hrs later the car was a welcome sight. 28Hrs post injury I made to to A&E. By this stage I had plenty of time to accept a broken wrist and a month of inactivity. My brain wasn’t prepared to think past this so when I was told I had sustained a nasty fracture requiring surgery and 8 weeks of incapacity I was devastated!
Following four nights in two different hospitals surgery was over and I travelled home with a bleak outlook of no biking, no kayaking and no working for 8 weeks!
Typically adventure brings us many rewards but sometimes theres a price to pay and for me that price is usually in the form of a broken bone. Some may interpert it as a sign to stick to safer recreational activities (think knitting, jigsaw puzzles and movie watching) but for me the rewards are worth the risk & it’s hard to kill the spirit of adventure! So for now recovery and rehab. See you out there in Spring…you might even spot me conquering demons on the Old Ghost Road.
Thanks to Torpedo7 for understanding the madness of it all, Pete for helping me get out of there on two feet, the medical crew at Dunedin Hospital and finally my Alex physio family for helping to patch me back up again!
To see more from Fiona follow her on Instagram: Fi_Dowling
