"Dad, I crashed"

 My teenage daughter had her first hard crash the other day. She is
ok.. just shook up. I let her go ahead of me to the back yard while I
warmed up the chase bike. All of a sudden my cell phone rings, it's my
daughter and all I hear is "dad I crashed", "I can't get up". I run
around the back to find her about 10 feet from the bike, just past the
jump. Scared the crap out of me to see her there on the ground. We got
her up and inside, no broken bones, a good gash in her thigh and
banged up here and there. Knowing how she takes the course and based
on the ruts, I say she hit the ground at about 20+ mph, and the bike
came in behind her. She talked about that brief second on the ground
when she thought, "that didn't hurt much.... oh shit, here comes the
pain". We probably all know that feeling all too well, last time for
me, it was on a street cruiser and an irrigation ditch..;) Now she
knows why we make her wear full racing gear, even in the backyard. She
can't imagine that crash without it now.

I made the repairs to the throttle housing (epoxy and fiberglass
strand rebuild) and she took a couple of laps yesterday, but she is
still pretty shook up but we both take it as another couple of cheap
lessons. Never ride alone, and we both need to slow down till we have
a little more experience. I think it's going to be a while until we
are racing again.

The last week had been pretty cool. I finally got a chase bike and was
able to "race" with her back there. We learned about racing lines,
blocks, passing and track etiquette. I don't want her to get hurt or
hurt someone else when she finally goes racin or at her friends track
with other riders. It also helped her to "get a little more throttle"
chasing me or running from me on our little course. She found the
"jump" the other day and that's what led to the crash.. Oh well, see
you all at CATRA next week, hill climbs, and if she is up to it, she
will be in the girls race..

Later, thanks all of you for your stories and comments. I read a lot
here, learn a lot too,, even from you ***********;)

 On May 13, 11:34 am, justwaitafrekinmin...@gmail.com wrote:

On her cell phone!  Holycrap.

My wifes' bro-in-law was mowing the lawn on a riding mower, near
the hill down to the ocean at their Maine B&B.  He got off to move
something and the mower, still running, started rolling down the hill.
He jumped at it, slipped, and got his leg cut to the bone.  My
sis-in-law was inside and heard "Phyllis!  Phyllis!"
She replied "What - you OK?"
Then she heard "Bring a tourniquet"

!

We joked about that for years and still do.  He's gone now.
I miss him.


Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.

 
These kids and those phones, they can text with them in their pockets,
it is annoying but I am sure glad she had hers on her. Funny, her
mother told her to leave it in the house, she did not listen. Worked
out great. Still scared me to death..

I passed along your stories and got her friend to talk to her about
getting hurt bad in sports, and getting back at it. Her friend is ice
hocky goalie, she has been knocked out, dislocated shoulder and these
kids just turned into teens. I also told her about your tag line, "Go
fast, take chances" she like that too and tonight told me she is going
to be ready to race sunday at CATRA, cool. The rest of my gear should
be here by thursday and the local track is open so we should get one
day in anyway before then...


RM Racing:) The trees are just as hard, the wind feels just as good...

 justwaitafrekinmin...@gmail.com relates:


Have fun.  And make sure you understand and try to minimize the
consequences of the chances you're taking.  Sounds like you already
are.


Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.

  Glad to hear she is ok, part of the game and it is always better when it
turns out that way.

  About 12 years ago my step son and I were at the local MX track when he
went down hard. He actually ended up breaking his femur. Rescue responded,
they called in a chopper, he got shot full of morphin and loaded on the
copper.  That is an absolutly horrible feeling.  He made a complete recovery
and continued to ride.

                             Rex McKinney