![]() He raced the same two as the previous year, and this time snagged the top spot in his group in Aspen Snowmass, three minutes behind the overall winner. With another year’s progress behind him, better grip strength and better control in his arm, he completed two more enduros in 2022. With more weight on the saddle of the dirt bike he felt more capable handling it through corners and using his legs and hips to control the bike. He’d waited to ride a dirt bike again, thinking the heavier machine would be harder to handle, but it was much the opposite. Schafer raced the Revolution Enduro in Steamboat Springs and Aspen, Colorado and placed 7th in his age group in both, just four to five minutes behind the overall winner. That summer, after his knee felt stable again, he wanted to race. In January of 2021, he had surgery on his knee and repaired his PCL, MCL, LCL and meniscus, all torn in the crash. They cut into his arm from a different point on four different surgeries on the inside and outside of the arm from the shoulder to the elbow, then on his back, and by his rib cage. ![]() It went so well, the doctor said she could operate on him the next day. Schafer and his family flew out for a consultation. Connecting with other physical therapists and surgeons though, Schafer finally got referred to a doctor in St. They found a lot of surgeons for newborns, but finding a doctor who specialized in adult brachial plexus injuries was much harder. Minor injuries are common in contact sports and newborn brachial plexus injuries are somewhat common, according to the Mayo Clinic.įrom there, the hunt was on. The brachial plexus is a bundle of nerves sending signals from the spinal cord to the shoulder, arm and hand. In the hospital in New Mexico, a close friend familiar with another dirt biker’s injury, mentioned to Schafer that he might have a brachial plexus injury. As an athlete, he’d always been able to improve his physical shortcomings through work and discipline. When he graduated, he was told that his arm, hanging heavily at his side, was as good as it would get. A new life, a new hope Photo courtesy Cody SchaferĪfter his crash, Schafer went home to Colorado and completed physical therapy to the extent doctors thought it would be beneficial. “I don’t know where else to find that,” he said. The result an incomparable feeling of clarity and sense of freedom. Whether racing on his mountain bike or dirt bike, Schafer found his passion and purpose gripping handlebars and churning dirt under his tires. He snagged 16th in a tight field, one minute behind the winner of the amateur division. The course was lauded by many as one of the steepest and most technical rounds of the series. In 2017, he took on his first enduro MTB race, the Santa Fe round of the Big Mountain Enduro series. ![]() ![]() You have so many neutral bike skills and feel what the bike is doing underneath you. “The terrain you’re reading directly crosses over. Schafer’s father and wife quickly realized this wasn’t an ordinary crash. Then, they heard three ambulances with their sirens blaring, speeding up the mountain. Someone walked down to their camp to tell them Cody had been in a crash and though he would be coming down on a backboard, not to be alarmed. He had a broken wrist, broken bone under his face, his knee was hyperextended and he couldn’t move his left arm.īack at base camp, Schafer’s wife and father were cooking breakfast at their Sprinter van. “Cody, wake up!” He was on the side of the road, his legs above his head. The next thing Schafer, 32, remembers is being woken up by the third rider who witnessed the crash. This time, he’d missed a course marker to veer left and sped straight down the road toward two riders, going about the same speed, who had missed the same marker and turned back around. Schafer had done this race, in Los Alamos, New Mexico before. Cody Schafer was going about 25MPH down a dusty service road on his dirt bike when he and another rider collided in September 2019. ![]()
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