Bursitis hurts
I crashed on concrete doing urban once on my right elbow without any pads and split my arm all the way to the bone. I was wearing two shirts and a fleece, and I kept riding for another 30 minutes or so before riding home and going to the hospital. They cleaned it out, stitched it up and sent me home.
About a month later, during my 1st physical therapy session, my elbow burst open and pus came out everywhere. So they cut it open, packed it with gauze and sent me home.
After about 4 months, when it seemed completely healed (it still really hurt, but I was dying to ride) I went riding on Grafton Mesa down in southern Utah. About half way down I flipped over the handlebars and landed on my damn elbow. I was wearing pads, and it didn't hurt too bad...but over the next couple of days it became obvious something was really wrong. Once again, they sliced me open and packed with me gauze.
After a year of doing all sorts of tricep exercises and stretches it still hurt really bad, but I could ride strong again. When it first happened I couldn't even eat with my right hand, and it took probably 4 months to get to the point where I could turn a screwdriver. This was all about 3 years ago, and even now when I do a pretty heavy day of riding or drops I get some pain.
What started as bursitis turned into infectious bursitis. It was some serious assed pain, so I pretty much learned my lesson: I always wear elbow pads.
-f00d
