A first for everything

They are not common, actually I don't think I've ever heard of anyone getting one and if they did they sure as hell didn't talk about it, until now. XC skiing injuries,, do they happen? Are they as common as lawn bowling injuries? I've never had one until now and it's pretty pathetic. With conditions yet again perfect, except for the strong wind it was a another day out on Georgian Bay, skate skis under foot. The sun was shinning and when in a protected area it was almost hot out. Slid out on to the ice with the Molly Monster in chase.

It happened fast, it was unavoidable, the damage was done. I've fallen on skis before, everyone has. I look at my record for defending Achy Breaky at Horseshoe which in great conditions is a tough decent. Nothing has ever happened to the body, only my pride. No less than twn minutes into the ski I went down. Now being out on the ice you would wonder what caused it, there are no trees, no turns, no hills and the chances of blaming it on a random island moving just doesn't work. As I slide along with amazing glide I rolled over the odd small snow drift. All were frozen and were just like smooth speed bumps that didn't slow me down in anyway. That's when it happened.

I'm not sure if this one particular bump understood the concept of glide wax and how fanatical some skis are on having the perfect wax for the condition, I included. I had the right glide for where I was and it showed with the speed I was motoring along at. When my left ski came to an instant stop I was stunned, it went from fast smooth motion to slow inch by inch crashing as my body continued to move to the left and my ski did not. Things in motion stay in motion and in this case that direction was down. I didn't think to much of it at first and stared at the evil little pile of snow that caused my fall. I thought about explaining to it that you have just screwed with basic physics involving glide and that Sir Issac Newton is rolling over in his grave right now. I couldn't because all I felt was a sharp pain.

I managed to slam my right thumb on that perfect angle, normally on a groomed trail this isn't much of a problem, snow is soft. When is the last time you punched a brick wall, that's basically what I did with my thumb taking the grunt force of it. I wiggled it, seems ok I've seen that doctor type stuff on tv. Shook myself off, got up, kicked the pile of snow and continued on. The great thing about my skate poles, you really don't need to hold on to the handle, the strap does all the work. Continued to ski around the bay for the next two uneventful hours.

The pain went away or was at least numbed by every other body part. Some quality time was done on the bike earlier leaving the legs feeling a little rubbery. Now comes this morning as I type this, my thumb is looking like a small sausage, it's swollen and is not very impressed when I try and bend it. Broken, I doubt it, sprained, you better believe it. Will it slow me down, probably not. I can still ski and for those that have seen my bike grips no I shouldn't have a problem holding on to them. I feel that i should contact the health minister of Canada and inform him to change the 2011 statistic for xc ski injuries, people must be informed.

Need more coffee, caffeine numbs everything with the shakes.