Hello everyone, sorry for the delays but obviously a lot has happened over the last 24 hours and Roberta and I wanted to make sure that everyone (the docs, her and I) were sure exactly what the extent of Mike's injuries are before we announced anything.
For those that know the mountain, Mike went off the turn at the end of the Picnic Grounds straight. The marks tell me (as does Mike) that he tucked the front under braking. It's one of the fastest places on the course, I guesstimate he was still going 80-90 when he left the asphalt and went into the rocks at the bottom of a drainage ditch.
Mike suffered a broken right heel (they initially thought ankle, but it's the heel), a broken right elbow (2 places), a mangled ring finger on the left hand, and the grand finale was a compound fracture of the lower left femur. In a departure from his usual crash behavior he never lost consciousness, though I'm guessing he wishes he had. Everything head, neck, spine and neuro is just fine.
He underwent surgery yesterday for the finger, elbow and femur. Apparently the femur was pretty ugly, so due to time constraints and the uncertainty of the exact nature of the ankle injury they decided to put off repairing the ankle/heel. That surgery will likely be in 2-4 days, and he may be moved to Denver first. They are happy with the status of the other repairs.
In summary, he's pretty beat up, but fortunately will recover fully in a few months. Unfortunately the bike will not. I think the shock may be salvageable, but that's probably about it.
While he's resting as comfortably as possible, he would prefer no visitors just yet. We'll let everyone know where he is when he's up for some company. I know he'll be reading the forums so please post your well wishes! Thanks to all for your support, Ro and I have both been overwhelmed with texts, calls, emails, etc. We're happy and proud to be part of the MRA family!
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