Ok, most of you probably already wear them and can't figure out why I wasn't. It was one of those things that I was going to buy someday but never got to it. I have never worn knee guards and so far I had never had an issue.
We went out for a ride Saturday and I ended up behind Charlie on the trail ride. He was showing us some great technical riding. Within a minute of leaving camp, I was in his dust and tagged a rock. Hit the ground a little hard and got right up and the bike was still running. Everyone asked if I was ok and I said yes and we all keep going. We road for around an hour before Kyle decided to smash his dad's radiator. We turned around and headed back to camp. I knew my leg was bleeding the whole ride but thought it was just a little cut. Towards the end, it was getting a little sore and was getting harder to stand up. When we got back to camp, I pulled my boot off and there was blood everywhere. It soaked through my socks, long johns and riding pants. A special thank you to Charlie and Marry for doing some initial clean up. Once we saw the damage, it was off to the ER. I spent 7 hours at Ridgecrest ER and 3.5 of those was in the waiting room. The crash happened around 12:30 and I didn't get in to have them look at it until around 7:00.
After looking at my pants this morning, I am guessing that when I hit the rock, my right leg came off the foot peg and it looks like the peg shot up and hit my leg doing the damage.
Below are some pictures, once you see them, you will not want to ride without guards again if you aren't now.
It took around 50 stitches total and was all the way down to the bone. He had his finger in there spraying it with water cleaning it all out. He did are whole bunch inside to pull everything together. Then he did the outside that you can see in the pictures.
I am posting them as links instead of in this thread in case you can't handle seeing gross stuff.
After being cleaned up by Charlie and Mary.
http://www.offroadtoybox.com/viewfinders/pics/2011-01-01_19-33-32_764.jpgAfter being cleaned up by the nurse. (Pretty Gross)
http://www.offroadtoybox.com/viewfinders/pics/2011-01-01_20-24-46_314.jpgAfter being all stitched up.
http://www.offroadtoybox.com/viewfinders/pics/2011-01-01_21-40-46_399.jpgToday after being in the bandage for two days.
http://www.offroadtoybox.com/viewfinders/pics/2011-01-03_17-37-42_54.jpg