The biggest thing that got me thinking about this was Mike Aitken, and Stephen Murray. Maybe it was just me that caught this or maybe I am just crazy, but I noticed something very similar to their recoveries. In both situations the doctors had said “I have never seen a recovery go as well as this” at some point. Obviously, Mike and Stephen’s injuries are drastically different but still very severe. I think it has something to do with BMX as to why they made it through, since both could have died from their injuries.

When you ride, you become very determined when you want to do something on your bike. For example, I probably tried over 200 Icepicks on some quarter’s last night. Why I did so many considering I already have and can do them, I don’t know? It is just about doing something you can’t or couldn’t do before that makes you have to do it over, and over again until it is perfect. If you think about that, it is like a body builder doing 200 repetitions to get stronger. We just don’t have roid rage later (unless it is something really crazy and you feel the need to do a victory lap while screaming at all your friends that you did the trick). What I am trying to point out here is the amount of determination you develop from BMX to overcome something. This determination had to carry over in Mike Aitken and Stephen Murray’s situations. That would be the mental part of what BMX does to you. They both, in there own ways have overcome very severe injuries that if it were anyone else, they probably wouldn’t have made it. Something about their minds made them determined enough to keep going.

The physical side of BMX is probably more obvious than anything else. I am not just talking about the muscles you develop, like the massive arms, strong back, and legs. I am talking about pain tolerance. Since I started riding BMX 8 years ago, I have had a few concussions, separated shoulder, bruised and broken ribs, collapsed my lung twice (I tried to ride a week after I did it the first time and it blew out again), scars galore, bruises, bumps, trashed knees, elbows, and wrists, you know the typical fun stuff. It seems like as time went on, getting hurt seemed to hurt less and less. I mean I even told a kid with steel toe boots to kick me in the shin and I didn’t even flinch (for a dollar!). That is nothing compared to pedal bite from bear trap pedals!

The pain tolerance goes way up for BMX riders, I mean how many videos have you seen where there isn’t one crazy crash? I highly doubt you have ever seen one unless it was a web video. People crash all the time on bikes. I am sure when you are about to do something you have never done before, you contemplate how it could go wrong at least a little bit. I mean even things you have done a hundred times before can lead to crashes. Mike Aitken went down doing a 360 over a double, and Stephen Murray went down doing a double back flip.
It is scary to think about how much both of these guys have gone through and they haven’t said “I hate BMX because it almost killed me”. Honestly, I would have expected Stephen to say he hates what BMX did to him but… The guy is always smiling and still totally in love with BMX. Mike, fresh out of a coma and re-gaining his balance to walk says he will be back on his bike as soon as he can. Why? because BMX causes this major dedication and love that I personally cannot even explain. Injuries are expected, and I think that is why both of them are still very involved with BMX even though they have had life changing events happen to them.

I don’t want to say that we are superior but have you ever watched professional football, basketball, baseball, soccer? The injuries a lot of those guys get where they are laying down on the ground like they just got hit by a bus leads to their sprained ankle, or something that BMX riders usually just get up from. Not in every case is this true, but it was just something I noticed.

BMX is about having fun, but it has a lot more benefits that people usually overlook. It motivates people to go outside of their own box and try a little bit harder, and it makes you tough as nails.
Maybe all this above won’t make any sense at all, or maybe it will make a lot of sense. I don’t really know…

What I want to know is if you feel like this is true at all or not?

Also be sure to check out and donate to Stephen and Mike at
StephenMurrayFamilyFund.com
and
MikeAitken.com.