As I came out of the CT scan tube I jokingly asked the doctor if I had a broken neck. She didn't laugh. I was instead told that the reason my breathing was labored was because my spleen was extremely enlarged and it was trying to collapse my left lung. Huh, interesting. I had spent the two days after my little crash out in the desert drinking beer and whiskey and it took until monday morning for my lung to want to give out. Must have been all the fun I had out in the desert for the Meow Meow May Day Massacre that kept me going. It has been over two weeks since then and I feel a little ashamed to tell what happened but I sure as hell aint one who never makes mistakes.
The morning of the first day of the Meow Massacre was a huge clusterfuck for me. Trying to organize a big ride and and having it start and stop at two different locations with shuttle vans and almost all of us on illegal dirtbikes leaving my shop in a mob of thumpers and smokey two strokes through and out of town. It all ended up working out flawlessly. Out in the desert we finally got to the start of some single track and I was happy. Feeling free after days of preparation. My wife and her parents had our fuel jugs waiting for us out in the desert along with cookies.... and an ice chest full of beer... It felt so good out in the summer sun and everyone was digging it... I popped a top again. We thanked our gracious pit crew, put our helmets back on and I took off like a pinball full of liquid courage. I remember my back wheel dancing off prairie dog mounds as I grabbed gears across the flats and approached a ditch. The next thing I remember was being back at the gas stop and having a discussion about why I should stop putting my helmet back on. I kept apologizing and finally agreed that it was best to take my helmet off and retire for the day because I had no memory of a good five minutes in time. Apparently I was found snoring in the middle of the trail nowhere near my bike. Super great way to impress your in-laws when your wife is pregnant! I gave some instructions best I could to the riders and told them my sketchy hand drawn map would get them to the camp. And it did! And we all had a super fun weekend.
I am a very lucky person to be surrounded by the people that choose to be near me. My reckless ways are something worth much of my attention for I can border on the edge of being an asshole vs who I aspire to be. Despite my injured spleen, sternum, clavicle, AC shoulder joint, knee, ankle, finger, whiplash, and scambled egg grey matter, the worst part of my crash is the feeling of letting my people down. I don't think I will let that happen again.
