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PARK CITY — Shaun Deutschlander has been running a mountain guide service for 11 years now and says crashes are part of the sport. She said there are inherent risks, and coaches and community members should prepare for those risks and be safe.
She has always enjoyed mountain biking and skiing, and she founded a company, Inspired Summit Adventures, where she is able to bring her passion for mountain sports into her profession.
Deutschlander shared her excitement for biking and experience with safety practices at an event hosted by Intermountain Health at Woodward Park City on Friday and helped teach children at summer camps about mountain biking safely.
She encourages people to be prepared, not just with safety gear but with water, food and first-aid supplies. She said bikers should be aware of trail rules, how busy a trail is and the people around them. When teaching mountain biking, Deutschlander explains to adults and children how to fall correctly — to tuck and roll to allow momentum to move through and avoid injury.
Deutschlander has fallen while mountain biking multiple times. Her first fall from a mountain bike was when she was 7 years old and required stitches. Four of her falls resulted in a hospitalized concussion, each during years when she was pushing herself to improve her mountain biking.
One of the things she learned from those falls is to work on new skills gradually, "take a little nibble" from a technical skill and gradually "dial it in."
"I do think that lead up, that ability to take your time learning the real skills and gaining that confidence so that when you hit things, or ride things that are a little bit above your ability, you can actually be in more of a flow state and elevate your skills to that moment," Deutchlander said.
She teaches mountain biking in careful steps, starting in parking lots getting comfortable with brakes and footwork, and then moving toward smaller hills rather than practicing bad habits on the slopes.
Dr. Rohnda Taubin has been doing neurological rehab for over 25 years but came to Park City Hospital three years ago. She said the hospital treats a "tremendous number of concussions," and more of those come from mountain biking than skiing.
Taubin said helmets decrease head injuries by 80%.
"One of the things that irks me the most is watching a family ride … and the kids have helmets on and the parents don't," she said, adding that people don't grow up and no longer need a helmet.
"It's just really critical to make sure you're wearing a helmet, even if you're just going up the road," she continued. "It's never too hot. Like, you have to wear your helmet. It just doesn't make sense not to."
She said people who don't wear helmets are often transferred from Park City Hospital to a Level 1 trauma center with significantly more severe injuries.
Taubin emphasized the importance of having a good helmet that has not been in a previous crash with the newest technology, which right now is MIPS or Multi-direction Impact Protection System.
"Make sure you invest in that (technology). That's not a place to skip," she said.
Taubin said 80% to 90% of people with concussions recover within three weeks, but not everyone does. Her advice for treatment is to not do anything that causes concussion symptoms to worsen — which can be different for each patient.
Courtney Morrison, a nurse manager at Intermountain Health who runs the resort medicine clinics, said the clinics see over 130 injuries each year from mountain biking.
Most of these injuries are concussions, head injuries or chest trauma. She said mountain biking leads to so many injuries because of the high traveling speeds, but the percentage of people who wear helmets when mountain biking is "extremely high."
She said people do a double-take when someone isn't wearing a helmet because it is "just a terrible idea."
Morrison encouraged people to be prepared when going on the mountain with a bike — not just with a helmet but with snacks, mountain biking gloves and sunglasses to protect eyes from the sun and sticks or branches.
She said children understand the importance of safety, and teaching children helps bring the message to parents as well. The children at Woodward Park City on Friday completed activities at three Intermountain Health booths to learn about sports performance, first aid and helmet safety.
