The Jared Graves Interview

I know this has been said before but could you give the specifics of your crash that started this whole chain of events?

Specifics, I can get pretty specific haha. Well, it was Thursday the 12th of March, sunny and about 5 in the afternoon and I was riding a section of trail I've ridden a thousand times. It's kind of a left-hand kink onto a lengthways log roll with a right-hand kink on the exit. I was doing some flat out race specific type intervals, and this section of trail was right after the interval had finished, so I was within 10 beats of max heart rate, starting go a little cross-eyed and just eased up the concentration since the interval and effort was done. I ran maybe only 6 inches off-line on this log roll thing, and it has a tree just on the exit that you have to get around as it turns back to the right. This tree is always in my mind every time I ride this section, as last year I got it really wrong and plowed my head straight into it and broke my helmet. So I got it just a little wrong this time and plowed my shoulder into the tree, then got slapped into the ground on my other shoulder. According to my GPS data, I hit the tree at 32.8 km/h. and the tree was one of the big ones that wouldn't even give a wobble if a car hit it. So yeah, it wasn't the ideal type of tree to be running into.

What was your initial reaction to the injury? Did you think it was a possible season-ending setback or were you not too concerned at first?

Well at first I was just struggling to breathe. I was completely winded on the ground, trying to just get any breath of air in that I could, it was kind of scary, I could feel myself about to pass out when my lungs finally let in a tiny breath. Then the pain set in. Richie Rude and Josh Snow were also riding in the area and they came along about 2 minutes later and I was still rolling around in the dirt trying to breathe properly and get up. Initially, I thought I had broken ribs and maybe collapsed a lung, as I was having a lot of trouble breathing and the area around my chest was where all the pain was concentrated. I knew It wasn't good, but you never think something is going to keep you from racing. I mean, I crash a fair amount in training, just trying to find new limits, and I'm always sore somewhere, but you can always ride through a bit of pain, and that's what I was thinking. Give it a few days and I'll be OK. But then I couldn't even stand up or walk. I had to get Richie and Josh to help me out of the trail back to the car, and then Richie drove me to hospital where I had chest X-rays.

At this point, since my main concern was my chest, they didn't pay much attention to my shoulders. The doctor was like, "Oh, and both your shoulders are separated," but he just wanted to focus on my chest pain as I suppose that's something that could be a lot more serious. The shoulders were sore, but nothing like my chest felt and since we were 3 days away from flying to Rotorua, everything already booked, the plan was to go anyway and see how I felt. If I could ride well enough I would ride, even if it made things a bit worse short term round 2 wasn't for another 10 weeks and that would be enough time to get everything good again.


So you flew to NZ for round one of the EWS but pulled the plug just days before the event. Do you think you were being overly optimistic or did the full severity of the injury not show itself until you were in a competitive race environment?


Well, like I mentioned, it was 3 days before flying over, the entire team were at my house as we were having a bike set-up camp for 6 days here at home, just getting the new bikes dialed, so the plan was that hopefully everything would just come good with a bit of time.
Some trails were ok to ride, painful, but I could ride them at least somewhat normal. I thought if I could at least get some decent points from the race, like a top 10 or even a top 20 or something then it wouldn't ruin the whole season. After all, I'd just put in 4 months of hard work in preparation. I wasn't going to not race unless I absolutely couldn't. So I was out riding trying to see how I was going. The day it became apparent though was the Saturday the weekend before when I put in a pretty big day riding and rode some rough stuff, pushed through the pain and then couldn't even move that night and it was worse the next morning. The biggest problem in Rotorua was torn muscles in my back, along with dislocated ribs which didn't initially get picked up on and were super painful to ride with. In training I was forced to walk down any drop off on a trail any bigger than maybe 30cm and it wasn't until we were training for the race that the chest pain had subsided and I got some mobility back, and that's when I realized how sore my shoulders were. I tried to ride the National DH track in the forest, and I had to walk 50% of the track. I was still hopeful about racing as there were still 3 days before practice started, but I kind of knew from that point it wasn't going to be feasible. At that time, recovery became the focus.




A lot of people were confused as to how you were still out riding the entire time in NZ. You were also able to put in the saddle time for a three day photo shoot following the EWS in Rotorua, so where did did you draw the line as far as what you were able to do in terms of riding v. recovery?

Well if I was going to race I had to try and ride the sort of stuff we would be racing, otherwise you just don't know if you can or not. But after I realized racing wasn't possible I toned the riding right back. Sure I was out riding, but it was more like a road ride on the dirt, only riding the most basic trails with not a rock or root in sight. Just keeping a few rides going to not let the fitness drop so I could be back to training 100% when I was able, and not having to try and build the fitness up again like you would after some weeks completely off the bike.

All in all, the timing of the trip, when the crash happened, and other initial injuries taking focus away from the more longer term problem of the shoulders, it all was just a bit of mess really. Not ideal by a long shot as far as getting on top of initial recovery.



Shortly after returning back home you were able to get all of your scans done by your local specialist. What was the final verdict? How much damage had you really done, and what was the plan for recovery?

Yeah I was booked in for the day after I got home from Rotorua and we had everything scanned and x-rayed. The shoulders were right on the limit of needing surgery, but at that point the surgery rehab time would be just as long as letting them heal themselves, probably longer. I had dislocated my 1st rib which was causing neck and more back problems as well as pins and needles in my fingers. I also had dislocated bones in my left hand, my spine was all sorts of crooked, and of course the shoulders. Both separated and partially torn ligaments with my right shoulder being separated at both ends of the scapula, so it was just kind of wobbling around.


When I rode with you a bit in Rotorua you could barely hit a g-out or pull up on the bars, have you turned a corner over the past few days or weeks in terms of these limitations or is there still a long way to go?

Honestly I feel really close to being ready, most things feel fine, but every ride there are those moments where a front wheel gives a sudden twitch and you have one of those really fast jerky corrections that I just can't do without being in a lot of pain, and needing to back right off. It just reminds you that you aren't ready. I've been very limited in my amount of upper body work I've been able to do the past 2 months and I've lost upper body strength, so when I hit a big G-out now I feel like my upper body collapses a bit and I lurch over the front of the bars. So I need to build my overall strength back up also, but I'm really close! If the next 2 rounds were a few weeks later I'd be there. I just can't quite ride 100% fast just yet, and I don't want to re-injure anything now. There's no point is racing when you aren't 100% and stand a chance of setting yourself back for the rest of the season.

We are now a little over 8 week out from the original injury and you obviously still feel as if you are not ready to race. Are things just going slower than expected in terms of recovery? Would surgery have been a better option and still allowed you to return for the end of the season like Jerome did last year, or are you and the doctors confident that time is the right strategy here?

Well I've had 3 different specialist opinions now and they all said that they wanted to avoid the surgery. They were all confident they will heal up no worries and I'll be back to 100%. It's just taking a few more weeks than they first told me. All I keep hearing is "every injury heals at a different rate, and the only person who will know when every things ready is you." I'm confident with how my shoulders are feeling now, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and things are progressing much faster now that they are strong enough to get stuck into some more intense physio. We're also fortunate to have that off-season break so if need be, if I'm still having trouble at the end of the year I have the option to go in for surgery then to ensure I'm 100% for 2016. But all indications are that that won't be necessary.

Since the first race has already been missed my chance of defending the overall title has kind of gone with it. The way the points are you can't afford a missed race. So for now, there's still pain when trying to push 100%. It doesn't make things worse anymore though which I'm very happy with so I can enjoy my riding a lot more, but mostly things aren't healed sufficiently to withstand crashing or running into trees yet, and part of the call not to race the next 2 rounds is based off what the terrain is like. After racing there last year, we know what to expect in Scotland where there is a TON of dodging trees and gaps that are barely wider than your bars. It wouldn't be a case of "if" I clip a tree with my shoulder, it's "when". People who have ridden there will know what I mean.

So at this point, I don't want to risk stuffing up my entire season. I want to come back when I'm ready, and make the most of the races I have. After all, I will still be racing 5 of the 8 EWS rounds so that's plenty of opportunities to win some races!




What is your immediate plan over the next few weeks? How are you training to keep the form you worked so hard on in the off season, and how do you plan to return to competition? Will you ease your way back in or are you looking to just jump back in the deep end for the 4rth EWS round?

I'm actually really pumped on the plan in place for the coming 2 months before EWS #4. I'll have some more time at home and 'Im having really big weeks still on the road bike and XC bike so fitness absolutely won't be the issue when I'm back racing! I'm also tweaking my physio and gym week by week to get to full strength. Then middle of June I'll head over to Colorado to race the first 2 rounds of the Big Mountain Enduro series in Snowmass and Keystone, using them as tune up races to get mentally on top of everything and racing against the clock again. I'm confident I will be 100% physically and mentally for round 4 in France.




How has the team been through all of this? Obviously it must be a big let down to everyone, but you and Yeti have been together long enough to understand the highs and lows that come from racing. Has the team's focus changed at all knowing that you won't be their guy fighting for the championship title again this year?

Yeah obviously everyone is bummed, but it's been 8 years since I was last sidelined with injury and they know its all part of the game. We always just try and do everything you can at each individual round and the overall looks after itself then. There's always a bigger picture but it really comes down to our focus being on the individual rounds. As a team we'll just pick up like nothing happened in France. Maybe I'm not able to defend my title this year, but by the time we're on the beach in Finale in October this will seem like an eternity ago. With 5 of 8 rounds in the cards there are plenty of positive opportunities still to be had for the year! And seeing someone else getting the title will set a fire under my ass for 2016.


How are you staying productive within the team despite being injured. I know Richie Rude spent the winter at your house in Australia and you are very much a mentor to him. Are you doing anything extra to give Richie that extra push to get on top of the podium? Do you think he is ready to leave his mark on the EWS for Yeti in your absence this season?

Richie has been living with me since the new year and he's been putting in the hard yards and is ready for some big results this year. Having Richie living with me has been awesome, it's just a bummer we haven't been able to ride together much the past couple of months. He's progressing fast and is one of the most talented guys on the bike I've ever seen. I've just been teaching him some of the finer points I guess, small stuff that adds up to make a big difference that most people overlook. He's still young and still makes some young guy mistakes, but don't be surprised if he's standing on top of the podium at any time this year.






What motivates you when training through an injury and working to get back into competition? I imagine it's immensely difficult to watch the other riders fight for the title you won last year and have not gotten a fair chance to defend. What do you do to keep a positive outlook despite setbacks?

I just get in my bubble and focus on myself and returning to win some races. It definitely sucks not getting a chance to win the title again, but I have plenty of opportunities to prove myself this year still.

Since defending your title is not really a realistic goal anymore, and with no one day World Champs like the DH guys have to refocus on when injured early in the season, what are your new goals? How do you wish to leave your mark on the 2015 EWS series.

Yeah I definitely have my goals which I keep to myself and only those closest to me. I just want to do the best I can at the races I'm doing which means I am definitely looking to win a few.

And finally, what are your thoughts on the 2015 EWS season? With so many riders capable of winning stages it looks like there could be upwards of 10 riders more than capable of winning each round. Who do you think the guys to watch are? Any dark horses we should be looking out for?

Well, you have the obvious guys, like Jerome, Fabien, Nico Vouilloz and Nico Lau, Damien Oton, Justin Leov, and Martin Maes. The there's Richie of course and also I think Francois Bailly Maitre, Florian Nicolai, Joe Barnes, all could be the new guys to win one if they have their day. Then there's also someone each season that comes up and surprises everyone, too hard to pick, and a bit early in the season so we'll have to wait and see.

Thanks for taking the time to share you thoughts with us and we look forward to you getting back out there and mixing things up during the second half of the season. Any last words or shout outs you'd like to make?
Not really, just thanks to the team and everyone at Yeti/Fox Racing Shox of course, and just looking forward to getting back into the swing of things ASAP. I'm not a good spectator! Cheers!