Day 11

The day started out pretty well. I rode out of Monticello and into Manti La Sal National Park. The roads and trails were almost as good as Colorado. After going over geyser pass at about 10300 ft I rode towards Moab, UT. I was about 5 miles outside of Moab in the Sand Flats Recreation Area. I decided to turn off the road and try out one of the trails. The sand was pretty deep on the trail and the rocks to climb were pretty steep. Things were going very well until I came to one hill. It was probably the steepest hill I had come across. I tried to climb it but was not using enough clutch. The bike died when I was about 90% up it. I started to slide back down the hill. When my rear tire hit the bottom the bike fell over on the right side. It hit the hard rock trapping my right foot under it. My foot hurt and I was having trouble lifting the bike off it. Once I finally got the bike off of my foot I stood up and it hurt to put weight on my right foot. I picked the bike up and proceeded to drop it on the left side. After picking it up I knew I had to get to town. I was about a mile from the road on the trail. There were still some steep hills to climb and lots of deep sand. It was hard to ride out of there without using my right foot for balance or rear breaks. I dropped the bike into a sand berm once because I did not want to put my foot down. It was only a 5 mile ride to the hospital where I got my foot looked at.

Three hours and three xrays later the doc said there is a slight fracture in my middle toe and the rest of my foot was scrapped up. Whatever punctured my boot scrapped the bottom of my foot just behind all my toes. There was a small laceration in between my last two toes that required 3 stitches. I went to the drug store and got some supplies and pain meds, then found a motel. I’m going to rest in Moab for two nights and see how my foot is doing before I decide where to go from here.

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