while riding a favorite local trail with a few riding buddies yesterday, one of us encountered a major facial injury.
"bike & hike Phil" Maess took a severe fall that ended in a face plant to wood. he ended up getting 9 external stitches and a few internal, a cuncussion, and a bruised up face. (forehead and chin mainly). upon arrival at the hospital, i noticed the bruises coming in strong on the forehead< didn"t even realize they were there before that. NONE of the 4 riders there ever thought to take a look at his helmet. he did when he returned home only to find the inner structure broken to hell with a dent in the forehead region on the outside. i realized at this point that CHECKING HELMETS FOR IMPACT is a necessity after a crash of that magnitude. we never even thought to see if a head injury "could" have occured, was just worried about tending to the facial damages. lesson learned. click on the photo to see the damages before the hospital visit.... i will get another today for the "after" shot.
moral of this story, remember to always wear your helmet, and ride within your limits. (although, this time we were not being ignorant, just a bad deal) everyone be safe and enjoy your trails.