Don't be cheap when buying your personal safety equipment. I will share my riding buddy's story from last weekend about how important your gear is.
Riding 5th in a group of 8 sleds I notice everyone stopping up ahead. Slowed down and crept up to where the commotion was. Clearly an accident. Ok. Firefighter training kicks in. I jump off my my sled and tend to the first victim I see. Breathing and coherent, good. I check to see how many more are affected by the incident. I spot another sled on its side. Ok. Another rider but where this rider. I run past the first sled involved and there he is. Lying motionless face down in the middle of the trail. As I run up to him my heart stops for a moment. This guy's helmet is blown open. But training in full control I kneel down beside him and start yelling at him " Hey! Can you tell me your name" No response. I do this 3 more times and still nothing.
As another member of the group comes to assist me I hear a noise. What? This guy moans and grunts. Holy he is still alive. I call out to him again and he lifts his head, I see his face, It's one of our guys and I know him well. Me and other guy go to log roll him over to assess but buddy decides to get up on his own .WTF. I grab him and try to settle him down. He wants to rip his helmet off and demands to know what happen. Obviously knocked silly from the accident we do our best to control him. Somehow he still manages to remove his helmet. 
. He is now standing and walking but is clearly not with it. Seconds feel like hours but we finally get him on a sled and transport him to the ambulance that is waiting a few miles away. Once at the ambulance buddy walks up and climbs in on his own. Not a wobble or miss step. Unbelievable.
Three days later my buddy is out of the hospital and comes to visit and to see his crashed sled. He has also brought his helmet along. He wants to know how the helmet got soo damaged as he has no memory of the entire accident. We all know that he was run over by a sled due to the damage of his gear. Well after an hour of chatting and walking around the sled he thinks he finds the spot where the helmet got hit. He asks for a car jack to raise the front end of the sled. Asks me to look at the left side swaybar link. Holy. There are traces of fiberglass type material wrapped into the bolt. We place the helmet under the sled and it fits! The tears and rips on the jacket line up with the studded track. He said his TekVest has stud marring on the left shoulder. This lines up as well. His own sled rolled and landed on top of him after he was ejected from it.
Can you believe it this story? I can. This buddy of mine does not BS about stuff like this and I am the guy he found lying motionless face down in the trail. My $500 helmet and $300 TekVest saved my life that day when I unintentionally put my self into a bad situation.
Riding 5th in a group of 8 sleds I notice everyone stopping up ahead. Slowed down and crept up to where the commotion was. Clearly an accident. Ok. Firefighter training kicks in. I jump off my my sled and tend to the first victim I see. Breathing and coherent, good. I check to see how many more are affected by the incident. I spot another sled on its side. Ok. Another rider but where this rider. I run past the first sled involved and there he is. Lying motionless face down in the middle of the trail. As I run up to him my heart stops for a moment. This guy's helmet is blown open. But training in full control I kneel down beside him and start yelling at him " Hey! Can you tell me your name" No response. I do this 3 more times and still nothing.
As another member of the group comes to assist me I hear a noise. What? This guy moans and grunts. Holy he is still alive. I call out to him again and he lifts his head, I see his face, It's one of our guys and I know him well. Me and other guy go to log roll him over to assess but buddy decides to get up on his own .WTF. I grab him and try to settle him down. He wants to rip his helmet off and demands to know what happen. Obviously knocked silly from the accident we do our best to control him. Somehow he still manages to remove his helmet. . He is now standing and walking but is clearly not with it. Seconds feel like hours but we finally get him on a sled and transport him to the ambulance that is waiting a few miles away. Once at the ambulance buddy walks up and climbs in on his own. Not a wobble or miss step. Unbelievable.Three days later my buddy is out of the hospital and comes to visit and to see his crashed sled. He has also brought his helmet along. He wants to know how the helmet got soo damaged as he has no memory of the entire accident. We all know that he was run over by a sled due to the damage of his gear. Well after an hour of chatting and walking around the sled he thinks he finds the spot where the helmet got hit. He asks for a car jack to raise the front end of the sled. Asks me to look at the left side swaybar link. Holy
. There are traces of fiberglass type material wrapped into the bolt. We place the helmet under the sled and it fits! The tears and rips on the jacket line up with the studded track. He said his TekVest has stud marring on the left shoulder. This lines up as well. His own sled rolled and landed on top of him after he was ejected from it. Can you believe it this story? I can. This buddy of mine does not BS about stuff like this and I am the guy he found lying motionless face down in the trail. My $500 helmet and $300 TekVest saved my life that day when I unintentionally put my self into a bad situation.
This post is not to brag. It is to bring awareness to our sport and the importance of our equipment. I still suffered a crack to the outside edge of L1 and a crack in the right scapula ( large bone in the back of the shoulder).
YukonMP
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Great post Steiner. I hope you heal up 100 percent.
Mooseman
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Wow! He is lucky after seeing that helmet. It sure did its job. Reminds me of when my wife was thrown off her sled when the trail went on a road. We figure she hit a patch of ice, it went sideways and she flew about 10 feet onto the pavement. She doesn't remember it at all, including the "Groundhog day" conversation we had and the ambulance ride. She did suffer a concussion but it could have been much worse without a good helmet. She still suffers from dizziness from time to time even though it happened in 2014. I showed her the video from my helmet cam of it (I was in front) and she doesn't remember anything at all.
And your story also shows the importance of knowing first aid and CPR since this could happen in the middle of nowhere and help could be some time away.
And your story also shows the importance of knowing first aid and CPR since this could happen in the middle of nowhere and help could be some time away.
Wow X2! Glad to hear you are doing alright!
CooperT
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Geeze, that’s wild! Glad your alright.
STAIN
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how did this happen?
Glad you are ok!
1nc 2000
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Heal up buddy! My wife and I also wear tek vest and always get comments from people about wearing them. We also see more and more people with them on.
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Wow, glad you’re ok Steiner!
your gear definitely saved you from something much worse, thanks for the reminder.
your gear definitely saved you from something much worse, thanks for the reminder.
sab2022
Expert
Yes glad everyone is O'K
"...His own sled rolled and landed on top of him after he was ejected from it....." ....sled tether?
"...His own sled rolled and landed on top of him after he was ejected from it....." ....sled tether?
This entire incident is a blank for me. I remember the rider in front of my raising his arm in the air as he cleared the s curve to indicate slow down oncoming traffic. I was approaching the s curve and also raised my arm and looked back to ensure the rider behind me was in visual range, which he was. Put my hand back on the bars. The next thing I remember is being told to sit on that sled so I could get to the waiting ambulance.
The oncoming rider has said that I over corrected while in the corner. My sled went sideways and launched me off then the backs of our sleds collided. His sled had the rear of the left running board fully collapsed. The rear of my sled looks untouched except for the left exhaust tip has been tweaked. There are no marks on it but it has been pushed over a bit. I hope to get the sled back home this weekend and do more inspecting on it. For now I know I need all the windshield and gauge plastics and a handguard. I think my sled faired better than me.
As for the other driver involved. The boys tell me that his crew straighten the running board out and he drove away.
Don't think a tether would stop a rolling sled from continuing to roll but not a bad idea to have on.
jonlafon1
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WOW.. Glad your ok! This is a reminder of "what can happen".. Thanks for sharing this.. And I know I would be slightly embarrassed to post this, SO kudos and I hope you recover physically and MENTALLY. A lot of people beat them selves up when stuff like this happens, and it can cause mental issues..
