Summer "Break" & Gratitude
Well… I have completely messed up the summer of 2023 for the Hansen family. Nice one, Dylan…
These are the thoughts that ran through my mind on the morning of July 4th. Nearly 24 hours after I took the plunge and purchased my first ever dual-suspension mountain bike, I found myself on the forest floor of Bert Flinn Park in Port Moody, BC, clutching my broken right arm.
2022 Trek Top Fuel 7 - such a wicked ride! For 30 mins…
I don’t recall exactly how the injury happened. I was 30 minutes into what was the best mountain biking session of my life. Armed with my new Trek Top Fuel 7 and a newly-purchased FOX full-face helmet, I felt invincible. I did a few basic trails to get a feel for the new ride, and headed off to some more advanced trails to tackle some of the lines and features that I had been working on so far in 2023.
The end of Belle’s Trail got me. I passed a raised skinny feature, stopped, moved my bike backwards and thought “I should try this one!”. As I did, I lost my balance on the feature, heard a snap and suddenly found myself with a severe injury: distal humerus fracture (a complete break of the bone right above the right elbow), an injury that would require a significant surgery a few days later.
After a successful surgery at Royal Columbian Hospital, I have been spending the majority of the past month at home recovering. It certainly isn’t the summer our family had been planning, however, given this is our first full year in our new house we had planned to stay close to home regardless. Throughout my recovery, I kept a note of mantras that I discovered that kept my mind in the right space throughout my time at home:
8 hours in the emergency room
This happened doing something you love - Mountain biking has been such an amazing experience for me in 2023, something that I look forward to continuing as my body allows.
Brain is OK - I’m incredibly lucky that my head and/or neck weren’t injured during the accident.
Pivot - Advice that was passed to me from Rupert’s soccer coach. Pivot! Gotta change your plans for this summer and adapt.
Recovery won’t be linear - This is my 7th surgery before 40, so I’m well versed in the recovery process. There have been, and will be, many ups and downs throughout my recovery and I need to be able to roll with it.
Our bodies are always healing - I learned this from The Art of Mountain Biking Podcast, our bodies are always healing and recovering. In my case, it’s just doing more of that recently!
Post traumatic growth - As above, The Art of Mountain Biking Podcast podcast discussed looking at any trauma experience as an opportunity for growth.
This is the way - We watched a lot of Mandolorian during my recovery!
As I write this, 4 weeks after my accident, I find myself (surprisingly) filled with gratitude. I generally don’t deal with injuries well as I have blogged about, so the fact that I have been navigating this challenging time with a positive mindset is fairly new for me. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that I’m currently reading Learned Optimism, or my new look on having control in 2023, or something else. Regardless, I’m there are many things I am grateful for after this experience:
The boys are getting used to the playground by the hospital…
Family: My family understands that this is an accident and that, while many of our summer plans will be derailed, we’re going to make the most of it. It’s been wonderful to have support from my wife and the kids (who have been the best helpers!).
Sue and Shiela: Two amazing individuals that first discovered me after my accident, helped me orient to the right trailhead so that an ambulance could pick me up, and watched my bike for me.
Apple Watch: My watch detected my fall and prompted me to call 911. This was beneficial as reaching my phone was challenging, and, quite frankly, I probably would have tried to get my family to pick me up to take me to the hospital instead - which wasn’t the best idea at the time.
Colleagues: My colleagues have been super supportive during my recovery period - allowing me to take a week and a half away to rest and sending me a very nice gift basket with treats. I couldn’t wait to get back online to see them and to see many of them in the office!
Our Home: As mentioned, this is our first full year in our new home. I’m grateful for the space that we have (I could sleep in our basement without disrupting anyone’s sleep) and I’m thankful for central air conditioning during the summer days!
Indoor Bike Trainer: Finally, I’m grateful for my new indoor bike trainer setup that will allow me to continue to ride safely and keep my fitness up during my recovery. As an added bonus, I now have a good riding setup for the cold winter months in Metro Vancouver. I plan to write a post next about my setup!
It’s much easier to write this post as I look back on the past 4 weeks of my life (both for mindset and the fact that, you know, I can actually type better now!). I have been doing reading on the psychology of recovering from sports injuries, I can’t help but be optimistic on the lessons I learned during this experience. I’m ready to come back stronger! I’m also hoping to find humour in all of this: I named by bike Snap! Will never forget this experience as long as I ride it.