Ten Under The Ben. A short drive along to Nevis Range, into position and all set to receive patients by start time at 0900. It was a warm, dry day, so for many places on the course the loose gravel would be like riding on ball bearings! Would you believe! About an hour into the event and the first casualty arrives looking as though someone had taken a cheese grater to him. Skin shredded from ankle to buttock with the forearm and elbow thrown in for good measure! Tx included lots of swabbing and picking out bits of gravel, liberal application of Betadine (an iodine solution which stings!!). Dressings were cobbled together to try to cover all the raw bits and the deeper holes were patched. The injuries needed to be seen at hospital to ensure the deeper wounds were thoroughly cleaned out prior to suturing so his support crew (long suffering wife or girlfriend) loaded him into their car and off to the Fort.
Most of the customers passing through Med Base were bumps and scrapes with one or two suffering effects of the heat. Riders had been briefed to keep well hydrated, but some of the less experienced ones were just drinking water, not realising that they were loosing assorted salts it their perspiration. A couple of sachets of Dioralite in a bottle of water sorted the problem out, along with advice about proper hydration for endurance events.
Our base unit was all of ten metres from NR's Pine Marten Cafe, a first class source of coffee and, for a late breakfast could turn out a mean bacon and egg roll! To be fair though, between breakfasts and getting 'wired' on Americanos we did sort out a fair number of broken riders. One guy was embarrassed about his injury and had sent his pal over to the ambulance to ask for a 'home visit', he was sat in the back of their van clutching his testicles having been coming downhill, bike hit a root and stopped suddenly, he continued forwards until his gonads impacted with his handlebar stem!! Ouch!! (that's what I'm told he said!). I suggested that he count them. Two, that's good, how many did you start with? Two, that's fine then. Any sign of blood or bleeding from your JT? No, good. Any blood in your urine? Not been for a pee yet? ok, but when you do go, if there's any sign of blood give us a shout, if you're pulling out and heading back down the road and it starts just get yourselves to an A&E unit to get checked out. Pelvis was checked and no bony injuries were apparent so paperwork was completed and advice given about how to get the best price for a bike on e-bay!
We were in the throes of packing up when a shout came through about a rider crashing a short distance up the track, by the time we'd picked up the 'grab bag' the injured rider had got back onto his bike and managed to roll the last few yards and finish his lap. Like our first casualty this guy had shredded himself from ankle to hip sustaining some deep lacerations, and had gouged some sizeable lumps out of his knee and elbow. All this stuff needed anaesthetising and scrubbing, the wounds were dirty and agony for the guy when we started attempting to clean them. The obvious solution was just to get any gross contamination off and apply non-stick dressings over the damaged areas and get the guy away. As we had a vehicle to re-fuel our casualty got a ride right to the A&E door.
Back at Base we were packed, all riders were accounted for (either in or on their way home), so it was time for offsky and ready for an 0500 start to drive to Kirimuir!!
Saturday done, Sunday next post. Bed time.
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