With all this talk of injuries, I’ve realized I’ve personally been really lucky so far.
*hysterically knocks on all nearby wood*
However, one instance a few years ago is a great example of why I signed up for BLISTER+ as soon as I could.
The weekend of Halloween, my friends and I were out taking advantage of the last week or so when the trails weren’t yet snow covered. The aspens had shed their leaves weeks ago, so we were in the few weeks of true “off season” before things ramped up again for winter in the Crested Butte valley. Our crew wanted to really challenge ourselves that day, feeling primed after a full summer and fall of near-daily rides and knowing the season wouldn’t last much longer, so we pedaled / hike-a-biked up to the top of a very rocky trail that doesn’t see much traffic, and is consequently covered in loose talus that seems to jump anytime you touch it with your wheel.
Anyway, whether it was the lull of the in-between season or just my own stupidity, I forgot to unlock my rear shock before heading into the properly steep descent. That, combined with being on a new-to-me bike with less aggressive geo than I was used to, and my general lack of skill (this being the main factor, realistically), led to one of the worst crashes I’ve experienced on a bike. I nudged into a steep rollover, grabbed a touch too much brake, couldn’t move my weight back quick enough, and got bounced over the bars by my rear wheel … directly into a bunch of blocks of granite.
I took a moment to collect myself and assess the damage — fortunately, no impact to my head or back, but a sharp throbbing at my side and a pretty nasty scrape under my shorts that I didn’t really want to look at quite yet. The adrenalin had definitely kicked in, though, cause I don’t remember being in that much pain and we ended up riding all the way down (I fell in the top ~20 meters of the trail…).
However, once I got home, I knew I’d done at least a bit more than just scrape and bruise myself. I couldn’t take very deep breaths, it hurt to laugh, it hurt even more to sneeze, and I figured I’d likely broken or bruised a rib or two.
This lead to some nervous WebMD-ing, and after ignoring that site’s suggestion that I had a parasitic infection you can only get in Asia, my initial rib injury hypothesis seemed accurate.
But that’s basically where things ended — no doctor visit, just hobbling around in pretty substantial pain for a couple weeks. The reason for that was simple: I didn’t want to pay for an X-ray or, god forbid, a very pricy MRI. I figured I could tough it out, and fortunately, the internet told me that rib injuries mostly just need R&R (provided I didn’t start coughing up blood…).
However, I know that would’ve played out very differently had it been after I’d enrolled in BLISTER+ with its injury insurance coverage.
While I mostly signed up for BLISTER+ with catastrophic injuries in mind, this sort of scenario has been way more common in my life: I have a somewhat minor injury, try to be an internet doctor, then just deal with the consequences on my own.
Now being able to head to a medical professional following an injury while knowing that I won’t have to pay anything unless the charges total over $25k is a pretty great feeling.
Luke Koppa
Managing Editor, BLISTER