Really sorry to read about this dude. I hope your wife is ok. Terrible news.
Of course please use the thread. I'm open to the title being updated to cater for wider needs.
All the best man.
Thx. As I said I wasn't trying to derail the purpose of the thread but rather highlighting a concern about track design that is very personal to me.
I've spent way to much time in hospital here in Canberra and in particular the fracture clinic. And the statistic one of the nurse told me was that they see one patient per day that has come off and broken themselves at Stromlo... that still blows me away.
As pointed out earlier in the thread there is a point that appears to be somewhere between upper beginner and intermediate level where some riders just start to take unconscious risks that are right at the limit of their skill level. The consequences of this combined with where they choose to ride results in these types of accidents.
In the case of the bottom of the 4x track, the bloke that died was participating in the military champs the day before 24hr worlds in 2013. He hit the step down nose heavy, over the bars and skidded off to the side of the track and hit a large rock that was placed to demarcate the track head first. He died at the scene. Police cordoned the area with tape, and I spent 25hrs riding laps past this the next day just looking at the tape every lap... and this is why it's just stuck with me so vividly. An assessment was done by the park and the rock removed... QED
Except my wife rode the dirt de femme last year in May, same story hit the drop too hard too weight forward over the bars, knocked out for 5 mins, multiple upper body fractures due to landing on the head/ neck area, and an ambulance ride.
Whilst I was standing there with the marshals waiting on the ambo, a further three woman crashed on the same feature, same failure mode but no serious injuries...
Nothing has been done despite these repeated accidents.
