This past weekend a group of us went to Hatfield McCoy trails in West Virginia. Including Ex'r Marlin. We were all racing around and had a great day of rain Saturday. We were soaked, but had a blast. On Sunday, we hit a different trail head. The weather was a whole lot nicer, just a little muddy. We had planned to ride down to the town of Gilbert, which is about 2 hours from the trail head. In Gilbert you can ride on the streets and go to the gas station and fuel up and get some lunch. Well on the way there. I took the lead out of the 4 of us. There was a total of about 18. There is 4 of us that always ride together. About 45 minutes into the ride I cut sidewall out of my front tire and had to nurse it back in. So while I am plugging it, 2 of my buddies pass. But no Ex'r Marlin. So I told them to go on and I would find him and get this tire replace and play catch up. On the way back I found him lying on the side of the trail. He had missed a turn went about a 100 feet off the side of the mountain. He manage somehow to climb back up to the trail. ( I had trouble doing this uninjured.) We doubled back to the trail head and called 911 from my cell. The ambulance pick him up and took to a trauma center about an hour away after he was stable. He had collapsed a lung and shattered his knee cap. He is very lucky and so is the bike, very little damage. By the way the bike hit a tree about 12 feet off the ground at the bottom. I will post pics of the bike at a later date. Here is a pic the him being loaded up. I am sure he would appreciate any encouragement you guys could give him. It sounds like he will be in WV for about 3 more days. Let this be a reminder that gravity hurts. Be careful out there. Get well soon Mr. Marlin.
Ex'rMike
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