Fun, Lost and Broken

On September 14, 2004 I flipped my four wheeler, got lost and broke my wrist all in one fun-filled day. It started out like any other day of riding. My husband Gary and I were really excited when we arrived at Bel-Fair, an off road riding park in Bremerton. It was a beautiful sunny day and I was grateful it wasn’t raining. I hated riding in the rain. Rain makes the trails muddy and sloppy. As I was getting my gear on, there were other riders ripping up the track, which we were parked next to. They were sending clouds of dust every where and they were coating the vehicles parked in the parking lot. Their two stroke dirt bikes were so loud; I wished I had worn ear plugs. But the sound of them was making me even more excited.

When we finally hit the trails, nothing much happened, just Gary and I riding around the trails. Gary was on a dirt bike, so he decided to go of down another trail that my four wheeler couldn’t get down. So I decided to stay back and ride around this big mud puddle that was made by all the 4x4 trucks and Jeeps that shared the park with us. The mud puddle was so big and deep in the middle that no four wheelers could cross it. There were other riders who I didn’t know going through the shallow side of the mud puddle and I wanted to show off for them. So I decided to go through the side of the puddle and race up a steep hill next to the puddle. As I raced up the hill, a 4x4 Jeep started coming down the hill at me. I applied my front brake, but the four wheeler started to roll backwards. I tried not to panic and jumped off the four wheeler. After I jumped off, I tried using the back break, but the four wheeler was moving really fast. I lost control of the four wheeler, so I had to let it go. It proceeded to hit me in the thigh and left a huge bruise. Then it hit a tree stump and flipped over four times down the hill. There were three guys at the bottom of the hill watching this who ended up catching my four wheeler. I think subconsciously I was showing off for them and that is why I did something so stupid. I went down the hill to them and took a look at my four wheeler. I was sure I bent the handle bars or tweaked a rim, but the only thing wrong with it was a couple scrapes on the head light and fender. I looked around for Gary, but he was gone. When I got back to the truck, Gary was waiting for me there.

“Did you see what happened?” I asked.
“Yes I did,” Gary replied. “I was going to help you, but you looked alright.”
“Oh well, thanks a lot,” I said.
“Can you ride anymore, or are you done for the day?” Gary asked.
“No way,” I said. “I still want to ride.”

So for a couple more hours we rode the trails with no problems. Gary, whose bike is faster on the trails, got ahead of me and I lost him. I tried not to get upset at him for leaving me so far behind because he tends to daydream when he is riding. As I came around the corner trying to find Gary, there was a big root in the middle of the trail. I was so tired by then from the full day of riding I wasn’t being careful. So I hit the root really hard with my four wheeler and the handlebars snapped back, which sent excruciating pain up my wrist. I wondered then if I broke it, but I was so upset from losing Gary and being lost that I didn’t worry about it. I rode up and down the dirt path waiting for Gary to show up and I was getting more and more upset as time went by. I almost contemplated going on the main road to find my way back to the truck, but Gary finally showed back up a half hour later. He thought I was behind him the whole time until he finally realized I wasn’t. We decided that our day of riding was over, so we packed our bikes up and went home. The next day I couldn’t move my wrist and I knew I had broken it. Gary ended up taking me to the doctor’s office for x-rays. I was put in a cast for a month to see if it would heal without surgery, but it got worse. So the doctor went and got the surgeon to speak to me. That’s when I knew I was going to have to have surgery for the first time in my life. The surgeon came into the room and asked me how I broke it.

“Well doc, I broke it riding my four wheeler.” I said, “Who knew you could have fun, get lost and break your wrist, all in one day.”

I had surgery a month later and was back on my four wheeler four months later. Getting lost and breaking my wrist still didn’t stop me from having a fun-filled day riding my four wheeler.