Video: Kyle Strait Reflects on his Rampage Crash

 also include Football, MMA, car racing(big crashes), etc.


all these come with an end of life commitment to pain and limited mobility.....that said. You wouldn't talk a single high level athlete out of it with statitistics..

what should really be done, is an endowment in each respective sport that pays these guys, and their families, after they retire and start suffering the consequences of their choices. call it a pension, call it what you will....but they should be taken care of.

 This is really important to remember. We live in an age where athletes are breaking vertebrae and limbs or tearing ligaments and we don’t blink twice at the expectation of being back up and competing in a matter of several months. Long-term impacts don’t even really cross our minds.

Meanwhile, most of us regular people still live like the athletes of 25 years back, back when this was a career-ending injury without the luxury of completely dedicated rehab and physio teams. We might not be able to ride roller coasters or bikes or ski again after that.

What an animal. Good luck to Kyle and his family.

 Nothing you're saying is wrong, but what alternative path would you suggest? Truly, I get it, but I'm not surethere's another way could he live his life.

 @Mtbdialed: The problem is, there is not a lot of money in this sport to do something of that nature.

 Bull riders too. Scary to see anyone in their prime as a pro go down hard.

 @brianhcm1: they are barely being paid at all relative to the risks they take on the job. Let alone talk of retirement and endowments.

 Agree. Still feel my broke my arm and have cactus stuck in my finger 20 years later. I can only image the long-term effects on something this massive. I would pull back from this much risk i have a wife a child, but never stop riding.

 He says this is his third time breaking his back. At this point, he's already on borrowed time. That said, I think he's pretty aware of the risks at this point. Would he do something else if he had a different/better option? Who knows - seems like not.

 Thanks for saying the quiet part out loud. I’m living with the results of a lot of orthopedic injuries from my teens and 20s, and it’s terrible.

 @samdeatley: you're welcome bro. I work in healthcare and see a lot of different examples and various stages in aging... Thought I better speak up. good luck with everything.

 Thanks for writing this. Sports now have an extreme section that we worship - and often our bodies are the sacrifice. It's important to for older athletes who've suffered multiple severe injuries tell their stories too. 55 seems a LONG way off from 25, but it's not. We're not ready for lawn darts and checkers at this age, and you won't be either. MTB is a stupid expensive sport, but being physically able to still ride with family members is exceptionally valuable.

 Man it looks as if the take off lip was just too short for him to get the proper pull into the drop...gutted to see you take that fall but so glad to know it didn't take you out....one wild bull.

 She's as tough as he is

 To you it might not be, but to the best in the sport it clearly is otherwise they wouldn’t talk about it with the passion that they do and turn up and smash it every year.
I have to admit that I am nervous for the riders when watching it and decided to turn it off this year when my young son was around.

 To many its not but to them its very much worth it. That's what separates those who push the sport and progress to a level of riding you cannot possibly imagine from everyone else who just watches on the sidelines and craps their pants.

 @mwart: I agree. I don’t think most people understand what makes these guys tick. Rampage is what they do. If there was no Rampage, they’d be out doing similar on their own. Might as well make it an event, let them showcase their talents, and get paid. That said, I get why you might not want to watch.

 Neither was going to the moon, but mankind is absolved to keep trying what hasn't been done before It's this thing we do called being daring, and we wouldn't have shit without it.

 @ryanandrewrogers: Cue the moon landing conspiracy theories! And I'm going to officially start a Rampage conspiracy: since earth is flat (already proven obviously) Rampage could have only happened in a movie studio.

 I agree with your risk assessment, if we are not talking about compensation, for riding it. All the pro riders ride it for a paycheck, in one form or another. Now if Kyle was just a rider, like the rest of us, I don't think he'd ride it again after breaking 3 vertebra.

 @sancho-ramerez: So what you're saying, there is no risk. Interesting, my dear Watson... hmmmm.

 Congratulations!! you are not totally insane! Hucking your meat in a no fall zones for money or to fulfill some deep seated psychological void is not your thing?... you sound very reasonable. Careful, people might give you a really hard time here for coping that sort of attitude.

 @AppleJack76: No. I'm saying the moon landing is real

 Isn't worth the risk to who? Certainly not to you or I, but for elite riders at the very top of the sport the boundaries are always going to be sought. That's human endeavour.

 Rampage is for Alpha males.

 Man I couldn't agree more - he could have used another 5-8 ft for a better angle in...

 "I'm no expert" ponders comment, exits internet browser, closes computer.

 Take it slow man. The bones will heal (relatively) quickly given the energy involved in your/his crash, but then there's the muscle regeneration, core strength, and dynamic strengthening that needs to build to properly support your new skeletal system. That will take much longer.

I nursed my wife through a L1 compression and the supporting braces she needed to wear put her back into a position that was necessary for bone fusions/etc. but needed to be changed post-braces (physio, pilates, yoga) to be properly mobile again. Braces for 7 months; physio + light riding for another 12.

And that's (obviously) before considering the mental recovery. Noting all the previous advice (even by Waki!) the main thing is you don't want to be fighting ghost-memories while you're riding. They still hit me sometimes - and I wasn't even the person who crashed.

Take it slow; it's worth it. She's bought more bikes since and still rides fast now.

 16ft drops instead of 60 footers!

 Go Lyle!

 @ryanandrewrogers: Lyle Bent

 Or at least put him back together nicely?

 Make Kyle Straight Again