[Updated] Jolanda Neff to Take 3 Month Break to Recover From Crash

 They don't just make expensive anodized stems in Asheville!

 @yupstate: emergency healthcare, bike parts, and locally made MDMA are all bountiful

 @Mntneer: Better extacy then meth. Meth heads will DEF steal your bike. Party kids only MIGHT.

 Lower Black trail is no joke!! Get well soon Jolanda!!

 Mission took great care of me when I had a bad off in Pisgah. Shattered nose and face laceration... ER and facial surgeons were excellent!

 @Schralpedrubber:

 :-) I wonder how many get this line.

 I'm actually disappointed in myself for never thinking of it

 MUST UNDER RATED COMMENT

 @xice:
please explain

 @taprider: His name is actually Hunny Bunny

 @xice: anybody 40+ (raises hand)

 Any of you fing pricks move!, and I'll execute every last mf one of you!

 @taprider: it's a quote from the final scene from Pulp Fiction (language warning): youtu.be/mvy4YH9--Vw

 @ATXZJ: damnit
pulp fiction is 25 years old!?
I better return my VHS to Blockbuster.

 Thank you everyone for explaining. That comment (and movie) are priceless. And a round of scooby snacks for y'all

 @ATXZJ: hnjach... :-) (raise hand)

 It's also a band name, they made a few songs like "we no speak americano", balkanic style partying positive vibes anthem.

 @SMASH3D: but its all about tarantinos masterpiece and not about that crappy band

 @rrolly: You shut your dirty mouth with that!

 @fruitsd79: have fun in bend!

 @fruitsd79: www.businessinsider.com/blockbuster-survives-in-bend-oregon-2018-8

 More like a coil of metal in there, or several depending on the severity. I got 7 of them in my spleen in June....

 @Betue: do they remove them in the future or are they permanently in there?

 @atrokz: permanent. I’ve got one too. Its pretty awesome they can save the spleen. You can live without but you’re way better off with it.

 they dont make spleens like they used to

 @bullit398: yeah i ruptured mine in october and was flown to a hospital for either an embolism or a complete removal due to it being the worst level rupture there is and i had no operations. I just sat in a bed for 6 days in the hospital

 @bullit398: Like a clutch derailleur.

 First lessons made to me by parr & Charlie building trails for racing.

 ... and this should go prior doing any berms of jumps into the trail... I always have this discussion with some enduro comps organizers... they spend the whole year going trought their local trails, friends and kids...being so easy going of track and hugging a tree... and then for the race they are more concerned about building ramps and stuff... and security should go first! ( Sadly we had a couple of accidents in Catalonia during races the last years in races for tree spurs..specially mediterranean woods are so dangerous in this aspect...)

 Si, our Carolina Hemlock population is decimated and lying all over the forest. Our forests are pretty dense with every kind of blowdown and tree debris, but the hemlock deaths are off the charts and litter the forest floor everywhere. Seriously doubt her injury was caused by anything that could have been cleaned up. However, your point is very valid as there are trails where they use that kind of debris to choke off corridors and it looks like something out of an Indiana Jones pit of death scene.

 @blowmyfuse:

Yep, tough to clean up all the trails in this terrain. Hard to understand till you have been here. But I agree, do as much as you can to make trails safe.

Impelling myself was always a HUGE concern for me when riding dirt bikes. I wore a full torso Leatt just because of that.

Hate to hear this happened. Heal up quick and glad it was no worse!

 @blowmyfuse: I thought that's what Forest fires were for?

 For a race course I get that you'd have to make the trail as crash-safe as possible but I'm not entirely sold on requiring that for a regular trail. Or course it is a nice thing to do as no one likes people getting hurt but generally (outside race situations again) it is up to the rider to inspect the trail and ride accordingly. To minimize bodily injury to yourself and others (which includes being extra mindful at trail crossings with other users), to avoid excessive trail damage (you know, those peeps who enter a section way too hot then are too chicken to modulate the front brake so they grab a handful of rear brake ripping the place apart) and well, there is a good number of other reasons to not go full tilt on your first lap. I definitely there is a bigger responsibility for the (trail/race) organization when there is a race and competitors are expected to go all out. But outside of racing, it is not a race. And when you ride your mountainbike on any trail (that is not the public road) then everything that happens is under your own responsibility. A trail organization could have cleared ten dangerous areas which may have saved ten unlucky riders (who would otherwise have been even even more unlucky). It somehow doesn't sound fair to even bother these same trail builders for not clearing another zone which that eleventh (more unlucky) rider crashed into.

Now I'm not blaming anyone. I'm not into blaming at all. I realize I'll be downvoted because a popular international athlete is down and the (to the general public) faceless trailbuilders have not done something that could have saved her. But if there is a (very good and appropriate) advice here to make sure crash zones are built and maintained as safe as possible then to balance things out I'd say as well that outside of race situation you always ride at your own responsibility. The limitation of how fast you can go somewhere isn't merely defined by how hard you can stomp the pedals like in a road race. There is much more to that and the slowest sets your pace.

All this said, of course all the best to Yolanda (or Jolanda, which is it?) and props to those who've been there to help.

 @blowmyfuse: What is causing this decimation? Is it the double whammy of an invasive insect species coupled with the trees being weakened by climate change? This is going to become a problem everywhere at some point.

 @fattyheadshok: .its only that one little parasitic bug from overseas. It has NO predator in the US & the Hemlocks have no defensive mechanisms. They attach to inside of the needles & the trees are dead within a year. The devastation is 100% kill rate. The only ones still alive are in National Parks where they regularly choose the trees with a 50 gallon saturation pesticide at the roots. They are the largest tree on the East Coast now that the American Chestnut is dead.

 @fattyheadshok: dose the roots, not choose

 Agreed. I call the 1" branches near the ground "spleen stabbies" to remind myself to take them out.

 Thanks for your pro-skill work!

 It sounds like Daniels Ridge, doesn’t it?? That’s what I was thinking as well

 @Ryanrobinson1984: to clarify, I was just thinking of Lower Black as a most likely culprit because they intentionally tossed pine trunks and logs into the insides of the corners to narrow the tread & it's the most ridden strip of trail out there

After I typed it, I remembered that we've got a huge ecology problem in Pisgah with all of the Carolina Hemlocks falling down & wanted folks to know I wasn't blame/shaming trail builders. When the hemlocks die, they leave pretty deadly debris with tons of spikes as opposed to most hardwoods when they fall.

 She mentions it was on a trail that was new to her, and with how many times I have seen her on Clawhammer (getting passed) I have to imagine it was somewhere else

 @blowmyfuse: I think you’re probably right. It definitely would fit the description

 I lost my spleen about 8 years ago. Hitting a big double, I was trying to whip the opposite way and leaned over a bit too far. Landed on my left side a had an emergency splenectomy after being stretchered out of the woods. Was back to full fitness within 6 months or so. Get well soon Jolanda.

 yeah i ruptured mine in october and was flown to a hospital for either an embolism or a complete removal due to it being the worst level rupture there is and i had no operations. I just sat in a bed for 6 days in the hospital

 @eric-knowles: not to be too picky, but the worst grade there is always requires surgery. Embolization is a great choice for lower-grade injuries. They may have said that you had the highest grade that could be safely treated without a procedure. That would make more sense. Regardless, glad you’re recovered because those injuries are no joke.

 @tremeer023: get well soon bro!

 Wow MTBers have a lot of ruptured spleens. So here is my story, I was out mtbing with some friends about 1 year ago, and crashed. We think it was from an impact on the handlebars that ruptured it. My friends didn't think it was anything major, but after driving 45 minutes home we finally stopped at the ER where we discovered it was a ruptured spleen. After a transfer to a bigger hospital about an hour away, they said it was a level 4 out of 5, and much worse than initially thought. They were successful in an embolization, and allowed me to return to lifting, and non-impact cycling within a month, but required me to wait for mtbing.

 I can second that for sure.

 Pisgah trails are no joke. Especially if you're not familiar with them. Things can get sketchy real fast.

 I live in Oztralia and even I know that Pisgah beatdown is for reals.

 broken mine 3 times. I tend to brake them with my own elbows in crashes while going OTB at high speeds and put my hands out to reduce impact as I roll. My arms collapse into my body so fast I break ribs.

 @hitechredneck: you need to slow down bro

 Sad part is that we are going much fast due to bike technology advances, but our safety gear and focus fashion is keeping us in 1992 level of protection. I often beat my Moto buddies down a local trail. But they are geared out from head to toe to go 30 mph plus in between trees on dirt, but there is my dumb ass doing in a half shell and a pair of knee pads because it is cool. One day I hope safety is considered cool.

 @hitechredneck: so true

 @hitechredneck: ironically I know a few folks who got seriously messed up while wearing full body armor. Moto dads get mangled in bike parks, I can literally look at a group of those and can bet one of the will be at the bottom station in a toboggan waiting for ambulance. They have very little skill on mtbs and all the moto experience of doing 50MPH through tight woods and flying 40-80ftrs. Same with experienced alpine skiers. Zero respect for speed.

Most of it all sits in the head, not in the protection. You have to be able to operate in your optimum. Good assessment of skill, fitness, tiredness, focus VS task at hand. Then risk vs reward.


Jolanda may as Well be used to going off the track like this, just this time there was some nasty stuff waiting for her. Sometimes shit just happens and there’s no point in doing assessment of could have would haves should haves

 As she is living in a civilized country with public health care and insurance ..... she won t need it

 So why haven't you?

 @thesharkman: fashion stops him LOL

 @vhdh666: theyre either too big or too small

 That’s definitely the down side of non surgical treatment.

 This sounds like the same treatment I had where they cut off blood flow to the spleen, and let it die. When I had it I was out of the hospital within a week, and returned to normal stuff, but no adrenaline activities. They even let me return to my weights routine within 3 weeks. It isn't the same as trying to heal it.

 @Prof seems to work ok

 The season doesn't start for quite a while, right?

 @COnovicerider: Yes but that’ll massively impact her training.

 @jclnv: no doubt.