Wakeup Call

NQ1965

NQ1965

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I don't post on here as much as I used to, and right now I'm not riding as much as I have over last ten years, partially due to other life projects, but also partially because I had my own wakeup call.

Some of you may know this, others may not but I had weird sort of crash last year at a local track on an open practice day. This was my most severe crash that resulted in a permanently separated right shoulder AC Joint, as well as a dislocated left hand and fractured wrist, and banged up ribs. I ended up with a plate and screws in the left wrist. That was one year ago this week (April 28, 2024).

This morning, I read a link on facebook of another rider who just suffered a much worse injury, and this guy became a hero on Pitracer a bunch of years ago. His name was Jerry Robin, and back in 2013, he raced a 1985 CR250 at Lorretta's and done exceptionally well against a field of modern bikes.

Now it looks like his racing days may be over for good.
 
Yep. It's scarey for sure. 51 years of riding, injuries, etc never phased me. Matthew broke his back 9/10/23 at Briarcliff. 6 months later back on a bike. Ex wife mad at me claiming it my fault because he is getting back on the bike. Part of me was scared for him, most of me happy that he wanted to get back and do what he loves doing. Living his life without fear. You never know what life will hand you in this sport. But one thing I do know, in life you need to not live it in fear and do what you love doing.
 
John250 said:
Part of me was scared for him, most of me happy that he wanted to get back and do what he loves doing. Living his life without fear. You never know what life will hand you in this sport. But one thing I do know, in life you need to not live it in fear and do what you love doing.
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I get that.
Nancy always knew the risks with us riding and racing, has witnessed many, many others getting stretchered off to local hospital, or worse yet, air lifted. She had grown much more confidant in my ability to dodge serious accidents as my riding and racing improved over these last few years. That is until last April.
After 33 years of marriage, she was staring at her 58yr old durable husband laying in a hospital bed for the very first time. Was actually my 1st overnight hospital stay since I was a child.
And even though we loaded up my bikes and I drove my truck home, and then to the Hospital ER injured and banged up, she didn't like what she was seeing.

She knew that it wouldn't stop me, and like most dirt bikers I didn't waste any time getting back on the bike, and between Honda Hills AHRMA race, and AMA Vintage Days, I raced 16 moto's over two weekends, just 2-1/2 months out of surgery.

Truthfully her biggest concern is and has always been, me "not thinking" about what happens if I end up with a major or catastrophic injury. She loves the sport, loves the fact that I race, and loves that it's an activity our family enjoys being part of.

I can say for myself, I have no intentions to ever quit riding/racing 2 stroke dirt bikes, but if I have to scale things back to protect myself, I will, because none of this is worth the life changing injuries that these racers are suffering.

To not keep this in the forefront of our minds is foolish.
 
Getting hurt sucks. I too had a practice crash last year. 13 ribs broken and a collapsed lung. September 4th.
I will say I did make my Mexico trip with Jack on November 4 riding the Baja 1000 for three days.. but I’ve been a little leery about getting back on the bike this year. And now that I need a knee replacement, it’s even harder to get on the bike looking like I might get the knee done in June or July thank God my wife was by my side through the whole. And my good buddy Brad and John.
 
We all been there. I went full retard back into racing in 2015 in that Oma 125 class. Trashed my collarbone and was like wow yea this 6-8 month recovery process sucks. In addition to almost missing house payment toward the end of it….

Very stressful. But. s**t what do we do? Assume the risk you’re willing to take for as long as you’re willing to take it….

The older I get the more I value my health over risk. To the point where I don’t even drink alcohol anymore. It’s bizarre. I want to be able to do physically active things within my limits.
 
This was me a week after Memorial Day 2021, so almost 4 years ago. Bike shut off on the face of the big table top at Huffman hills. All i remember was trying to jump off the bike over the bars, and when i finally woke up from being knocked out, the ambulance was pulling up to get me off the track. Double tibia plateau fracture, shattered knee caps, every ligament torn in them, fractured pelvis, and fractured L3,4,5 and S1 vertebra, and if that wasn’t the worse part, i got staph infection in my left leg about 3 weeks after surgery. Had a port put into my left arm and had to have surgery again on my left leg, and inject antibiotics into port 3x daily for 6 months. After the injury i said I’d never race motocross again, and i haven’t. Switching to off road racing was the best choice i made. It’s just as fun, and the skills to do off road are just different from Mx. Oh yeah, only thing that sucks about off road racing is the roots and trees hurt when you hit them lol
 

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