Crashes

25 year old snowmobile rider Caleb Moore was performing big tricks on his snowmobile during the snowmobile freestyle competition when he crashed performing a back flip. During the freestyle competition riders have 75 seconds to perform tricks and impress the judges.

Nearing the end of Moore’s 75 second run he attempted to back flip his 450 pound snowmobile and under rotated. The ski’s of the sled dug into the snow launching Caleb head first into the snow with the snowmobile chasing him and landing on top of him hitting him in the head and chest.

He laid unconscious for awhile and when he woke up he said it was like waking up from a long dream. He walked himself over to a medical tent where he was placed on a stretcher and put into an ambulance. He was diagnosed with a concussion at the scene which would have been his 11th by count.

Caleb’s brother Colten Moore was also competing in the freestyle event. When Colten came up to the same jump where his brother had crashed a little earlier he over rotated the backflip and crashed hard off the back of the sled.

“They’ll do some big trick and my heart skips a beat,” said Wade Moore, Caleb’s father. “This is not new to us,” Wade said as both the Moore Brothers were rushed to the hospital.

After being examined in the hospital Caleb was found to have a bleeding heart and was airlifted to St. Mary’s Hospital where he had an emergency surgery.

The crash happened Thursday January 24, 2013 and Caleb died a week later in Grand junction hospital.

Caleb Moore’s death is a scary reminder of how dangerous the world of extreme sports can be. “It is definitely a scary thing for a sport like ours,” said Levi LaValle (X games competitor.) “The only thing we can do is we can look at that and learn from it and look at how we can try to prevent that. Other than that, you look at it, what happened to him, it was an accident. He’s done that trick multiple times. He’s practiced. He’s done everything he can to prevent that.”

It was nearing the end of the first day at Barret Junction and everyone was at the top of the hill ready to take another run. The road was clear and the street lugers took off first as usual. Everyone was coming down the hill and it wasn’t until Doc’s corner that things went wrong.

Doc’s turn has the name for a reason. It is the fastest part of the road and it also the part where most of the gnarly crashes happen.

“The bike was coming up the hill towards the middle of the road and as soon as he saw me he veered to his right and I veered to my left” said Ryan Farmer.

They basically both tried to avoid the other person but swerved into each other. Ryan was probably going close to 50 mph down the hill while the bike was coming at about 25-30 mph up the hill when they collided. Ryan actually hit the bike so hard the forks on the bike bent.

“So when he came up the side of me he hit my hip, just a little bit lower then my ass, like just the top of my thigh, and then rolled up towards my shoulder. When he hit me the way that my tuck was on the luge, the tire hit my forearm and it pushed it into the side of the luge which then pushed into my side like rib area. What that did is pushed those two bones, the ulna and I forgot the other one. When it pushed it up it broke the ulna cleanly by the elbow and then dislocated everything right there and pushed the two arm bones up like an inch, so it made it look like my elbow was swollen, but it really was just where it was at and like the forearm was at the wrong angle. It was weird. It dislocated everything inside and I had another fracture going up the bone. When I went into the dr. they had to push it back into place the first night, and then the next morning they could do surgery.”

The road was supposed to be closed off and people were supposed to be stopping others from coming up. The guy on the dirt bike was a skater as well and he should not have been coming up the road at the time he was. Ryan is still alive and in good spirits but also in a lot of pain. This is a crash that never had to happen and is a good reminder to everyone to know what is happening on the road and that street luging or downhill skating are not a joke. People get hurt and usually it is unpredicted elements that come into play that cause the most damage.

The crash is one that didn’t have to happen but Ryan remains in good spirits about it and can’t wait to get back on his luge again soon.

Team Movember soars to first place at Red Bull Flugtag San Francisco in McCovey Cove. Photo By: Garth Milan, Red Bull Content Pool

An entertaining day full of cheesy dance skits, colorful costumes and many unsuccessful attempts at flight. The Red Bull Flugtag event brought 116,000 spectators to McCovey Cove, right outside of the San Francisco Giants stadium.

Thirty-five teams lined the streets getting ready for their turn to launch their homemade crafts off a 30 ft tall ramp. These crafts had requirements to be under 450 lbs including the pilot and to be less than 30 feet wide.

The Red Bull Air Force Team skydove in and landed on the dock. Soon after that a song that must have been named “jump” started playing. All I could see was orange hair and pom pom’s bouncing around everywhere as the team danced around their float.

“Extra long, super talented, their sweating. Time to get into your pizza tub. ” said the announcer.

The pilot got into the craft as the other 4 members of the pilot crew pushed the craft off he end. The craft flipped off the end catapulting the pilot off the top. He ended up in the water at about the 30 ft mark.

Team Sugarskull shows that freeing your mind is a good thing through their craft. Photo from:Garth Milan, Red Bull

Each team had their own little skit they performed. Everything from men painted in full body paint as different cats, to guys in American flag speedo’s. There was a banana float, a Nyan cat, a flying Dia Del Muerte style skull (2nd place) and even a flying dragon.

Team Movember decked out with fake mustache’s won the contest flying 58 ft. “The superior engineering of the most distinguished of mustaches cannot fail,” said team captain William A. Hinkamp.

The Californauts won the people’s choice awards flying a huge surfboard into the sea.

My personal favorite was Team Skyjackers which was the third place team. The team all dressed up as Jack from Jack in the Box in all suits and a big white bobble heads. They all started bouncing and dancing around “kinda in coordination” to a popular rap song….”Poppin’ bottles in the ice. Like a blizzard. When we drink we do it right getting slizzard……” After shaking their buts around and dancing like corporate geeks the pilot climber up a ladder and into the taco pilot cabin on top of the aircraft. “You gotta go faster then that, you gotta go faster than that. Go, go!” Yelled the announcer. They pushed the craft off the end and it soared to about 60 ft. The pilot didn’t even get wet, still safely on top of the craft in the taco he sat.

Winners celebrate at Red Bull Flugtag in San Francisco, California, USA on November 10, 2012. Photo by: Garth Milan, Red Bull

At the end of all this hilarity Team Movember got the bragging rights and won an unforgettable day of skydiving alongside the Red Bull Air Force team.

The second prize winners Team Sugarskull won a chance to sail the sea’s with ORACLE TEAM USA in ttheir chase boat.

The third prize winner s Team Skyjackers won a chance to go to iFly and participate in some indoor skydiving with a member of the Red Bull Air Force team.

Hey kids! Justin here – bringing you a quick rap-up from the Gnar Path skate race put on by Nathan Marton in a cool little park in Yorba Linda on August 4th.

The even featured four different mini-events, including (from the event page):

Intermediate Course – For skaters of an intermediate skill level and above. Does not require pre-drifting. Includes a grass-romp as part of the course. 1 man timed trials, fastest man wins

Advanced Course – For skaters of an advanced skill level. Requires medium speed drifting or LOTS of footbraking on a very narrow sidewalk (stand up drifts highly recommend). Utilizes all 5 corners on the hill, riders will stay on the sidewalk the entire time. NOT FOR BEGINNERS. 1 man timed trials, fastest man wins.

Butt-Board – Requires basic buttboarding skills. Riders will be going down the Advanced course including all 5 corners which requires lots of braking (but isnt all that hard while buttboarding). 1 man timed trials, fastest man wins.

Freeride – Steeziest run competition down the advanced course. Speed is not important, style and awesomeness is. Sidewalk is narrow so slides will need to be on point (stand up HIGHLY recommended).

The park was choice, and plenty of shade was available throughout the day, making for a very nice venue. Most of all, since it was in a public park, the event was entirely legal, and no cops showed up atall throughout the entire event. The hill was intense, with 5 almost-hairpin turns, and butter pavement with only one or two ‘lips’ in the concrete to watch out for. The grass-romps for the intermediate level were perfectly placed to allow you to cut speed, but still made it challenging for riders to hook back up with the course. A solid number of people showed up, including Kyle Chin, Dave Rogers, the infamous Dubes, and some fine ladies from One11.

The event went off without a hitch and is definitely one to look out for next year!

You stay classy So-Cal,

Justin

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Hello fellow adrenaline junkies, my name is Stephen. I am 30 years young, and I have been skating for about 25. My first board was a Vision Gator with the neon tail guard and rails, most of you probably weren’t even born yet.

After years of skating street, a lady named Cathy White gave me my first longboard. You may have heard of her son, Shaun. The board was a Sector 9 Luke Nosewalker. When she handed  me the board she said, “promise me you won’t be going down any hills on this, that’s why I’m giving it to you. I don’t want Shaun to kill himself.” Naturally, I said I wouldn’t. At the time, I had no intention of doing downhill… at the time.

Eventually I ran into a kid at school with a S9 mini cruiser that wanted to skate with me. Every time we would skate he would say,”let’s go bomb some hills dude!’ So we did… and then I knew that I had found my new hobby.

Fast forward to June 28th… I was skating with my friend, Doron, in downtown Long Beach. We frequent some garages in the area that are 7 floors with one lane spirals that are super fun. After a few runs in the garage, we decided to move on because there were a lot of cars. We made our way to the lighthouse to wait out the traffic. While Doron talked to a guy we met at the top of the hill, I went down for my first run. The hill is slow, maybe 25 if you get a good push. At the bottom I made the decision to roll into the grass to slow down… wrong decision. My front wheels hit a hole, and my board stopped. I probably would have been fine, but my foot stop pulled my front foot out from under me. My shoulder dug into the ground and I heard a snap. I knew what it was.

My clavicle was obviously broken and almost coming through the skin. So I walked back up the hill to get Doron.

“Hey man…hey… dude…  we like, gotta roll to the E.R.” I said.

“What?! Why?”

“I am pretty sure this bone isn’t supposed to be poking this way,” I said as I dropped my board and put my foot on it.

“What are you doing?! You can’t skate back like that!’ Doron said.

But it was too late, I was already headed back down the hill. The car was about 2 miles away, but we were in a spot that is hard to get to with a car. As I skated back i could hear Doron’s wheels hitting the cracks behind me. As he skated next to me he said, “dude, is it okay that I’m filming this?’ “Of course,” I said. Why not? I’d be filming your ass if you fell, i thought. When we got to the road, I stopped skating and told him to get the car.

Doron did about 55mph to whole way to the ER. Screaming around corners in his little Fiat, he seemed more freaked out than I was. I appreciated the gesture so much that I could not tell him how much he was hurting me by driving that way.

In the ER I didn’t get anything for pain, they only gave me some anti-inflammatory medicine. A few hours later, the doctor came in with my X-rays. Before I tell you what he said, take a look at it.

“Here is a sling, it will set itself,” the doctor said.

“Hahaha, that is super funny,” I said, “you are joking, right?’

“No, it is just a clavicle. These things heal themselves.”

“Okay, but I’m pretty sure I need surgery.”

There it was, I had a sling and 12 vicodin. The next morning, I drove myself back to the hospital to see a real doctor. When I walked into the room he had my x-ray on the screen and he was shaking his head.

“I guess I don’t have to tell you that you need surgery,” he said.

I had seen this doctor before, you see, I’m no stranger to injury. About 18% of my body is covered in burn scars. That is another story all together.

So I spent a week with my bones completely separated, and it was hell. I had a titanium plate and six screws put in, and healing has  been going pretty well.

This bone is no joke though, not an injury I would want to go through again. I skated 25 years without breaking a bone, but when I finally did it; I did it right. I have no feeling in my entire left shoulder, and you can see the plate sticking up through my skin. The doctors said it would be 3 months before I can pick my daughter up, but I don’t listen. I was lifting her the day after surgery. I know I shouldn’t be, but come on… I’m a single dad, what am I supposed to do?

~Stephen

So I saw this video before I even knew who Peter Kell was and I didn’t know shit about going fast on a skateboard. Although Peter went 95 mph he got lots of hate because he was in the draft of the truck meaning no wind hitting you so it is way way less gnarly. Well this video was filmed when Peter was also very new to the whole DH skateboard scene.
Well he went to make a rebuttal video of himself being pulled by a car holding onto a wake board tow rope. Well he hit 80 and….. I guess you’ll have to watch to find out. – Leecifer

Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself. Graphic by Stephen Johnson

Cracked skulls, brain damage, and death are some of the things that can happen from not wearing a helmet, and many new or inexperienced riders still choose ride without one. Most do so following the example of several professional riders.

Professionals have an uncanny way of balancing. They know where they are in the air and it seems as if they can easily catch their falls with their hands and feet.

A large majority of those professionals have also taken major crashes resulting in various types injuries, even they aren’t invincible.

Within the past five years, we have had many of our fellow riders killed or permanently injured due to accidents involving riders not wearing helmets. Just go talk to an emergency room trauma nurse about the severity and number of injuries that could have been prevented if the victim had been wearing a helmet, it is appalling.

Watch some videos on the Internet of kids hitting their heads and you will see some pretty graphic images, you might just get scared into wearing one.

Wearing a helmet shows a sign of intelligence. It shows that you are smart enough to want to protect your brain. If younger kids see you wearing a helmet they will be more likely to wear theirs, especially if they look up to you. This means you could potentially be helping protect the lives of young riders.

I went to the skate park recently and there were a total of three of us wearing helmets, and about 15 kids not wearing helmets. About six of those kids had brought helmets, but left them on the side with their stuff while they skated. Some of them were doing some pretty fast, big tricks. It was unclear to me whether they would decide to actually put it on.

If you have ever attempted to ride a skateboard down ramps, or even your driveway for the first time, then you will know that if your balance is a little of you are in danger of flying back and hitting your head. Keeping your balance is not as easy as it looks unless you have many hours logged on board.

Most professional extreme sports athletes do not don helmets, and set extremely terrible examples for riders of all abilities, mainly young newcomers. After all, you don’t want to stand out as the new kid when you’re young. You want to be like your favorite skater and be exactly like them.

There are multitudes of skate, snowboard, BMX, and rollerblade videos with sponsored professionals not wearing helmets. In the videos they pull off tricks that are extremely difficult, making them look easy. So easy, that after watching it, an attempt might be made, leaving you to find out how difficult it actually is.

Protective gear is especially important for inexperienced riders, or people who are pushing their limits; trying something they haven’t done before.

Frankie doing the right thing

Losing your balance can easily happen with any extreme sport, and unexpected elements can come into play at any time.

It is always good to be prepared for the worst, and wearing a helmet while participating in these activities is a great way to accomplish this. After all a crash isn’t usually something you’d expect or want to happen… it just does. – Leecifer

Please wear all your protective safety gear when riding. Skateboarding is a dangerous sport and these haybales are not very soft. Use caution and stay within your limits. Do not try this at home.

So as I have gathered lots of extreme sports footage….mostly skateboarding I have decided to pull a crash clip a week and make it into a short clip. I hope everyone enjoys this new section. Crashes are always a hit. Even the people who crash will come up to me and ask if I got it on film. Crashing is part of the game and you gotta pay to play.

This footage was pulled from an event called the Dragon Skate Race back in 2011. It was held in Irvine, Ca and it was a lot of fun. If you want to read more about the event you can check out the post at the following link. http://adrenaline-fueled.com/?p=1182- Leecifer

It doesn’t look painful but it is. Strapped into your snowboard you don’t have many bail options. This one was straight to the kneecap. The simple action of being unbalanced on snow, a rail or a box can cause this to happen. Time and time again until you get it right. Sharp edges will of course catch easier than dull ones. Lots of Big Bear and Mt high riders file their edges way down and spin on boxes for days. I only have one shredstick however so I like to keep it an all mountain board. I can take it from the park to the pow pow. Anyways enough of my banter. Enjoy this short little clip of a first person view of this stupid little bank thing that screwed me.

Edit by: Lee Eisler

Music by: Superpoze- Ol’Days (ft. Matthew MC)

For the full album containing over 100 photos click here.

Everyone gathered around for the awards ceremony

October, 2011- The crew headed down to pump station for SDDRL #34 “Spill Hill,” another SDDRL (San Diego Downhill Racing League Event) event.

The event wasn’t named Spill Hill because people crash here, rather because it’s the same month as Holloween. Although, there were 2 pretty big crashes. Spencer Adams crashed after hitting the transition. The video shows his helmet falling off, however this was due to his buckling it wrong. He was not injured other than a little burn from the inside of his leathers. “Yea, I fell and my helmet flew off my head and we got it on video and it’s really rad,” Adams said.

Justin Clark took a spill at the finish line still taking second place

Justin Clark also took a spill at the finish line. “I don’t even know what the heck I’m gonna tell my girl,” said Clark.

Although Pump Station is a spot we have been to many times before and we always have a good time this day was particularly rad! Heres a list of the rad things that happened.

#1- Jeff Budro showed up with the Sector 9 van and everyone was shuttled up and down the hill. Thanks Budro and S9! We would have walked if it wasn’t for you.

Everyone piling into the Nineball truck

The view from inside the Nineball truck. Why do they have a mirror?

#2 Masters Division Race! I don’t know if anyone thought this was as rad as I did but it’s really cool to see these guys at all the races. A speech made by Rick Kludy at the podium says it all about these guys. “Hey, guys. For well over a decade and a half I have been doing this sport. I do this sport out of the love and compassion in my heart and to ride my board to the end of my days. In the time and generations I’ve been doing this, guys, I see you young people, I see all of you. You all love each other, respect each other. It’s a gentleman’s sport again. Yea, GO AMERICAAAA!!!!!!” All these guys have been skating for a long time and it is an honor and pleasure to have them come to the events. We all love the sport as much as you.

Master Race Podium. Darin Niner (on left)- 3rd place, Justin Clark (on right)- 2nd place, Rick Kludy (center) 3rd

#3 Rob Molt was there. A really rad dude who’s been bombing hill since at least the early 90′s. Rob works and skates for Sector 9.

Rob Molt with some old man steeze

#4  There is no number 4. The whole day was fun though. It was cool to see the progression people have made and there were many close heats which always makes for an exciting day of racing. Congratulations to the winners from three different divisions. – Leecifer

Juniors Division

1st place- Chance Vinograd (center on haybails), 2nd place- Ethan Vinograd (on left, green shirt), 3rd place- Wyatt Gibbs (right side cooler), 4th Place Teddy Malpass (right, blue shirt)

Open Division

1st place- Max Capps (center on haybail) 2nd place- Josh Hunt (far right), 3rd place- Daniel Luna (left side on cooler), Ben Hryn (far left)

Here’s some our favorite pictures. If you want to see the full album containing over 100 photos click here.