Posts
35722
Joined
7/10/2006
Location
Aliso Viejo, CA
US
Edited Date/Time
1/27/2012 4:26am
Josh Lichtle's death at Red Bud was a tragedy for sure. It'd be even more of a tragedy if we didn't all learn something from it.
With temps up all across the country, I spotted this article on my iPhone today, and figured everyone could benefit from it.
Go easy on your workout as the weather heats up
http://usat.ly/qxEjHJ
With temps up all across the country, I spotted this article on my iPhone today, and figured everyone could benefit from it.
Go easy on your workout as the weather heats up
http://usat.ly/qxEjHJ
When I heard of this tragedy, I thought of these times, many times when I scared myself by getting so hot because of no air movement. I really don't think this is a racing issue, but a stopping issue.
It is only so much amazing that he put so much more energy into starting the bike after 27 minutes. This guy was driven! Really, so driven.
Fuck. This is not right, but It can not be fixed at the MX Sports level.
During heat stroke, the body temperature rises above 103 degrees Fahrenheit, your skin becomes red, hot and dry.
You have to heed those early warning signs. As heat illness progresses, your brain becomes confused and won't tell you when to stop.
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I seemed to be fine but my question is:
Does heatstroke happen right away or can it set in later like a couple hours or the next day? I'm assuming it happens pretty rapidly but I'm paranoid about it now and just curious.
I just hope it never happens again.
Tonight on the Discovery show "Surviving The Cut" where the Navy trained special forces and were doing a prolonged swim in the ocean, and before the session every guy swallowed a monitoring pill that transmits their core body temp. I thought that was pretty interesting and it reminded me of the heat stroke thread.
I am sharing my symptoms as a warning. First thing I noticed I looked at my arm, it was no longer sweating, felt dry and was red. They rushed me to the creek, put me in and called an EMT, by time EMT got there I was vomiting. They tried to give me pedialite to drink but I vomited it and could not keep it down. I started fading in and out and don't remember much. The EMT looked at me and called an ambulance.
By time I got in the ambulance my heart was in tachacardia and they started an IV.
By time I got to the hospital I was shaking uncontrollably with seizures. They packed me in ice and kept IVs running. I survived, but had a really bad headache for 3 days and to this day my heat tolerance is much lower. I was drinking water, in light color clothes and in the shade and it still happened. Doctor said they saved my life by putting me in the creek immediately.
Again, in less than about five minutes I went from feeling too hot to being in critical condition- watch those around you. If they stop sweating or if their skin gets red and dry, you must act immediately!
DC
MX Sports
Pit Row
http://www.hotheadtechnologies.com/
DC
MX Sports
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/heat_exhaustion_and_heat_stroke/article_…
I think a positive change to make sure this never happens again would be the best way to honor Josh's memory.
Godspeed Josh
On the 2 hour ride home, my muscles were cramping like you wouldn't believe. Just like a charlie horse in your leg but literally in every muscle of my body. Toes, calves, stomach, back neck, fingers, arms. . . everything was cramping up. I tried to tough it out but ended up going to the hospital and the doc said I was dangerously close to a heat stroke but it stopped at heat exhaustion. My kidneys had completely shut down and I can't recall exactly the issue with my muscles. I thought the doc said the muscle mass had depleted by 80% (could be wrong about the mass but something muscle related had depleted by 80%). I'm assuming 100% and I would have been toast. They pumped about 4 or 5 bags of IV in me along with a bag of pain medicine.
Having said all of that, while I was in the heat and going downhill rabidly, I knew it was bad and that I needed help but I didn't make decisions that were reasonable. There are 100 things I could have done differently that would have been better damage control. If the AMA decides to make a ruling, I'm 100% in favor of it being enforced at the Asterisk level rather than putting it on the rider.
I also think knowing what you are drinking (and eating) and ingesting the right fluids helps. We need more than just water. We also need salt.....but not to much. I have found that a 50/50 mixture of Gatorade and water was a good combination.
I know through actual fans at Red Bud that on Josh's last crash he kicked his bike for a long time time, and as another post said, I too have the most problems when stopped and I restart my bike.
Plain and simple, 4 strokes can take an enormous amount of energy to restart compared to a 2 stroke.
If you deny this you simply won't admit the truth.
I live in Texas and ride in extreme heat for several months, and I always ride a 2 stroke in the summer, period!
On the converse, to cool down, keeping the head cool is important, but the core is also because much heat is retained there. Unfortunately we wear helmets in MX, which pretty much prevents the use of the head for cooling. Likewise, body armor diminishes the effectiveness of cooling the torso. You need airflow to cool down.
It's in the absence of airflow that things like cool suits and the like have come into use in car racing.
Post a reply to: Let's learn something today (heat stroke related)