Livin’ the La Vida Loca Lifestyle Left-handed

After 5 days of L5 (title) I decided to take a good look at my injuries and the causes of the injuries since tomorrow I leave for Boston and will be blogging about that adventure then – and after that Tampa, so now is as good a time as any to finish up about the accident.

I have taken pictures – the only one I want to warn you about is my hand…it not that bad (nothing like JT’s pics) but it does show my stitches and the fact that I really did almost lose my thumb. Oh well, I didn’t so it’s not that big of a deal. Now on to my findings:

First I am sad to say that I do not have a picture of the hill I was coming down, but I can describe it to you. It is roughly a 10 degree or so hill that is only about 4’ wide (max). It is really part of a walking path that encompasses a local high school and the part I was longboarding on was by far the hilliest part – the rest is fairly flat. After looking at the destruction of my board, the distance I flew (min 40 feet) I have calculated that I was going at least 30mph if not actually closer to 40 when I came to a dead stop. First I will show you what happened to my board…then to my personal injuries.

I will start with my wheel that is the cause of this. My right rear wheel hit a rock (either a big one or an average one but I was going so fast it stopped me) and as you can see in the pics it tore a chunk out of it and ripped it in 2 places on each side. I think the first rip hooked my board and it slipped through to the second rip and then the chunk is what stopped me – albeit it all happened within a second.

Now please note my trucks and how they are broken. Yes, the metal actually broke. It broke all around the rear truck except for one side. This wreck seems to be much worse than I even imagined initially. I have skated for almost 20 years now (off and on) and this is the first truck I have broken on a wreck like this. I have broken a couple before but it is usually kingpins (which is common) or the fact that I tried to break them. Never on accident. You can see how it should look compared to the front truck. You should not see all the black...there should be metal there...Oh well, I guess I’ll be shopping for trucks and wheels now before the beach.

On to my physical injuries. I’ll start with my feet. I’ll begin with my left foot. I can’t really get a pic of it but my arch is bruised a bit on the bottom and it still hurts a little to walk on. As you can see from the pics, my right ankle is still swollen from the sprain and it too still hurts to walk on. Oh well, it better be back to somewhat normal for the beach. It going to suck skimming with hurt feet – hahahaha.

Now my hand. As you can see the 10 stitches are pretty good and I went back esterday to get a final on them. The doc said, wow, looking good. They will need to come out Tuesday. Of course I told him I will be in Boston and then in Tampa so I won’t be back for them to take them out. This guy was so cool. He gave me everything I needed to do it myself. The bandages, medicine, stripes, paste etc. He said, you strike me as someone who can easily do this yourself and it will save you a trip from the doctor while you’re away. Of course I told him thank you very much. It’s been a while but I have done it before and I’m sure I can do it again. I will be sure and report on it for you when I do it.

My eye had also bee bothering me a little over the past few days but it is back to normal now and isn’t red or anything anymore. That’s good.

Now it is time for me to go dose up on ibuprofen and pack for my trip.



“And kids, you could learn a lot from a dummy. Buckle your safety belt.”