As we climbed up Oakenclough out of Coldwell Clough, we saw a constant stream of not very cheerful looking riders coming the opposite way on a 38 mile race starting in Hope. I decided to open the gate onto the field beside (the way we always used to go before the fence was built) so we'd not be in their way. Julia said she just saw a pair of legs in the air, not the actual impact, but as I followed the others I saw a cluster looking over the fence, and when I got there I saw a bloke lying on the ground guarding his shoulder. I thought it was a broken collar bone, but he said it was dislocated. Some of us climbed over the fence and wrapped him up, as Ben (a vet as it happens) said it was important to keep him warm and there was a chill breeze. Graham and I sat close on either side to provide some warmth and shelter from the wind while Paul called out the grid ref to someone on the phone to mountain rescue. Julia had made a sling out of an inner tube (she was in the Brownies) and Graham adjusted it for comfort. Riders continued to stream past, some enquiring if Chris (the faller) was OK, some just concentrating on the race. Julia made some comment about the unsuitable footwear of one of the riders so I asked if that was to be the entertainment while we waited, slagging off each passing rider 🙂

They said yes, so I pointed out Chris couldn't even ride his bike properly, which made even him smile 🙂 He asked me to get his phone so he could call his sister to collect his bike (this was his main worry as he didn't think MR would look after it for him). I noticed he suddenly went very quiet as he tried to stow his phone and realised he'd jogged his shoulder and was in more pain 🙁 He started to shiver so we wrapped him in a space blanket too. JP crowded close for warmth so I pulled him in for a cuddle and he said "No tongues!" :o) I was more diffident about Chris as a) I don't know him b) I was worried about jogging his shoulder.

Then some utter nobber, who'd been clearly rubbernecking as he rode towards us, fell off his bike, hitting Graham, Julia and JP and very narrowly avoiding landing on top of poor Chris (I gave him a shove out of the way). He rode off apologising shamefacedly.

Someone thought they heard a siren, but then I suddenly heard rotors and spotted a helicopter making a beeline straight for us thatnks to Paul's accurate reference. They dropped into the field nearby, and a very pretty nurse, another paramedic and the pilot came over and started checking Chris out. Once they'd given him some morphine (he said his pain was 9/10!) they also broke out the Entenox before cutting (with his permission) the arm of his jersey to get a look at the injury. It looked bad, with a big bump on his shoulder. He said it was ashame he had no mirror, so I took a shot and showed him on my camera, which had him effing in alarm! While this was going on, mountain rescue arrived in a landy. I was surprised they'd not been told about the air ambulance, as it seemed unnecessary duplication of effort, but they were kind enough to take Chris's bike back to Hayfield to leave it with the marshals (setting his mind at rest). They decided against stretchering Chris to the huey as it was only 50m to a gate in the fence and he was able to walk there with support and more gas & air.

They lifted off for Whythenshawe soon after, but not before the nurse had asked me about mountain biking clubs as she was interested :o)

pics soon…

of the nurse no doubt then sfb

yes, the nurse will feature :o)

Ouch… Poor guy, lucky that you guys were there to help him.

Healing vibes the Chris.

yes, the nurse will feature :o)

stop typing away man & get the totty, Oops I mean nice nurse shot on here quickly 😉

Edit: good man you got there before me………….

Blimey are you lot midgets or is Chris a very tall fella??

Poor JP doesn't look too happy about being cuddled :o)

Blimey are you lot midgets or is Chris a very tall fella??

I think he must be damn tall – they said he was too big to lie down in the heli…

Yeah, thats not a dislocated shoulder…

Yeah, thats not a dislocated shoulder…

hmm, I thought that too, but there was no point contradicting him. IMO a broken clavicle is preferable – they mend better

thank **** I'm on the other side of Chris on that cuddlin' photo

hope Chris makes a speedy recovery

Yeah thats some lump – dont think its a dislocation either, his shoulder doesnt look like its hanging down much at all..

ps he doesnt half look p!ssed off in that latst pic!

thank **** I'm on the other side of Chris on that cuddlin' photo

I had no idea your masculinity was so threatened :o)

oh, I forgot a bit:

While we were waiting (it must have been an hour we were stopped all told), Chris wanted to ring his other half again, but was in too much pain to reach for his phone. He said it was in his lap. Julia said "That'll be up to me then!", as she felt for it, pretending to take no pleasure in it…

"Blimey are you lot midgets or is Chris a very tall fella??"

6ft 4ins he said

"That'll be up to me then!", as she felt for it, pretending to take no pleasure in it…

pocket billiards anyone? 😀

Reckon he could have torn the tendons in his shoulder rather than dislocating it or breaking his collarbone. A quick op or two and he'll be fine in a few weeks 😉

Mmmm nice nurse :0)

Good work guys, looks quite nasty that. Must make sure the space blanket is in the camelbak again…

In defence of the "utter nobber", i was following him and he wasn't rubbernecking. One of the women tending to the injured fella stepped back into the track. He hit her first and crashed.

They decided against stretchering Chris to the huey

[anorak mode]The 'copter is a Agusta 109E,not a huey[/anorak mode]

😉

The 'copter is a Agusta 109E,not a huey

oh, I thought it was just an abbreviation for helicopter…

One of the women tending to the injured fella stepped back into the track. He hit her first and crashed.

Julia denies that and claims to have been crouching at the time. He appeared to dive between us as we were gathered round Chris

Broken collar bone or possibly a separated shoulder. Either way good work simon and friends.

whatever – it was a very nice smellycopter with very nice people inside – as for the looney who crashed into the folks – well we will have to agree to disagree – lets just say that from where I was stood – he certainly wasn't looking where he was going. Yes we were on the obvious best line down that track but we couldn't really get out the way.

In retrospect we should have made a pile of bikes to deflect the oncoming riders…

Good work SFB and co. 🙂
I've coe off on Oajkenclough before, suffered cracked ribs. It's actually quite a deceptive descent, you can get a fair bit of speed down it but it's quite loose and rutted at times.

To the rider – get well soon!

I thought it ironic that he'd ridden all the craggy rocks and dropoffs on the trail above, only to fall on a relatively tame rutted track – but that's the point I guess, it doesn't look too bad so you relax…

oh, I thought it was just an abbreviation for helicopter…

My comment was all tongue in cheek,Simon 😉

Good work from you all btw,healing vibes to Chris.
Bet Graham enjoyed the extra training,riding down to Hayfield & back to point the way to the mrt.

Good point sfb – how many times have I ridden a techie section & then nearly piled in on an easy bit all cos Id switched off for a few secs…

well, it was only simple human decency, and we were just out for a fun ride, not racing or anything important like that…

Birdie, your as big a knob as the rubber necker idiot. I was on the other side of the injured party to Julia and on the RH side of the track when you came riding down. Mr Nobber and you were and you were riding down the LH side of the track when he lost it in a rut due to " rubbernecking " he managed to hit 3 of us and luckily for Chris didn't land on his injured shoulder. Instead of slagging off people who wasn't in the event and actually stopped to tend a fellow mountainbiker, you should be making sympathetic enquiries about his wellbeing.

Is the guy in the middle offering complimetary relief?

he was holding down the blanket to keep out the draught 🙂

Or helping to deliver a baby?

Hope the lad heals well / soon. I saw a load of the challengers on the other side of the hill.

Big medal to you and your team for helping him out, just hope if I ever get into trouble others will be as hlpful as your crew

*remembers he still ahsn't done those first aid courses he keeps meaning to*

It worked out well for us in the end. One of the lads had been about to turn back as he was feeling knackered, but after the nice rest he was able to continue and finish the ride (Jacob's Ladder, Hollins X, Mam Tor, Rushup Edge, The Roych, Coldwell Clough, Hayfield)

*remembers he still ahsn't done those first aid courses he keeps meaning to*

Worth trying to find out if work will pay for you to do something. HSE regulations mean there are supposed to be a fair number of qualified first aiders on site. I've done a couple of one day courses and am off on a 3 day one soon.

RichPenny…..Totally agree with what your saying but we were independent of the event ride and although several of the event riders who stopped to ask if we were OK none were qualified first aiders. The other thing that became clear is that anyone who did stop didn't have an emergency contact number in case an accident happened. This should be addressed for future events because it could happen to any of you ?? It was mentioned that an emergency contact number was mentioned on the entry form website but it seems none of the passing riders made note of it on their mobiles or otherwise. Maybe a good idea for future events to include an emergency contact number on the event ID number each rider has on the front of his / her bike ?

Sorry, the on site bit refers to someones workplace , not the event! Would totally agree about the emergency number part. Have done a winter race in the past where a young lad was almost hypothermic and it took ages for marshals etc. to sort it out. If we hadn't been there he'd have been in serious trouble.

I've had a look at my pic of Chris's number tag, and it appears to have the number of The Bike Station (the sponsor ?) on it.

This is all that was left for mountain rescue (but very welcome all the same!)