Injured Yet another nasty set back.

Little late on posting but just got back on the bike from this one.

About 3 months ago now I was doing really well with the racing stuff, and had plans set in place to go to Daytona Bike week. I had just gotten done dealing with the AMA all day getting my pro card and number locked down for the season and decided to celebrate spending $200 on it by going for a nice little cruise on my 450x. Everything was going great, and I was headed back to my truck to head back into town and have dinner with my girlfriend of the time. Well, curiosity almost killed the damn cat this time. I was cruising down a back road thats pretty deescalate with my buddy and saw that someone had made a clearing up a hillside that looked like a fire road, so we went to investigate. I took point at approximately 30mph and headed up the road. It started up a hill and dropped into an 8x10 drainage ditch. Before I knew it I was doing the lawn dart with my plated 450x, with a full desert tank and miorrs chasing me into the ground. Folded up like a suit case and the bike landed on my back causing a compression fracture of c4, c5, c7, and t10. This one took a lot out of me, went from making my own way in the world at 18 years old to laying in a ditch with a broken back waiting for the ambulance to arrive, thinking about how to tell my sponsors and employer about what had happened. Pretty much lost what I had busted my ass to build up since the last time I got hurt. Went from being completley independent and full of energy to laying in a hospital bed for 4 days in a matter of seconds and it was a big shock. Did a lot of thinking while I was off the bike and decided that no matter how relaxed the situation may be, it can go from fine to fucked in a matter of seconds! Breaking your back at 19 years old can be a big mental setback. Went from being in the best shape of my life to having someone help me get dressed and such, and it wasn't easy. There was no way to find work with the inability to lift more than 10lbds and my resume being based in an industrial environment. It was pretty tough for a few months, but I was able to get my ducks back in line and carry on with my life about a month ago. Stopped using my injury as an excuse to do nothing but smoke weed all day, and was able to be 100% straight for the 1st time since I was 16. Back in the saddle as of 2 weeks ago and going to race for the 1st time this weekend with a different mindset and different goals in life. Everyone has to grow up sometime, and this was my big kick in the ass to do so.
 
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Damn, not good! Good you are back and able to talk about it and learn a great lesson. Proud of you to set it all. Rhine and move forward. Best of luck to swing back in.
 
Glad you are back on the bike and moving forward with your life and racing. I can relate to the story as I had a kind of similar back in the day.
 
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