Joined
·
148 Posts
To wear a helmet or not to wear a helmet, that is the question.
That question was answered for me Saturday morning.
10 of us went on a ride to the Nelson area of Southern Nevada which is near the Colorado river in the Laughlin area, where I have ridden before.
It is located at or near 35deg47’24.04” / 114deg 52’59.14”.
While the others were unloading and gearing up I put on my helmet and gloves and proceeded to warm up the Griz by riding it around. While warming it up I decided to climb a large ridge with the intention of going about ½ way up and turning around to the right and heading back down.. The terrain up there is either solid rock or loose sharp jagged rocks. If you look at the google map you can see the main road leading to the parking lot and a hill just north of that with several trails heading up the ridge. The second trail has a turnoff near the bottom and a second turnoff, the middle one, about a hundred yards or so higher, and then a third one just before the top. As I began ascending the ridge my intention was to turn around on the second trail and head back down. The second trail down is more pronounced than it appears on google earth. Right near that point my left wheels went off the rocky ridge and caught the softer dirt in the small valley. I then decided that is would be easier to turn into the valley instead of fighting the quad to make back to the ridge, and then I could just ride the quad down the valley to the bottom.
Well as I was descending the hill at less than 5mph there appeared a drop off of about 12-24” that I didn’t see until I was right on top of it. It is hard to see in Google earth but this descent is probably a 45degree descent before the dropoff.
I remember telling myself that I needed to throttle up to lift my front wheels off the ground or I would certainly flip the quad. The next thing I remember is all of my buddies were next to me holding me up, my helmet was off and crushed and my quad was ¼ mile away next to my truck and I was evidently making stupid remarks and saying things like "Far out, what happened?"... "Far out what happened?"... "Wow, what happened?".. "Far out, where am i and what happened?"
According to my buddies who were at the bottom of the hill, I hit the aforementioned dropoff and went over the handlebars and the Grizz rolled over me and rolled once or twice more landing on its wheels. As they approached me I had already began removing my helmet, which I don’t remember.
Putting all the stories together again it appears that I was unconscious for 3-5 minutes. My helmet was crushed, I got 6 staples in my right arm, abrasions and gouges on my right shin, right thigh with a huge bruise, bruised and scraped ribs, right shoulder, and right thigh, possible cracked sternum or breast bone (going to my Dr. at 3:30 today,) and a black left eye and a large lump and scratch on my right temple from the helmet giving out and the plastic poking through striking my temple. (thats my assumption)
Also my goggles have a huge scratch in the left lens from a jagged rock that undoubtedly would have damaged if not destroyed my eye.
![]()
The Griz has a broken brand new PIAA light, bent my brand new Warn bumper, broken right brake lever, bent handle bars, and bent rear rack which I think was from hitting my helmet.
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
heres the left side of my helmet
![]()
![]()
and heres the right side
![]()
Remember I was descending very slowly <5mph
There is no doubt that my helmet saved my life.
That question was answered for me Saturday morning.
10 of us went on a ride to the Nelson area of Southern Nevada which is near the Colorado river in the Laughlin area, where I have ridden before.
It is located at or near 35deg47’24.04” / 114deg 52’59.14”.
While the others were unloading and gearing up I put on my helmet and gloves and proceeded to warm up the Griz by riding it around. While warming it up I decided to climb a large ridge with the intention of going about ½ way up and turning around to the right and heading back down.. The terrain up there is either solid rock or loose sharp jagged rocks. If you look at the google map you can see the main road leading to the parking lot and a hill just north of that with several trails heading up the ridge. The second trail has a turnoff near the bottom and a second turnoff, the middle one, about a hundred yards or so higher, and then a third one just before the top. As I began ascending the ridge my intention was to turn around on the second trail and head back down. The second trail down is more pronounced than it appears on google earth. Right near that point my left wheels went off the rocky ridge and caught the softer dirt in the small valley. I then decided that is would be easier to turn into the valley instead of fighting the quad to make back to the ridge, and then I could just ride the quad down the valley to the bottom.
Well as I was descending the hill at less than 5mph there appeared a drop off of about 12-24” that I didn’t see until I was right on top of it. It is hard to see in Google earth but this descent is probably a 45degree descent before the dropoff.
I remember telling myself that I needed to throttle up to lift my front wheels off the ground or I would certainly flip the quad. The next thing I remember is all of my buddies were next to me holding me up, my helmet was off and crushed and my quad was ¼ mile away next to my truck and I was evidently making stupid remarks and saying things like "Far out, what happened?"... "Far out what happened?"... "Wow, what happened?".. "Far out, where am i and what happened?"
According to my buddies who were at the bottom of the hill, I hit the aforementioned dropoff and went over the handlebars and the Grizz rolled over me and rolled once or twice more landing on its wheels. As they approached me I had already began removing my helmet, which I don’t remember.
Putting all the stories together again it appears that I was unconscious for 3-5 minutes. My helmet was crushed, I got 6 staples in my right arm, abrasions and gouges on my right shin, right thigh with a huge bruise, bruised and scraped ribs, right shoulder, and right thigh, possible cracked sternum or breast bone (going to my Dr. at 3:30 today,) and a black left eye and a large lump and scratch on my right temple from the helmet giving out and the plastic poking through striking my temple. (thats my assumption)
Also my goggles have a huge scratch in the left lens from a jagged rock that undoubtedly would have damaged if not destroyed my eye.
The Griz has a broken brand new PIAA light, bent my brand new Warn bumper, broken right brake lever, bent handle bars, and bent rear rack which I think was from hitting my helmet.
heres the left side of my helmet
and heres the right side
Remember I was descending very slowly <5mph
There is no doubt that my helmet saved my life.
.... Just think ... if you had one of those soft mushy heads like a lot of city folk, instead of that hardheaded thick skull that the good lord gave ya ... even the helmet wouldn't have been enough !!! :dontknow:
