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'TAKE THE BAD WITH THE GOOD'
Words by: Denim Cox | Photos by: Fraz Watt
Every BMX trip walks the line between best-ever memories and worst-case scenarios. While filming for the BSD Mixtape, that line was crossed more than once, from a brutal crash in Glasgow to multiple heavy injuries in Tenerife that shut sessions down and sent riders straight to surgery. Here’s a firsthand breakdown from Denim Cox of what went wrong and why taking the bad with the good is just part of the game...
While filming for the Mixtape, a few of you guys took some hard hits and dealt with some serious injuries. You witnessed them all, including your own crash in Glasgow. What were you going for that day, and what went south?
Crashes are never fun to watch, unless you’re watching NASCAR. On this day, we were not watching NASCAR; we were rolling about 17 people deep to watch Joe Foley do the craziest rail hop in Glasgow.
It was the kind of rail hop that every rider has joked about doing at some point. Joe isn’t one to mess around, and when he called it out, we knew he was going for it, whether he landed it or not. When he landed that rail hop, the hype was so high we should have gone straight to the bar.
But for some reason, I decided to revisit this little rail across the street that I had been eyeing for years. It was a 3-flat, 3-flat, 4-stair kinker, and my idea was to gap to a last-stage icepick on this little guy and roll away feeling like Foley, with a dream clip that had been joked about for years.
Without warming up much, and feeling thicker than a Snickers, I still called out the gap ice. The very first time I really sent it, it did not go as planned. My peg was half an inch off where it needed to be and caught an upright of the rail, which sent me over the bars, face-first into the ground, and drooling all the way to the hospital. Shout-out to Reed, Greg Layden, his mom Teresa, and his dog Rolo for getting me there.
Neck and spinal injuries are sketchy as hell. What specifically happened to your neck?
After a few hours of sitting in the hospital with Reed, a nurse walked in with a neck brace and informed me that I had fractured my C5 and C6 vertebrae. It was a total surprise because my neck didn’t really hurt at all. I was expecting something like brain bleeding or some other horrible outcome, but instead it was just broken neck bones.
What’s the deal with you being handed the wrong neck brace?
I stood in the hospital hallway outside my room with a backpack on and no neck brace for about four hours before they finally brought me the “correct” one. The original brace hurt more than it helped, so I figured the new one would be worth the wait. When I finally left with the new brace, I felt good and was ready to go play some foosball.
A few days later, I went back to America to continue healing. The doctor told me recovery would take three to six weeks and that I needed to wear the brace at all times, sleeping, showering, everything. Against my better judgment, I listened and wore it nonstop for three weeks. While I was in Texas with my family, my mom suggested I see her chiropractor for X-rays. I showed him the crash video and explained the injury. Without hesitation, he cracked my back and neck like never before. I was nervous he might paralyze me, but the way he handled it stress-free was actually funny.
He showed me the X-rays and explained that the brace I’d been using was actually preventing healing because of the pressure it put on the injury. He told me to throw it away and start living normally again, with one rule: don’t dive into the ground anytime soon. I thanked him, paid his $80 fee, and immediately divorced that stupid brace. Throwing it in the trash felt like a huge relief.
How was your recovery time? How long until you were back on the bike? Are you good now?
The day after I got out of the hospital, I at least tried cruising my bike from KG to get food, but it was painful. I stayed off the bike for about a month before getting back into it. Now my neck feels 100% healthy. The only time it feels weird is after long flights if I fall asleep with my mouth open and my head tilted back. That kind of pressure makes it sore until I can get up and move around. Other than that, breaking my neck turned out okay, and I’m grateful it wasn’t worse. My mom would’ve killed me if I had died.
Tenerife marked your return after the crash, but Alex and Joe both took heavy falls that cut their trips short. What happened?
My first trip back after the neck injury was to Tenerife, Spain. The place was awesome, with a great Airbnb and an unreal crew: Big Joe Foley, Sam Jones, Alex the Don, and the bosses behind the lens - Grant Smith, Dave Sowerby, and Fraz Watt.
On day one, we went to a skatepark about a mile from the Airbnb. Nobody had coffee or food yet, we were just heading out to get going, but the park was the first stop. Alex, fresh off a knee injury, set his bag down and immediately started cruising. The rest of us barely put our bags down before we saw him heading into danger. The volcano ramp was slightly over-vert, about six feet tall, with weird humps in the transitions. Something threw him off, maybe one of those humps, and he aired it, cased the top, and went face-first to the ground, knee to stem, on his first air at the first spot on the first day.
He immediately said he’d split his kneecap in half. Not a typical injury, but he knew right away. We got him sent to the hospital, but visitors weren’t allowed, so the rest of the day was basically a wash while we spot-checked and coordinated through locals who helped translate. He flew home that night and had surgery a few days later.
The next day, Grant flew in Antonio Smallwood, bringing us back to a full crew. After a couple of heavy days, Sam flew home, leaving Tony, Foley, and me. Foley was on fire and decided it was time for a nose-bonk drop to tire ride he’d called earlier in the trip. The spot was as dangerous as it gets for that trick. He sent a blind nose bonk to drop tires on an L-shaped closeout rail and nearly rode it to the end before catching the curb with his back tire and getting blown off. We were hyped because it was unreal and clearly doable.
On the next attempt, his front wheel dropped inside the closeout, stopping the bike and sending him over the bars into a straight-legged landing. With all his weight coming down on one straight leg, he snapped his femur on impact. Someone called an ambulance and helped translate. We didn’t move him because the break was obvious. His shoulder was pinned under him while he lay there with his leg completely wrecked. When medics arrived, he asked for drugs and informed them he had no spleen. Because of that, they couldn’t administer medication and had to leave to get a doctor.
He stayed in that position for about 45 minutes before they returned and treated him. It was the worst injury I’ve ever seen in person. I don’t think his trip was actually shortened, though, he ended up staying an extra week for surgery and probably flirting with the nurses...
Trips don’t always go how you picture them, and filming for the Mixtape was proof of that. Slams, setbacks, and surgeries were all in the mix - but so were banger clips and good times. Denim made it through, got back on the bike, and kept it moving. That’s BMX, win some, eat some, keep rolling...
