Went round the Kitchener as the young un and I have done many times, and decided to have a play in the bike park (having seen it on vids and realising it isn’t exactly downhill rated etc etc)

First ride down was very good. Stayed left and went over the jumps and stones at a fair pace. The young un was only a few seconds behind me, and as a 14yr old girl on a 100mm hardtail I figured she’d done well. (and believed it was quite tame as people suggested)

We were happy and went to have another go.

Set off and the next thing I remember is sitting down next to a broken bike with a family stood next to me.

It seems I got it wrong somehow and ended up with a snapped front rim and the wheel bent at a nice angle and a snapped carbon handle bar.

I also lost half an hour of my life as I had no idea who I was, where I was or what had happened.

Didn’t lose consciousness but have put 4 cracks in my helmet where the side of my head hit something. Took 30 minutes to come round properly and those 30 minutes were very odd. Still don’t know how I actually crashed or remember the crash itself.

Apart from a big bill for broken bits, some road rash and a headache I seem to be ok now.

The moral of this story is please remember to use a helmet and never underestimate a trail !

Also a great big thanks to the family that nursed me round and escorted me and my young un back to the car park.

If you happen to be a member on here please let me know so I can thank you once again 🙂

Glad you are OK. Hope you find the helper.

Wow? Whereabouts did you crash?

Didn’t lose consciousness

Is it you who is saying this or them?

Hope you have a quick recovery.

erm youve been checked out at A&E, right?

it can happen anywhere

You gonna sue? Everyone else does lol

Blimey glad you’re ok but

You need to get checked out mate.

Car park? Did you drive home?

Hopefully Twonks it at A&E getting scanned. Losing 30 minutes is serious stuff and an overnight brain bleed would not be a barrel of laughs for Mrs Twonks.

I had a fall, many years ago as a child. Came too, sitting in my back garden. Had absoluteley no idea how long I’d been there or how I got back home. Slowly, over a few weeks, bits came back & could I recall hitting a concrete bollard head first. Even now, I can’t fully recall the full events leading up to getting home, but even now, every couple of years my memory will suddenly be jogged by something & a little bit more will fill in. 😕

Get yourself checked over OP.
Hoping you didn’t drive home…very foolish no matter how ok you felt.

Glad you ok though, if that makes any sense.

I was in Sherwood yesterday. i saw the young lad a couple of times on the trail, really nice polite lad.

I also saw you and the family, from the other bike park trail as i rode down, wish i’d come across to see, but from where i was it just looked like you where all having a break.

Later on I saw the lad again riding with two bikes and he explained what had happened and that you where ok,

hope all is well.

I had a similar side impact to my head with brief loss of consciousness and a longer spell of being senseless (and broken carbon fibre). It was a good week until the headache went.

Luckily I didn’t break my helmet. That was safely tucked away at home.

@mrblobby +1, I suppose you felt you had no choice but driving home wasn’t a good idea. I assume you’ve told your wife/significant other so they can keep an eye on you. A trip to AE would have been wise.

Puts me off carbon bars even more

Hi all. Thanks for the good words and similar stories.

When we got back to the car I felt surprisingly alright, however I tried to call friends to come and get me.

Nobody was in and the OH was on a two day course miles away – typical.

The young un and I had a good walk around and went into the shop to make sure I could read small print and was fully compos mentous etc.

So unfortunately I did drive home but it was slow and steady all the way.

I fell asleep when we got home and slept more or less right through to today. Been to A&E this morning as I woke up with a banging head and feel like I’ve been hit by a bus.

All is relatively well though and no lasting damage. The right hand side of my bod is scratched and bruised but the docs took blood tests and had me do a few memory and co-ordination games before letting me on my way.

With the awful story of the guy passing at Cannock, It seems I have been rather lucky !

Shep, may I ask if he young lad (who yes was a very good guy) actually said what I did to cause the crash? All I know is that it totalled my front wheel and bars, and also forced the suspension to bottom out as the o ring indicator was tight against the top.

I still don’t what I did, but I was wondering if my wheel collapsed and caused it as I was going over a slab, or if simply got a jump wrong.

Glad your ok! Scary stuff really.

Had my first fall at sherwood on the downhill section, hit a jump at the wrong angle and landed in the looser stuff at the side and without time to think i was in a heap at the side of the track! I was lucky that it was just my knee and elbow taking the brunt of it, but could have been much worse.

Stay safe.

Shep, may I ask if he young lad (who yes was a very good guy) actually said what I did to cause the crash? All I know is that it totalled my front wheel and bars, and also forced the suspension to bottom out as the o ring indicator was tight against the top.

He didn’t i’m afraid.

We stopped him just before you got back to the visitors centre, purely because he was riding a bike and pushing another, Which was a bit odd. He just said you’d had a bad crash and the bike wasn’t repairable, and you where heading back. So we carried on.

I stayed to the far right route of the bikepark so don’t know the area where I could see you all where, and if there where any major jumps/drops etc there.

Again I’m sorry I didn’t ride across, I saw you a few bikers and a lady with a dog so assumed you had all stop for a chat.

No worries. Guess it will be just one of those things. Please don’t feel sorry for not coming over. I was being taken care of and to any body else it just looked like somebody walking with a buggered bike.

The lad, his dad, mum and dog all walked up with us back up to the car park. The spare bike he was riding with was his mums I think.

My bike needs a new front wheel and bars. Not sure how the bars snapped but I’m guessing they dug in the ground as I stopped. Does question whether I should get more or back to alloy.

Think I’ll stick to wheels on the ground in future.

Glad you’re ok now and you got some help getting back to the car.