Gatlin5 - RiderDown

[Tatonka]

Well - it happened. I just got a call from Joe (Gatlin5) who for those of you that don't know is one of the founding members of RiderDown. He had taken a few (greatly deserved) days off to get some riding in down in Florida at Croom and spend some quality time with his KTM 300. So, i just got the ride report...:cry:

The whoops section strikes again! :crash: I'll let Joe give us the details on his crash but please keep him in your thoughts as he goes in for surgery to repair a broken right forearm. Both bones are broken and "displaced" but the good news is it's a "clean" break. A few other bumps and bruises but so far nothing else too serious has shown up. Thankfully he was practicing what he preaches and had on ALL the gear.

Battered, bruised and broken....we all love ya Joe!! Good luck with the surgery and heal quick. !-!

[stickman776]

Dang Joe, that is a bummer.

Heal up quick! I hope all goes well.

0-0 0-0 0-0

Kyle

[xr650rocketman]

It just seems none of us are exempt from a "Oops" once in a while....It's still better than sitting on the couch all the time though isn't it?
Get well soon Joe.....What can we do for you for a change?

Steve Smith

[Administrator]

Send Him a Angel Bag

[Wysong]

Joe – I am so sorry to hear about your crash. Heal fast and true so we can get back out on the trail soon.

Let me know if there is anything I can do.

David

[quad17dad]

Hey Joe,

From a founding member to an injured rider. You just want to see this deal from all sides. I hope you can keep up with your posts with one hand! I hope you heal fast cause I know there is a lot of people counting on you. Rest up!

[RiderDown]

From everyone at RiderDown -



Get Well Quick!!

:Powerslide:

[char393]

Joe,

Very sorry to hear you're hurt. Heal up quickly!

[Riding the Metro]

Dang it Joe- show off. You're taking this RDF thing to the extreme!
Seriously, heal quick and fast. We're with ya man.
PS- we can send you a Texas Hold' Em game while you recover :crash:

RTM

[50ccMoM]

Joe,

So sorry to hear about your crash. Let us know if there is anything you need. Keep us posted and heal up quick !

We love ya Joe ! :wink:


Angie

[Tatonka]

Joe - hope the surgery went well. Rest easy buddy!








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OK - long enuff. Back to work! :muhaha:









BTW, c'mon already.......












:pics:

[KTMissouri]

Hey Joe:

I am really sory to hear about your broken arm.

I am with everybody else, let's see some pics. External fixator or internal fixation. I am just the kind of guy that wants to know the gory details.

Get well soon.

Shawn

[jeremy68]

Just letting you know we're hoping and praying for a speedy recovery as well. The good news is there are some great splints that you can wear while riding and recovering. Jeremy

[50ccMoM]

Joe,

I hope the surgery went well. I agree , we need pics !! I hope your not in to much pain.

Keep us posted on your recovery.




Angie

[Gatlin5]

hey guys,

thanks for the well wishes. had surgery tues eve. broke the ulna and radius at mid forearm, a good break, displaced with a couple small fragments. had to have a plate put on each. excuse the typing and lack of upper case, it was my right arm of course.

i was going through some whoops in the woods here at croom, one of the few things i thought i was decent at. got thrown back on the bike which caused me to pin the throttle wide open and into the trees. well, i found one. i am battered over most of my body besides the arm but it could of been much worst. i never lost consiousness but my head was spinning, my helmet was brand new and did its job but it is trash now. i was wearing all the gear including a big neck roll which i believe releived a lot of stress to my neck. with all my injuries i have no neck or back pain.

i want to tell you while i laid out there gathering myself i was very calm and cool and it was honestly because i had all you guys there with me. i know that may sound corny but knowing how garrett and steve and their families had happen, what jeremy and wes and the guys have had to deal with and what tatonka and shawn had been through i knew i was dealing with something i could handle because is was really nothing compared to what they had all been through. over these last few days i have thought of most everyone who visits here and supports riderdown. i had you with me through the whole process i can sure see how our injured riders feel when they find you too. thank you all for being there.

i'll check in again later, thanks again, knowing you are all here sure feels good!

joe

[Tatonka]

Good to hear from you Joe - I'm glad you're well enough to type! I'm glad that RiderDown & it's members gave you some comfort. Get well, take it easy and rest up.

You know you're supposed to already have the throttle pinned going through the whoops in the first place right? :wink:

Talk to you soon.

BV

[stickman776]

Joe,

Great to hear that surgery went well.

Heal up quick!

I am glad you were wearing all of the protective gear, neck roll included.

Hope to see you in Colorado in July. You do want to ride the 200 don't you?


Kyle

[50ccMoM]

Im so glad that the surgery went well. We have all been very worried about you. Take it easy and rest up !

-A

[quad17dad]

Thanks for keeping us posted Joe. And thank yourself for practicing what you preach about wearing all the right gear. Thank God it wasn't worse! Please keep us posted on your recovery and we'll keep you in our prayers.

[char393]

Joe, very glad to hear the surgery went well and that your injuries weren't worse. Sounds like all the safety gear did it's job.

[xr650rocketman]

Now all that's behind you it's time for some healing and then some therapy and then some riding!!!
Great to hear you're doing well....

Steve Smith

[Riding the Metro]

Good news indeed, Joe. I'm glad your surgery went smoothly.
You'll probably never wanna ride West Coast style now! We got no stinkin' trees but endless *(Buick) whoops as far as the horizon.

Get well and ride safe....oops, too late.
Art

*Buick's: noun. "Those were killer whoops, big enough to hide a Buick"

[Gatlin5]

This is was the position of my right arm for 10 weeks, I have now been in a below the elbow or forearm cast for the past 3 weeks with 10 days to go, I hope. If all looks good I can dodge having to have a bone graff and more cast time. I have been using a Bone Stimulator loan to me by one of our Members, Thanks Darring!

http://www.riderdown.org/forum/photopost/data/500/Full_Arm_Cast.jpg

[Tatonka]

Joe - glad to here you're out of that full cast! Let us know if your Doc thinks the bone stimulator is actually helping. So back on the bike by when?

:grin:

[Gatlin5]

Joe - glad to here you're out of that full cast! Let us know if your Doc thinks the bone stimulator is actually helping. So back on the bike by when?

:grin:

I'll let you know about the stimulator.

I'm not sure when I can get back on it. I need to find out when I can get the plates and all the screws removed, after he told me I was crazy for wanting them removed he said he would do it but plan on 1 year of recovery after he does. Well, I figure I'll have Dr Mark repair that ACL while I'm off the bike and get after the work out. I already needed to lose some weight before the accident and since I have been eating for something to do, not a good thing. :roll: :oops:

[KTMissouri]

Joe:

I have been wondering how you are doing. I know that healing takes a long time, but when it is all over, you will look back on it and say it was no big deal.

1 year does seem like a long time after the plate is removed. Dr. Sanders made me wait 4 months. The screw holes should fill in rather quckly.

Hang in there and try to stay acitve.

Shawn

[TwinTurbos]

Joe - A year off the bike isn't bad compared to some alternatives, right? Besides, it'll be nice to have someone to keep me company when everyone takes off riding during RiderDown in the Rockies. We'll be in charge of guarding the campsite! :cheers: :cheers: :lol:

[Gatlin5]

Joe:

I have been wondering how you are doing. I know that healing takes a long time, but when it is all over, you will look back on it and say it was no big deal.

1 year does seem like a long time after the plate is removed. Dr. Sanders made me wait 4 months. The screw holes should fill in rather quckly.

Hang in there and try to stay acitve.

Shawn

Hey Shawn,

I agree with you, it has really been no big deal at all. It has really been something that has taught me a lot of different life lessons.

I will be checking in with Dr Mark, because I figure this Dr who I do respect is one that looks down on us dirt bikers, at least dirt bikers my age. They look at you like you have a screw loose. He is the same guy who had to repair my shoulder and bicep a few years ago, so we have a little history too.

[Gatlin5]

Joe - A year off the bike isn't bad compared to some alternatives, right? Besides, it'll be nice to have someone to keep me company when everyone takes off riding during RiderDown in the Rockies. We'll be in charge of guarding the campsite! :cheers: :cheers: :lol:

I look forward to your company but you know it maybe safer on the trails than trying to keep up with Kathryn and Elizabeth. :lol: :headspin:

[Gatlin5]

Hey everyone,

Just a quick update:

Well, 95 days have past since the tree hugging incident and 92 days post op I finally had the cast removed, thank god! The Dr was quite amazed at how well it had healed since the last set of xrays where down 4 weeks ago. A large part of that is due to RiderDown Volunteer Darring Sinclair who offered free of charge the use of his Exogen 2000 bone healing machine. I have used it religiously for the past 3 1/2 weeks and I know it helped immensely, Thanks Darring!! !=!

Here is the web site for this company. They now have a new more powerful model than the one I used.
Darring has said he will make his model available to RiderDown to assist other riders who may need it. Pretty Awesome Darring!
http://ortho.smith-nephew.com/us/node.asp?NodeId=2865

Here are the Xrays from today
http://www.riderdown.org/forum/photopost/data/500/Joe_s_Right_forearm_04_18_2007_RDF2.jpg

Thanks everyone for your concern, kind words and encouragement. !=!

Joe

[50ccMoM]

Im glad that you were able to get the cast off. Im sure that is a huge relief. :Powerslide:

[Tatonka]

Joe congrats on getting the cast off! Glad to hear the healing is coming along nicely. :Powerslide:

[KTMissouri]

Joe:

It is great to hear that your cast is off. I used one of those bone stimulators after they had to rebreak my femur. It seemed to work well for me also. I still have that $4000 machine. I am willing to let anybody that wants to use it, give it a try. Some doctors including our own Dr. Sanders do not believe in them, but what damage can it do?

Work on that strength and ROM and you will be riding before you know it.

Shawn

[fastlearner]

Hope everything's going as well as possible, Joe.

[Gatlin5]

Thanks, everyone.

I am a believer in the bone stimulators I saw how slowly mine was healing over a 10 week period and maybe it was coincidence but I did more healing these past 4 weeks than I did the previous 10 weeks. Now we are talking mature adult, a younger person or child would probably have no use for it.

I'm hoping to get on the trials bike in a couple of months and take it real slow. For now it is back to the elipitical machine and get rid of this weight.

Thanks again everyone! !=!

and Safe Riding! 0-0

[Gatlin5]

The Bike damage- Really fared a lot better than myself. I had just removed the factory graphics and was getting ready to install the new RiderDown set.

Right Hand guard snapped along with the forearm. Right shroud torn off, Lower right triple clamp gouged. Front end is twisted up some but I think it will come back into shape once I loosen it up and realign.
http://www.riderdown.org/forum/photopost/data/500/Full_shot_copy.jpg

Side view shows the back of the pipe damage from my leg impact, I believe or maybe from the impact of pipe guard to tree. I had Flatland Racing Radiator guards, I would have lost the right side radiator had I not.
http://www.riderdown.org/forum/photopost/data/500/Pipe_and_shroud_copy.jpg

http://www.riderdown.org/forum/photopost/data/500/Closeup_of_right_side_all_3_copy.jpg

The right guard snapped at the screw hole, these were EE. Next pair will be the clamp on plastic with no holes drilled in the guards.
http://www.riderdown.org/forum/photopost/data/500/Right_hand_guard_copy.jpg

[kastart]

Joe,

So sorry to hear about your accident. I haven't been able to spend much time here and just found out you had been hurt. I am so glad to hear your doing well and on the mend. Caleb sends his thoughts and prayers to you, and hopes your able to return to all that you love to do quickly! --Kerry Start

[Gatlin5]

Hi Kerry,

Good to hear from you, I ope you are all doing well! Thanks for the well wishes, really hasn't been a big deal just another story to tell. If I was a better rider I would have less stories.

Give a big Hello to Caleb and the rest of the gang for me!! Have fun and wish you all safe riding!

[KTMissouri]

Joe:

That is not bad. I do that much damage in my normal riding without crashing. I have a little trouble staying on the trail...

[Tatonka]

:lmao :lmao :yikes

[Gatlin5]

Joe:

That is not bad. I do that much damage in my normal riding without crashing. I have a little trouble staying on the trail...

:yikes :oops: :lmao That's purty funny! I agree, although that's the first time I have snapped a hanguard like that and I have hit lots of trees too, I hate to admit. I think if they were not drilled for the plastic guards it would have bent the bars for sure instead. The break in the forearm occured because it was between the chest protector and me when I hit the tree, it had nothing to do with the handguard. If I was an engineer I would like to calculate the force from the speed, my weight and the sudden impact. Man, never mind I don't want to know. :yikes

Safe riding everyone.

[TwinTurbos]

Joe - The pics of the bike definitly tell your story! Glad to hear you are doing better! I was interested to hear your thoughts on the bone stimulator. You always wonder if those things are for real or just a gimmik.

[Gatlin5]

Hi Amy,

Yea, I have heard Drs for and against. For me I now how slow things where moving before I started using it and how quickly the healing process started moving and how pleasantly surprised my Doctor was. They were talking a good possibility of a Bone graft 4 weeks earlier and I had no expectations of the cast coming off when I when it did last week.

So would I use one again? You're damn right I would and a lot earlier in the treatment process too. JMHO (Just My Humble Opinion)