American mountain bike legend Tinker Juarez had one main focus for 2015—to peak for the WEMBO World Solo MTB Championships. That goal has now been complicated by a cracked pelvis the Californian suffered in a crash on June 28 in Torreon Mexico where he was racing in the Megamarathon. In a recent phone call he explained his mishap, “It wasn’t far into the race and I was in second chasing a local who knew the course. There was a series of short rises, one after the other, and I went up one carrying a lot of speed and the way it peaked at the top I kind of lightened up—almost but not quite catching some air—and right as the bike was feeling light I hit something with my back wheel and it kicked out to one side. So now I’m flying over the other side way up in the air. I tucked and rolled so I wouldn’t land headfirst and landed on my back. The ground was practically all rocks there and I knew right away that I was hurt. For one thing I couldn’t breathe! A few seconds later I got my breath and slid off the course so the riders behind wouldn’t hit me.”
Fortunately one of those riders behind was Roman Urbina, organizer of the famed “La Ruta de los Conquistadores” race in Costa Rica and a long-time friend of Tinker’s. Urbina stayed with Tinker while help was summoned and also went with him to the local hospital (Tinker’s mastery of Spanish is limited to “cerveza” and “uno mas por favor.” Tinker continued his description, “I cracked my Pelvis and fractured a rib. I got 5 stitches to fix a gash in my knee—it was pretty swelled up—and I had bruises all down right side.”
Once home Tinker got around with a walker, then crutches, then a cane and then finally—just 19 days after the crash, he went out for his first training ride, a 38 mile road ride. Since then he’s ridden almost daily and has resumed hill training. “I can feel that my right leg isn’t as strong as the left,” he said, “But it will come back and hopefully I’ll get back to full strength and full speed soon and will be fully recovered by October. It sounds like an impossible mission, but I’ll do everything in my power to make this unbelievable dream come true. I really want to be there in Weaverville. I haven’t done a 24-Hour in a while and with the World’s being in California I just gotta be there. I want to thank all of my fans for their prayers and get-well wishes. I feel so blessed to have thousand and thousands of friends all over the world.”