point ?” I asked her . I wanted to remember this ride , the scenery was just insane . “ We can try ”, Fiona replied . So , we made our way back to the wooden hut to return the boards . The locals confirmed they didn ’ t mind us riding on with our bike and the ground was very compact and far easier to ride than the deep sand we experienced on the way there . I was tired by this point and hungry . There was nowhere to buy food and the few snacks we had on us didn ’ t provide the energy boost I was after . With temperatures close to 40 degrees
Celsius I decided to hold off for a moment before putting all our gear back on . We rode the short distance to the bottom of Cerro Negro , and I got the picture I was after to remember this little adventure .
Then it was time to head back . Whenever I ride challenging terrain and must return the same way , I always feel more confident on the way back . And that day was no different . Both Fiona and I were impressed that I had somehow relaxed into it and picked up the speed . About a mile later we came off the bike again … the front wheel had dug into the sand , and I wasn ’ t brave enough to throttle out of it . But it didn ’ t matter . We picked up the bike and kept riding . Then I rode two miles in sand without stopping . That was a record ! Fiona was telling me through the intercom how impressed she was with my riding and cheered me on to keep going .
“ Remember , you can ’ t hurt yourself in sand ”.
Within a split second of this statement , I lost control of the bike and tried to dab my foot to prevent a fall . Big mistake ! Not only did I fail and drop the bike , but I also trapped my foot underneath resulting in excruciating pain . Fiona immediately knew something was off when she heard me scream in pain . She lifted the bike , but I struggled to move my foot . I literally had to pull on my trousers to move it aside . Then I instinctively found myself crawling into the shade on all fours to get out of the sun as I felt like I would pass out from the pain .
I lay there on my back and could feel my heart pumping as the sharp pain was slowly disappearing . Fiona wanted to look at my foot to assess whether it was broken .
It felt good taking it out of the boot . As she was pressing and stretching it gently , she concluded that she didn ’ t think it was broken and immediately instructed me to put my boot back on before my foot was too swollen to fit . Putting my boot back on felt less appealing . Then I tried to stand up but putting any kind of weight on my right foot was extremely painful . I couldn ’ t see how we were going to ride out of here . Fiona picked up the bike and I sat back on it . But as I got on , her weight was transferring pressure to my legs as I was trying to keep the bike stable , and I felt a sharp pain in my right foot . I asked her to get off immediately . We weren ’ t going anywhere like this !
It was late afternoon , and we
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