Great link mtb101!!.... the "Recovery Thread" has some encouraging reads.
I don't know the You Yangs very well hence doing the training run out there before the Yowie. I think it was in the Stockyards area riding around the lip of the old quarry. We were trying to retrace last year's route but lost the trail and found ourselves riding on a flat gravelly, slightly off camber section. (runs along side the down hill track with all the jumps......there's a rope that separates it). Anyway at about 15kph, I bunny hopped a rut from the recent rain and landed a bit off balance. The front wheel slid out from underneath me and the last thing I remember is thinking you dumb pr#ck, what a stupid accident. (it really was that stupid!) At that instant I was more worried about the loose gravel taking skin off / scratching up the bike, however as I went down the handle bars kept steering away from the direction I was falling (caught something on the ground I think) This cause me to hit the ground hard, and my shin (leg still clipped in) struck the edge of another rut (this time a rocky one), bending it around the mid section of my lower leg. I actually saw and felt my leg flex, but didn't feel a snap. However I knew straight away it was broken by the pain.
X-Ray showed a broken tibia and fibula just above the ankle. Initially the othopaed was going to perform the stadard internal fixation proceedure of sticking a rod down the middle of the tibia, and a plate and screws for the fibula. However late in the day they decided to do a CT as my ankle appeared larger than normal. I was pulled from surgery at the last minute (in the preop room at the time) as becuase the CT was done late in the day they hadn't had a chance to review it yet. All I can say is thank Christ because after seeing the CT the surgeons delayed my op for 12 hours and revised the treatment of my tibia completely.......fixation with an L-plate and screws......they'd found the knob at the base of the bone had also split meaning treating it with a rod down the middle would have pushed it further open making it worse..... not good given that this area forms the top of the ankle joint that bears the load. According to the docs it was a tricky op and all up it took 4 1/2 hours, but the end result apparently, was good fracture reduction and complete close up of the spit knob with a screw through the ankle (sounds a bit rude.... I actually know a bloke who split his real knob mountain biking, good story!).
It's now 4 1/2 weeks since the accident and my leg feels great. I got out of bed this morning forgetting that it's broken and nearly put my body weight on it! I also started physio last week (I'm in a moon boot) and have a good range of movement in my ankle, probably 3/4 of what it was, although it's still pretty stiff. All these are good signs and with a bit of luck I'll begin weight bearing in 2 weeks....... Just have fingers crossed for bone fusion.... the 8 week X-Ray will tell.
Anyway that's my story. I was pretty p#issed off at the time, as since taking up the sport 2 years ago it's only lately that I've started to get a handle on the technical aspect and finally started to see some fitness reward all the training. (didn't do much before mtb)
I'm targetting a ride to work before Christmas (34km round trip) and a return to off road March next year. Good to have a couple of goals.
...... makes me feel better about myself but would much rather read about someone who's come out the other end to ride and race another day. 
