September 2005: One-armed bandit

Sep 22, 2005

Written by Bart de Jong

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Hello FATBMX visitor, Thanks for checking out the site. The updates have been keeping me busy so I use that excuse for the lack of editorials the last couple of months. It's been hard getting things done with one arm anyway. I was under the knife to have my shoulder fixed at the end of May and had my right arm in a sling at the following events: IBMXFF World's in Prague, Download Soulbowl in the UK, LG Munich, BMX Masters, LG Paris and the Rebel Jam. After that I started driving again and went to the 20 Jam, FISE, LG Barcelona, UCI World's in Paris. Then to the Garden of Vert, the FAT-JAM, Eurobike trade show and then I had great news from the doctor that I could slowly ride again. Dealing with the fact that I could not ride all summer wasn't actually that rough. It's the way it is and you have to deal with it.

After doing loads of fysio, the day had come to test the shoulder. Will it pop out again? We'll see. I took the KTM instead of the BMX as I felt the bike had more suspension to save the cases. After a few sessions I felt okay. Next session I was getting so tired that I got "whiskey throttle" on the last straight before getting off the track. This had me fly off the track in full speed and before I knew it, I was back at the hospital for a few days. Broken rib, slight concussion (couldn't remember much of what happened) and a broken shoulder. The only good news is that the shoulder did not pop out so the surgery earlier in the year turned out fine.

There's never really a good time to get injured. With the Freestyle.ch (Switzerland) and Interbike (Las Vegas) coming up, I got an order from the doctor to keep it easy for 6-8 weeks. Will you see me there? Maybe yes, maybe no, but please don't slap me on the shoulder or kick me in the back when you see me.