Listen up Gents... (Bruce Barnes)

This is important. Last Saturday at the Washougal National, there was a terrible accident involving an out of control bike and a member of the track crew. He is not just a "track worker", he is a long, long time rider, former pro, and his brother Brian Barnes is the voice of Washougal that so many people have heard over the years.

I have worked in the "S" turns at the bottom of the ski jump for over 10 years with Bruce during the Nationals. Watering, removing rocks, and spraying the beer garden down with the fire hose to their cheers. We've taken care of that track since RC was just starting out, and we've seen a lot. Good times. Good man.

Bruce is not doing well since the accident. He has had many, many operations and complications in one of the best hospitals in the world. OHSU. For those who have not heard, he had a badly broken right humerous. 6 broken ribs, 4 broken vert. , broken pelvis, destroyed spleen, and torn diaphram with severe internal bleeding. He is fighting for his life.

In the world, I feel I have 5 brothers. Bruce is one of them and I am very worried about my brother. I would greatly appreciate your prayers and good thoughts for him while he fights this fight. Below is a picture of him in those S turns taken by GuyB right before the crash, along with my story of what happened. Also a link to his brother Brian's facebook page. Please feel free to leave a positive comment in Brian's posts. I know the family would appreciate it, as will Bruce when he beats this.

https://www.facebook.com/brian.barnes.16?hc_location=timeline


Here is a picture of Bruce taken by GuyB of Vital MX not long before the crash. I saw Bruce doing this flex and thought, "What the heck is he doing?" Then I saw GuyB and understood. Totally a Bruce thing to do. We have worked the S turns together for about 10 years, watering, removing rocks, etc. I left Bruce there for a few minutes to go get drinks and as I was walking back, Ryan Huffman cleared a path in the road for an ambulance to get by yelling that Life Flight was coming. I hadn't been gone 15 minutes. When I got back to the S turns, I didn't see Bruce. I figured he was up watering the uphill or something similar. I watered without him and still he didn't show up. I thought this was a bit odd because he is like a fixture there. He brings his quads and basically sets up camp. It was only when I went up the hill and my stepson said, "Did you see what happened to Bruce?" I said, "No, what happened?" (With Bruce, you just never know.) He said, "He got hit by a motorcycle and broke his arm. They even took him off on a stretcher." I was confused because I was not gone very long, and knew Bruce would probably have continued to water with a broken arm. (Only semi-kidding.) Then I started to talk to witnesses and put the picture together of what really happened, and realized that the ambulance that passed me was for Bruce. I texted the news to Jessica McDonald Thornton who then gave me Brian Barnes updates from the hospital. It was very difficult to be in there without my S turns partner of 10 years today, and he was on my mind every second I was watering and taking care of OUR area. And I felt pretty damn good hosing the fans in the beer garden (and elsewhere) in his honor. I feel in this life that I have 5 brothers, and Bruce is one of them.