Arrived in Derby on the 30th with 10 stitches in my side and a torn muscle in my back... an 8am visit to Mersey hospital at Latrobe after getting off the boat kitted me out with painkillers for the trip.
All started well, though I was a bit reserved on some trail features which was annoying.
Day 5 we did the Bay Of Fires trail completely (Did the fire 14km on day 2, then down to Weldborough), ~3km in I did a small jump and the front wheel washed out on the soft sandy berm, slammed the upside wall of the trail... sprained wrist and 2 sprained fingers.
Was managing on 1 Panadeine Forte with 1 panadol, now on 2 at a time. Now I'm feeling every bump...
After 8 days in Derby we headed to Maydena, awesome as usual but getting very rough on a lot of the flow trails.
Back to Derby again for another 7 days, feeling ok.
Damn Bay Of Fires trail again on out 11th day at Derby, full trail again, 6km from the end I was absolutely belting across the top, strava says 41kph, I reckoned about 30ish, fast corner and a bit of a sideway drift on the quartz sand, outside pedal clipped a grasstree root/stump... I remember nothing.
Kids said I did an OTB-360°, ended up 10-12M down the trail from where the impact with the root was... off to St Helens hospital, 1-2 broken ribs... possibly more and pretty deep gravel rash to arms and legs... FFS !
So took it easy for a couple of days, still managed 40km over the 2 days on the Missus smashed up (another story below) ebike, bit of swimming in the Briseis hole, then packed in the painkillers for our 14th and last days riding, 2-3 shuttles and a ride up rusty crusty, felt it the next day though.
^^^The missus, went with the kids for a quick Dam Busters on Day 4, got 100m from Black Stump on the fire road and OTB in a pothole, trashed herself and her ebike, bruises all over her body, broken cheek bone, black eye and cuts down her cheek and neck. More Hospital visits and about $800-$1000 ebike damage.
So it seems both us 2 adults are useless, visiting 4 different Tassie Hopsitals between us, Mersey, Scottsdale, Launceston and St Helens.... I still got to ride everyday... even at a reduced capacity and pretty reserved until I forgot about my situation. Had an awesome time as usual and we'll be back.
Here a quickie of the Derby Tunnel, one of my times to reflect on why I have had 3 decent crashes in 3 weeks but zero crashes for about 5 years.
I also shot this in 1080 with the "low light" setting activated but the speed of the tunnel, stability and low light made it a blur... a bit dark but you get the idea.