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Sudden ImpactHope AreaJanuary 28/06 Written by Greg Photos by LarryJJ and Treds Geoquad PM'd me asking if I'd be into a ride at BC Nickel Mine Road; I replied "Sure!", so he posted it and we got 13 quads out. We met up at Ricky's All-Day Grille in Chilliwack for breakfast, then headed for the trailhead. Some of the riders in our group were new to quadding, and some weren't but had never ridden Nickel Mine before. It was raining a bit, which we expected. Once on the trail, we found fresh snow, so fresh that there were no other tracks in it. We had the trails to ourselves! As usual, I led the group along a few of the trails to see how everyone did; no problems so I took them on a narrower and slightly off-camber trail that followed the base of the cliff where the hillclimb was. At the start of the trail, I slid to the right in the snow, and had to get lifted back onto the trail. Oops! Geoquad (I think) cracked a rear fender on the tree that sticks out in that off-camber section (those who have ridden this trail know what I mean). I think a few got hung up there, but eventually all made it through. Some were riding a bit slower, so there were many stops at intersections to allow the group to catch up. I found it really nice to have the fresh snow on the ground, as it made it very easy to see where we'd been, which reduced the amount of overlapping trails. Although at the base of the hillclimb, I had to look for the trail because I couldn't see it beneath the snow.  On Sesame Street, I missed one of the exits, and took the group on a slightly more advanced egress which involved a large rock in the middle of the trail. LarryJJ managed to dump his quad over at this location, and also put a hole in his left rear sidewall (which was polecatted, I mean plugged by Rich). Then Lynn managed to tip her long Bomb over as well. I think it was LarryJJ and Lynn's first time on a trail of this type. Sorry about that. I blame the snow for hiding the trail!When we exited Mikey's Trail under the powerlines, I spotted a lone quad rider and waved at him, unsure if he was with our group or not as we had just done a really short loop, and he could have been the last quad. When we stopped later on to allow the group to catch up, we found it was Glenlivet, who had arrived late, bringing our total to 14. If you've read the Larson Hill trip report, you'll know that Glenlivet is the Paramedic who met me at the side of the Coquihalla Hwy when I had my minor accident, which is how he found out about Quads.ca. After running most of the forest trails, we headed to the old rail-car bridge and attempted to take the long trail up the mountain. However, we were stopped by the snow. And it was snowing pretty good, too. We headed back down, and Larry unpacked a hiker-type light-weight rain tarp that was big enough to shelter all of us while we ate lunch (I'll have to add one of those to my kit). We then made our way over towards the mine trail, but again were stopped by snow. We tried one of the trails on the right side of the main road (more advanced); the off-camber way I wanted to go was too slippery, so we exited back to the main road via a hardly-used trail that Glenlivet spotted. We decided we'd see what condition the rock crawl was in, so we started heading down the main road. I was going downhill at a pretty good clip (the start of many a good tale!). The road ahead forked; my thought process was "left? right? oh, it's left." But by then it was a bit late, and I was going too fast to make the corner. Glenlivet was behind me, and watched me go into a cool-looking drift, thinking "Cool-looking drift! Show off...". He didn't know that I wasn't really in control at that point. Then he saw my left two wheels come off the ground. "Uh oh". Now, you'll have to ask Glenlivet exactly what happened next, because I didn't see it, and it happened really fast. Between the fork was about an 8-10 foot steep drop to a connecting road. As I hit the edge of the road, I think the quad barrel-rolled, tossing me off. After a short flight, I hit the ground rolling, took a quick glance over my shoulder to see where the quad was (still falling), then scrambled on all fours (no time to get up) off to one side so that the quad wouldn't land on me. It landed upside-down next to where I was lying. My immediate reaction was to stand up, and roll it onto its side, then asked whoever was standing above me (Glenlivet I think) to help me roll it back onto its tires because I couldn't do it. I then noticed that my knees were really hurting, no REALLY hurting. I might have landed on them at some point; not sure. Glenlivet got me to do some tests to check my chest area (all good), and I think either he or LarryJJ also got me to test my knees by touching my heel to my butt. I could touch the left side, and I probably could have touched the right side if I was able to stand on my left leg, which I couldn't (too much pain in the left knee). Anyways, nothing appeared to be too serious. The quad wasn't too damaged; it looks like the handlebars were a bit lower, and the stuff bolted to it was twisted on their mounts, so hopefully all I need to do is loosen everything and re-align it all. The Warn lights no longer work, and they take power from the winch, so I'll have to see what's going on there. I have debris between the bead and rim of both right-side tires. Good old Honda, started right up, and I was able to ride it down to the trucks. We decided to meet at the Silver Chalice Pub in Hope, at the recommendation of Glenlivet. At the pub, I noticed that the back of my right hand had a sharp tender bump on it, that had swelled up during the drive over. The food and the service was good (except for the onion rings taking a really long time!). Thanks to Glenlivet for taking care of the pub bill! Good thing my truck is an automatic... no clutch to push in. At home, I noticed that my left knee was a bit swollen. Sunday I basically slept all day. Today, I saw that the left knee was still swollen, the right knee area had some new bruising showing (but felt much better), and that the back of my right hand was bruised but the lump had almost disappeared. At the moment, I can't twist my left leg (have to keep the toes pointed forward) or my knee will make a "snap" sound and hurt. My right calf is bruised. Upper right leg is a little sore. Right shoulder and all muscles down that side are sore; shoulder clicks when I move my arm. Right tricep is sore. Anyways, I think everyone had fun. We stayed out of the harder trails due to the amount of snow. Glenlivet wrote:"I was indeed the first rider behind Greg at the scene of the rumoured event. From a distance of perhaps 40 meters and a speed of maybe 40-50 KMH. It all took place pretty much as the principal claims. The Honda went into a nice left hand slide and put two wheels in the air, on the fly. 'Stylish, if a bit brash', thought I. At about the time I came by the notion that this might signify trouble rather than trick riding, darned if the wheels didn't start to come back down! "He's pulling it out!" I thought. Dude!" But then something caught and over she went. Greg did come squirting out the back, dextrously avoiding having 600 LBs of Honda try to make pie crust out of him, and it looked like it might come to rest at the top of the described embankment, but the momentum was too great and both Greg and the quad went on over the bank. Now understand that Greg had scrubbed off almost all the speed by this time, and if it werent for that embankment right where it was, it would have been a one-flop. As it was however, both Greg and Rincon went on over and in the second roll the quad did roll completely over him! Yet after this he came out from under it again in a most gymnastically elegant way, so that although rolling and tumbling himself, he did not get steamrolled by the bike. The machine ended the third half-roll and came to a stop, completely upside down on the lower road. Rider remained motionless for a few moments, seeming to confirm the worst, and then to my astonishment popped to his feet like a Jack-in-the-box and immediately rushed over to right his quad and heave it back onto its wheels! He managed to get it right up on one side all by himself. What the heck is this guy made of? I had come to a stop right at the site of the start of this adventure and I confess with some humility, just sat there and gawped for a few moments at the unlikely tableau. My brain had been boggled by these thoughts in quick succession: Event: My take 2 Wheels up, slide at speed: Wow. Cojones... Wheels catch, quad flopping: Uh-oh. Not good 1st roll, Greg out but tumbling: Good dodge. Probably no injuries 2nd roll, Greg underneath: Take that back. Probably injuries 3d roll, Greg out but motionless: Yup. Injuries Greg pops up and lifts quad: Whoa! No Sh*t! By the time I came to and realized I had responsibilities and got my arse down there, another had reached his side and we three got the quad the rest of the way over, then checked out the rider. By the recent description it sounds like an ACL sprain (knee sprain like the hockey players get) and synovial swelling (from the capsule of lubricating fluid behind the kneecap) and maybe some bleeding into the joint. Those are the two ways knees get swelling. It resorbs naturally in time but a doctor can draw some off if the pressure or amount makes it too uncomfortable. Not to take anything away from those injuries but that tumble looked dramatic enough to have produced much more damage than what occurred. Cheers to Gregs athleticism! The man has skills." Due to the relatively crummy weather, we didn't take any trail photos, just photos during the rest stops. 
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