As you might have guessed by the title, my motocross season had been cut short. On Father’s Day June 15th, after only making it to one race this season, I ended my second summer racing motocross.
I can say leading up to this injury I was enjoying the sport more than ever, and really pushing myself. I started getting on my bike as soon as I could after the winter season. I spent a lot of my spring days split between morning skiing and afternoon moto’s. I packed as much seat time in as I could in those three months leading up to my injury.
I made it to one race this season in Preston, Idaho where I ended up in 4th place in the Women’s class.
You’d think after all my injuries I would have learned my lesson on pushing my limits, apparently not.
I was coming off 3 days of working without sleep, got a 2hr nap and drove at 3am that night to Boise to race the following morning at OMC. My Dad had planned to come with me to see me ride for the first time ever, and celebrate Father’s Day. I got a call that morning at 3am that he wasn’t going to come and support me, I was devastated.
I had a pretty emotional drive starting at 3:30am that day. By the time I got within 45 minutes of Boise I was hallucinating while driving due to lack of sleep. At this point, I still was fighting to race that same day.
It was a rough morning, and I decided I would just go into practice with an open mind. I was just going to see how I felt, and decide after practice If I would race. For any skiers or snowboarders, you know this is very similar to calling “last run”.
I was riding practice better than ever, and a little over my head. I was on a 250 I had bought from a friend that was fast as hell and I was pretty fired up emotionally. By the last lap I was pushing, hard. There was an infield double I decided last second I would go ahead and jump. Little did I know at that moment my handful of throttle would cost me $14,000.
I grabbed a big handful, and took the double to the face of the triple. (I was told the crash was very similar to Martin Davalos’s crash in SX.)
I landed in the face of the triple, casing and breaking my ankle. My Medial malleolus was broken and displaced with a fracture in my fibula and all the ligaments torn.
I then flew over the bars taking the bike with me which landed on my back. Bike then tossed me across the berm and into a large metal sprinkler with tires around it for protection while still breaking my helmet.
I spent a week 4 days getting waited on hand and foot by RB629 (thank you, thank you, thank you!!!) and went in for surgery a week later with Dr. Danny Judd AKA: Best Ortho Ever.
I’ve had more than my fair share of injuries and surgeries, this was my 5th surgery due to accidents.
I have never spent so many frustrating hours on the couch and crutches and can’t thank everyone enough who helped me get through these couple months following.
I can officially say that 3 months later and I’M BACKKKK.
I was non-weight bearing for a month and a half and spent the next month busting my ass in the gym every day to get where I am with my recovery. I’m not racing until next year but it feels so nice to swing my leg over a bike again. Even if it’s in 3rd gear most of the time right now, haha!
Huge thanks to everyone who helped me at the track that day, the weeks following, the outreach of all my friends and followers and my sponsors for the continued support. You guys helped me get through this when I couldn’t have been more frustrated and depressed.
Lets keep it on two wheels now eh?