I was practicing in my old warehouse and I vaguely remember doing a one hand one foot x up. When I came in, my front dropout broke off my skyway forks then lights out. I was unconscious for about seven hours. It was a mild coma. I thought I was trying to wake up from major anaesthetics, coming in and out, but my brain was just trippin' out. I did learn something from the experience, though. Ambulances cost $500 for a three-mile ride that insurance doesn't cover, and if you're unconscious and don't get to enjoy the ride, you have to pay it anyway. Is there one trick that has repeatedly knocked you out?
It's probably a tie between hooking up and flipping over my bars to my head and 900's. Are concussions something that you have been able to get used to over the years?
You don't get used to it, to where it's less annoying, but you do get used to dealing with the side effects. The first thing I remember is that I shouldn't try to remember anything, and to not panic, but let nature take its course. When you try to remember things, all the things that had the most impact on your life come back first, and a lot of times these are the gnarly memories you would rather have forgotten. By trying to remember you start remembering these type memories without any good memories to keep you balanced. This has made me seriously depressed in the past, and now I just relax and not try to remember anything except that this has happened before and I'll be OK in time. You also never get used to thinking something is sucking you against a wall and then realize you're just laying on the flat bottom. Your equilibrium doesn't know up from down sometimes and that's strange. Do you think that today's injuries are any worse than 10-15 years ago?
No. You can only get hurt so bad, and I truly feel I've experienced every type and pain you could have on a bike. I don't know any current riders who can claim that. Rick Thorne may be the only other guy I know that I can share this with, and he's from the old school, too. I think riders dial themselves in more now days. Ten or 15 years ago it was all about trial and error. We didn't know what was possible until we tried it. Yes, it's still the same with each individual rider of today, but they have many past examples and guinea pigs before them where we didn't. I grew up when tailwhip airs, back flip fakies, flairs, 900, turndowns, combination airs, variation 540's, barspins, bar hop airs, Indian airs, handrail and about any other common trick wasn't reality yet, and the only way it became reality was trial and error. Do you know what to do when you see someone go down and hit their head?
Not panic, because it just stresses the injured rider out more. Give them space, let them know that they have all day to lay there, and that there is no rush to move. Even if it's live TV, in the middle of a contest and everyone else around is stressing, even the medical, it's still important to assure the rider that everything's cool and to take their time getting their marbles back in line. It is nice to have a rider that has been in that situation assure you it's going to be OK. There is too much going through someone's head with amnesia, so I try to get everyone to chill out and to stop asking him "where he's at." That's not going to help your memory come back. What advice can you give to prevent other riders from having a concussion?
Full face, full face, full face, full face, full face, full face, full face... and don't crash!
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