Bummed out...

[lukus01]

I've always been pretty durable and lived an active lifestyle. Last April, just after turning 30, I bought a boat and started wakeboarding. Fast forward a year and a half and I've created a wakeboarding monster! When I'm not on the water, I'm thinking about what I'm going to work on for my next set. When I get on the water I'm commited to progression and having a great time!

Last June I fractured my foot - I still rode but stayed away from trying any W2W jumps.....that's ok. I'm new to the sport and should be concentrating on getting the basics down: edging, swtich riding, slides. As a result the fracture takes a long time to heal and I'm not right until October.

Last November trying to take toeside W2W, board comes around, I catch my FS edge and *pop* dislocated shoulder! My plan to ride throughout the Texas winter is spoiled. That's ok....it's winter anyway and it's hard enough for me to convince anyone to go out on the boat - PT the shoulder hard and I'll be back ready in time for spring.

March comes around and I'm back riding. Out for a few sessions and I pull off a faceplant to busted eardrum manuver! Out for 2 weeks - no biggy.

June, I case the wake on a really high W2W jump and tweak my knee pretty good. I can still ride just no big jumps - knee finally feels back to normal in mid July.

School gets going again and I can't wait to take advantage of all the great water I'm going to have for the next couple of months! I'm starting to get confident in my riding and I'm working up to trying my 1st invert. My choice: the tantrum. I'm out with some new guys on Friday and decide to give it a shot! 3rd try I get the pop and rotation but case the second wake. The result: a broken fibula and strained ligaments in my ankle. In a boot for 4-6 weeks, and probably won't be able to get on a board for longer than that.

So I'm bummed. I sit here wondering if I am cursed by the wakeboard gods. My ankle is eff'ed, I can't hear becasue my ear hasn't completely healed, and my shoulder is still unstable. Is anyone else as injury prone as I am? Am I just too old to be doing this kind of crap? Should I stop now before I tear up a knee or something worse. Maybe I should stick to wakesurfing. Don't get me wrong wakesurfing is fun - it's just not in the same ball park.

Sorry for the long post. Just venting. I'm sure by the time I get this boot off I'll be ready to hop back on.

[The Heez]

I'm not sure how you are going about your progression but it sounds like you are definitely running into some durability issues. I think instead of going out there and beating the hell out of yourself, you should look into some lessons. A good lesson will not only teach you tricks, but teach you the fundamentals that allows your entire riding to improve. There is no way to learn without crashing, but lessons can help take away some of the lumps.

My crew & I are all about your age, only difference is we learned young and have been riding for many years. But each and every one of us has a list that we are working on and at this point of the season my knees are absolutely killing me (thank god for glucosamine).

[FlyZone CR]

^That's about what I was going to say. Consider going to a camp for a couple days, or subscribe to learnwake.com. They (the people from The Wakeboard Camp) have a really nice way of low-impact learning new tricks.

[m_lesney]

I ride with a 52 year old and he throws down. You have to know when to take it easy. Im in Austin where you ride?

[da Liks]

i'm kinda scared of the same thing buddy.. i have been through HELL for 12 years of skateboarding and 6 years of freestyle streetbike stunting..dont want to be Bubb Rubb up any worse, i feel kinda disabled already

[Wakeboarder3780]

I have 2 suggestions 1 of which was already posted (I'm 25 so I'll be in your shoes in 5 years but I've had more riding experience):

1) examine your riding style - are you the type of person that just says "screw it lets try it!" or are you more like "ok i need to learn a,b,c before I learn D, I better work on a,b,c first"? While you may think you'll learn more by the mentality of "say F it and huck it" you'd be wrong. Try to error on the side of caution and work on smaller stuff first.

2) How much do you cross train? What's your diet like? I have a side hobby of body building so I'm always drinking a lot of milk for protein shakes so my bones are probably quite strong. In addition I'm also built like a tank. Muscles aren't just for show - they help you ride better and take falls better too. For instance I'm learning tantrums right now and I can go out my normal riding schedule of 2-3 times a week and throw about 15 attempts each night (but I also slow the boat down to 21 when I'm learning new stuff).

If I had to guess it would be one of those or a combination. Tweaked knees and tweaked this or that is hard to avoid - if you land goofy it can happen no matter how built you are (if you have a more calculated riding style instead of F it and huck it this will happen less often).

But getting fractures and dislocated shoulders? That leads me to believe you would benefit from some additional muscle / diet modification.

[lukus01]

That's just the thing. I'm not usually a "F it and huck it" type rider. I have The Book and a couple other instructional dvd's, learn things from youtube, waketrix, and the trick tips section of this board and others. I'm a firm believer in the progression ladder and try to stick to it (the tantrum attempt was a moment of weakness in this area though).

I'm starting to meet some new people but until now I've been learning on my own using the resources I just listed. I haven't really ridden with anyone on a consisitent basis that is better than me so I haven't had anyone in the boat to give pointers. I'd like to do lessons or camps, but am a little afraid of being "the old guy"

I'm sure like everyone else, I've taken some hard falls but I'd have a hard time putting any of the injury crashes in the top 30. I had even recently started pulling in the rope and riding at about 19 mph.

As for cross training goes, I train for short triathlons, weight train, and pay attention to my diet. I'm nowhere close to a body builder but I'm not exactly skin & bones either.

m lesney..I usually ride on LA north of Emma Long. I'm always down to meet new people.

[AaronATX]

damn dude!! sorry to hear about your injuries. i took a nasty digger a few weeks ago right in front of Emma Long.. cased the wake and faceplanted.. concussion, bruised chest, tweaked my ankles from the board being yanked off my feet, and i got a pretty good bust where my lip joins to my gums.. thought I knocked out a tooth.

anyway.. get better soon!!