Youtube is not for me. The only time I ever watch anything on the Google owned site it is as a result of somebody sending me a link that they consider I might find interesting.
One such link came to me the other day and it was a video of Steve Colley’s crash at the Scottish Motorsport Show where he was performing his many stunts, just one show of the 35 or so that he performs every year, with a routine that is as familiar to him as eating breakfast is to you and me.
But this one was different. Steve was coming to the end of his programme and as a final turn he was about to blast up the side of a car, onto the roof and leap off the top. It was a stunt that he had performed many hundreds, nay thousands, of times before. But this time it went horribly wrong.
Up the side, onto the roof, but instead of gripping on the top and driving off, the Gasser spun the rear wheel, found zilch grip and Steve crashed off the other side in a most horribly, painful fashion.
The result, if you don’t know, is that Steve broke both his elbows. Now, I don’t ever recall hearing anybody break elbows; wrists, arms, collarbones, yes, but elbows, never. But Steve has done just that and when we spoke last week, he was in some discomfort, but confident that he will rapidly bounce back, in fact he was hoping to be fit enough for the first British Championship round at Kinlochleven in mid-April.
So what went wrong? “ I had put some grip tape on the roof of the car, but one of the stunt car drivers told me I may have picked up some oil from the tarmac surface. Whatever it was, there was no grip and I just nose-dived off the downside. I realised what was happening and tried to step off, but I caught my knees on the handlebars and fell awkwardly.
“It was obvious I had done some damage, but thankfully Liz my girlfriend was with me and she was able to drive us back home. I’ve got both arms in slings at the moment, but I’m lucky that here in the Isle of Man there is a hyperbaric chamber and I’m spending two sessions a day in it which will drastically speed my recovery”.
A hyperbaric chamber is used by divers that have the bends but is also used to aid injury recovery as it improves blood flow. Sports professionals use them a lot and from past experience Steve reckons it will halve his recovery time.
He was certainly chirpy enough when we spoke and had no doubts that he will be back in action pretty soon.
Being the sceptic that I am, I asked him how much longer did he think he could carry on with his shows? He told me that he felt that he could continue for another five years or so, certainly until he was forty and with nearly 30 shows already booked this year, it was important to him that he recovers as quickly as possible.
But what he does is a high risk strategy, though there’s no denying that he is a supreme master of his craft. “I love riding my bike, it’s as simple as that. Performing shows, riding the trials I like, it’s all that I want to do, and of course the shows are how I earn my living”
Purists may well say that what Steve does has no connection with trials riding. They may well be right. The shows are a facet of our sport that is totally devoid from trials riding as we know it, but that doesn’t alter the fact that Mr Showtime has showcased our sport in a way that very few others have achieved, and I for one would hate to see Steve retire before his time.
This injury could well have caused that to happen, though thankfully it seems as if that is not the case and Steve will be fine in no short order. Scottish wins, Scott Trial wins, a World Round win, British Championships, all have gone to the Manxman and I know of nobody that has a bad word to say about Steve who undoubtedly, since the days of Junior Kickstart, has been one of the kingpins on the UK (and World) trials scene.
And long may that continue.