A year after a dirt bike accident, Joel Evans is back on the bike and ready to race

THE dirt bike accident should have paralysed Joel Evans. Worst case, killed him. But it didn’t — and that is why he must ride again.

Queenslander Joel Evans makes his motocross comeback this weekend at Murray Bridge. Picture: Peter Wallis

THE dirt bike accident should have paralysed Joel Evans. Worst case, killed him before his emergency flight made it from Murray Bridge to Adelaide.

But it didn’t — and that is precisely why he must ride again.

“Getting back on the bike, I used that as motivation to get me through the rehab,” he said. “I’m glad I didn’t say it out loud to a lot of people because they would’ve thought I was stupid when I was lying there in hospital and couldn’t even move. But it was always in the back of my head.”

So Saturday the 21-year-old Queenslander will walk the Murray Bridge motocross track where, 12 months ago, his life changed forever.

He’ll survey the section of lumps they call “whoops” where, during qualifying at an MX Nationals event last year, his bike came up short of its landing, bounced out of control and then, bang. Nothing.

“All I remember is coming up to the section — and then lying on the track,” Evans says.

“I went to get up and nothing happened. I just remember the feeling of nothing, and how scared I was.”

Joel Evans recovering in hospital.

Joel Evans working through his rehabilitation.

Emergency surgery at the Royal Adelaide hospital revealed fractured C5 and C6 vertebrae. Worse, a shattered vertebral disc that had splintered into his spinal cord.

As surgeons removed the bone fragments and installed the plates and bolts to repair the damage, regular reports to his parents followed a similar pattern: “It’s worse than we thought”.

Yet even in the fog of an induced coma that lasted a week, Evans showed rapid improvement.

First, a blink. Then, wiggling his toes and the fingers on his right hand. Another day and his left hand moved. After three days he was off the ventilator that pumped air into his lungs and soon after, another big step, sitting up.

Inside three weeks he was back in Queensland and starting basic exercises, but still unclear whether he would ever regain enough feeling to one day brush his own teeth.

A year later, Evans isn’t just walking. He’s riding.

Three months ago, he climbed back on a bike for the first time since the accident.

Queenslander Joel Evans back on his bike kicking up dust in preparation for his return. Picture: Peter Wallis

And Sunday, after Saturday’s track walk all riders will make, he returns to the MX2 class in the national series.

Amazingly, he will do it having regained just 20 per cent strength in his left arm. His right arm will be battling the fatigue of compensating for the other across the 30-minute races.

“There was a bit of talk about ‘Are you sure you want to do that?’, especially from doctors,” he says.

“I had to weigh up the risk versus the reward. As long as I’m having fun and doing everything smart and don’t push myself, there’s no reason I can’t jump back on.”

Evans says he will not be haunted by making his comeback on the track that changed his life a year ago.

“The team did tell me, ‘It’s Murray Bridge, are you cool with that?’,” he says.

“I said ‘that’s perfect’. It’s not so much about facing my fears but I like to tackle that sort of stuff head-on.”