As a young kid in the school yard I was always proud to boast “well I have broken 3 of my arms!” (disclaimer: my primary school self meant I have broken my arm 3 times, I do not have a hidden third arm). Since then I have rounded my count up to 6 breaks.
My mum always questioned whether or not to take me to see a bone specialist, but quite frankly I do not have a skeleton made of butter. Instead, it seems that I have always had quite an adventures side (or poor judgement).
Throughout my 9 (give or take) years of riding bikes I have had enough x-rays to finance the system, and I’ve laid in my fair share of hospital and physio beds. Therefore, I thought it’d be fun (I really have to get out more) to illustrate some of my most memorable injuries I have attained over the years.
1. I separated the ligaments in my cervical spine after crashing at Barjarg in late 2015, which left me in hospital for a night and a neck brace for six weeks.
2. In 2015 I broke my clavicle after a silly crash on a jump ((which I have since revisited and showed who’s boss!)(kinda))
3. A few weeks out from World Champs in 2014 (I was racing cross country), a stick made my front wheel come to a complete stop, catapulting me over the front wheel and bursting my bursa sac (in my shoulder joint).
4. I have a scar right across the middle of my shin from when I slid down the Andorra World Champs track in 2015. Luckily, Anne-Marie was there to steri-strip me up so I could keep riding/sliding!
5. During a game of chookball (silly name, basically netball), I tore pretty much all of my ankle ligaments (more painful than a broken bone I believe) which meant I was on crutches instead of on a bike for the first round of the 2015 National Series!
6, 7, 8 and 9. Not so bike related, but over the years I have broken my left arm twice and my right arm twice (you know, just to share the load). I have fallen victim to a slide, swing (I was a very adventurous 6 year old), harder than usual low ropes course and a snowboarding crash.
I have also broken my nose when I was little, which I believe deserves an honourable mention as it was broken after I was bear hugged from behind, my arms were therefore trapped, and I fell straight onto my face.
So there you have it, I definitely hope I don’t have to do an updated version any time soon.
As always, feel free to leave any comments of contact me at elliewale@hotmail.com
-Ellie
MY BIKE'S WORTH MORE THAN MY CAR 