A collision with a bank while testing his new WP suspension leaves Jake with a broken ankle but after a week on the sofa he’s itching to get training…
Another month has flown by – hmmm, well, that’s not actually the case for me really. It’s been a bit of a pants month but it has been an amazing year so I would like to start with some thank yous…
Firstly to my whole team – HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK. It’s such a great team and Roger and his family create such a home-like atmosphere which is great when you’re away so much and you’re a homeboy like myself. Thanks to my mechanic Wayne for doing a brilliant job with my bikes all year. Thanks to Jeremy (Graeme’s mechanic) who helped Wayne and I most of the year while his rider was injured. Thanks to my trainer Stevie (Holeshot King) Potter for standing by me every second and helping me with absolutely everything. Thanks to Howard from Bott for helping with bits and bobs and putting me in touch with HIGH 5 – they’ve supplied me for two years with their awesome supplements and kept my energy levels up there. Thanks to Fox Racing for supplying me with all of my threads on and off the bike. Thanks to Red Bull and HM Plant for all their continued support for our team. Thanks to HOPE for building me the sickest mountain bikes possible. Thanks to Tony Marshall for being there for me and my whole family. And thanks to everyone else who supports me personally or my team – I appreciate every bit of help or support and I couldn’t do it without these people…
It’s been a very different month for me – it’s involved a lot of sitting about which sounds all right but, trust me, it’s been crap. When I last wrote I had just tested the new bike for the first time and we tested again at home just over a week later to set up some new WP suspension which went really well on the first day and we got a great set-up really quick. It was a fun day too as my cousin Scott Nicholls and Troy Batchelor – top-flight speedway riders – came to ride and they went round well, both trying a big double with Scott coming off better than Troy who cased the sack out of it and didn’t do it again, ha ha…
That night Wayne and I went out with Serge the WP man and all the Herd as well as two more speedway riders – Chris Holder and Darcy Ward – for a big old carvery and a couple of drinks which was cool. Then we shacked up in bed ahead of another day’s riding.
I started at 9.30am so we could get a lot done and it was going good but about six laps in I caught my foot on a bank and twisted my ankle right around real quick. I didn’t crash but straight away I thought it hurt a lot and I felt a bit ill for a minute after. I rode around slowly and stopped and spoke to Wayne but I didn’t say too much right away as I had a similar problem earlier in the year when some of you might remember I tore two ligaments in my ankle.
Well this was the same ankle so I thought it was that again which I was scheduled to get looked at/fixed 10 days after the test anyway. I rode down to the workshop and got off my bike where I really struggled to walk, I took my boots and braces off and my ankle didn’t look in a good way. I tried walking across the workshop to get my clothes and it hurt a lot so I called mum and said bring my old crutches up. She took one look at me and said ‘it’s broken’ as she knows the colour I go when I break a bone. So we hopped in her car and went off to hospital where an X-ray showed a clear spiral fracture through my fibula. Gay!
So they plastered me up and it was very swollen meaning I had to keep it up for a week, hence why I wasn’t at the Dirt Bike Show which I apologise about as it would have been nice to see everyone and speak to fans of the #45.
Basically I’ve been absolutely bored stiff watching total crap on TV. People kept telling me to get into XBOX or PS3 but anyone who knows me knows that’s not my scene but after a week though my ol’ man let me borrow an automatic Nissan Navara from Trucks R Us which has been double handy and let me get out and about of the house now and again. Since then I did the Norfolk and Suffolk presentation, which was a good night. I also did the Stevenage club a couple weeks before then. Both are a couple of my local clubs which I rode with when I was younger so it was cool – and a bit weird – to give out a couple of trophies with my name on. I’ve got one more to do before Christmas too which should be cool.
I started training last week in the gym. Obviously we’re limited on stuff we can do as normally I would be boxing, running, cycling and swimming heaps but with a cast on my leg none of this is possible so Steve and I have been up in my gym doing loads of upper body stuff. I’ve been boxing sat down, laying down, doing weights, using all sorts of new equipment and I honestly think it’s all happened for a reason as my upper body is going to have more strength than last year and also it’s meant that my torn ligaments have had a chance to heal in the cast with the break being very close to them.
I got the cast off last night though so it’s so much better already, my movement is coming back quick and I can walk without my crutches thanks to DJO who have supplied me with a top-of-the-range Air Cast boot so I can walk around and slowly build it up while keeping it stabilised. They’re even going to supply me with another one so I can swim in it…
Also big news is that I booked my flights yesterday to go to New Zealand in January to train with Josh Coppins, Scott Columb and Ben Townley who I will also be living with in Belgium next year. So big things ahead for me and I’m working damn hard already…
Happy Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year.
