Sidelined.

I was on a ride when I went down. Clean fall, wrong angle, broken wrist. One of those things that happens so fast you don't fully process it until you're sitting in the emergency room looking at an X-ray.

The diagnosis: a clean break, no surgery required. Five weeks in a cast. Waterproof, which is honestly the one silver lining — at least I could shower.

Here's what nobody tells you about being sidelined: it's not just physical. MTB is how I reset. Bad day at school, too much screen time, just feeling stuck. A ride fixes it. Take that away and you have to find other ways to deal with everything your bike usually handles for you.

I stayed connected to riding the only ways I could. I watched footage. I researched parts. I worked on the build. Staying close to the sport mentally helped more than I expected.

The crash footage

I had my GoPro running. The footage exists. I'll be posting it soon, not because I want to be dramatic about it, but because I think seeing a real crash, in real time, is more useful than any diagram. The Be Safe section of this site exists partly because of moments like this one.

What I learned

Getting hurt is part of the sport. Every rider you respect has scars and stories. The question isn't whether you'll go down. It's whether you know what to do when it happens, and whether you come back when it's over.

Five weeks felt like forever. The cast came off and I got back on the bike. That first ride back felt like the first ride ever, except better, because I knew what I'd been missing.

GoPro crash video coming soon.