The Coffee Ride #173, with Reece Homfray
GARRY Robinson was in a Black Hawk helicopter crash in Afghanistan that killed four people in 2010 and spent two years in hospital recovering from injuries but he says cycling has saved his life.
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HOW CYCLING SAVED GARRY’S LIFE
GARRY Robinson was in a Black Hawk helicopter crash in Afghanistan that killed four people in 2010 and spent two years in hospital recovering from injuries but he says cycling has saved his life.
Robinson served in the Army for 22 years and was coming towards the end of a four-month rotation in Afghanistan when the crash happened on June 21.
He Suffered a traumatic brain injury, two broken shoulder blades, a punctured lung, broken tailbone and had his left leg amputated below the knee.
Among the four people who were killed was his best mate who was sitting next to him.
“I was in the back of the helicopter being flown by an American team and I have no recollection of the crash at all,” he told The Coffee Ride.
“My memory stops two weeks before the crash so essentially I’m still fighting in Afghanistan.
“It’s pretty emotional, my best mate who was sitting next to me died in the crash.”
As a result Robinson spent two-and-a-half years in hospital and towards the end of his rehabilitation it was announced that the first Invictus Games would be held.
“I had no idea what it was or what it was about but the hospital staff said ‘we’re going to enter you into it’,” he said.
Two weeks later he started training and within a month he was on the plane to London to compete.
“I always looked at my old bike and dreamt of getting back on it but because of my injuries there was no chance of me doing that,” he said.
“So I contacted the rehabilitation centre and said I want to get back on a bike. I’m almost laying down so it took a long time to get the muscle co-ordination from the brain injury back.
“But it took me two weeks to learn how to ride the bike and I was competing in London.
“I was going through severe depression and anxiety towards the end of my rehabilitation because I had no idea what I was going to do.
“The old Garry was still there but it took me a long time to the realisation that he’s gone, and the new Garry is here and let’s make the most of it.
“So the Invictus Games was the best chance for me to come out of my shell.”
Robinson lives in Camden, NSW, where he is married with three children including a son who has joined the Army.
“He is going through the whole introduction to the military and my two daughters - one has a husband in the military and the other a boyfriend in the Army,” Robinson said.
“I always knew at such a young age that he (son) was going to join the Army because he wanted to be like his dad, there was that anxiety of thinking you’re putting your kids in harm’s way but at the end of the day he is old enough now to make his own decisions.”
Robinson’s main focus is this year’s Invictus Games which will be held in Sydney from October 20-27.
He competes in road cycling on a tricycle and in January won two national titles in the T1 classification in Buninyong.
“I try to do three to four sessions a week, in between swimming and archery as well,” he said.
“Sport is my life now and Invictus Games has given me the best chance to prove to myself that I am still here.
“I’m trying to inspire as many people as I can.
NEW CYCLING FILM EXPLORES THE ‘MAMIL’
WHY do middle aged men get up at an ungodly hour of the morning before work, put on Lycra, risk being hit by a car in the dark and ride their bikes that are worth thousands of dollars?
It’s a question the makers of a new documentary titled ‘MAMIL’, which is released in cinemas this month, set out to answer.
But they found a much more complex answer than simply for the love of cycling.
The doco found the cycling craze among men in particular touched on mental health and depression rates, camaraderie and a sense of belonging as well as physical health and fitness.
It features the Adelaide-based Fat Boys Cycling Club and its founder and president Jim Turner.
“They (producers) made a lot of trips to Adelaide to film us,” Turner said.
“It’s not just about riding a push bike, it starts to explore the whole question people ask ‘why do these idiots keep dressing up like they do and do what they do?’
“And it also looks at the long suffering wives who put up with it.”
In the film, Turner tells his story of crashing his off-road bike last year and being left with a broken vertebrae which sidelined him for eight months.
“I ended up in the spinal unit of the RAH but I’m back on my bike,” he said.
“And I’m doing pilates and the irony is my back is probably better than before.
“It’s (cycling) a big part of my life and I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”
You can watch the trailer for ‘MAMIL’ above.
HOSKINS OPENS UP IN PODCAST CHAT
FORMER track world champion Melissa Hoskins has opened up on her decision to walk away from cycling after the Rio Olympics.
In an interview with cycling journalist Rupert Guinness on website ‘Crossing The Line’ which explores life after sport for elite athletes, Hoskins admitted she had “lost touch with the normal reality of life” while cycling and took time to adjust.
“I’d lost touch with the normal reality of life and it took a good six months to work out what I wanted to do and get into a routine that I was doing for myself,” she said.
An emotional Hoskins also discussed the training crash four days before race day at the Rio Olympics which was the last race of her career.
“I didn’t want that race to change the decision I had already made, I had already said I’m going to put all my eggs into the basket for Rio and that would be it regardless of result,” Hoskins said.
“Because a lot of the time I think we’re driven by what we haven’t done and sometimes it’s not always the right thing. You need to retire when you think you’re ready and on your own terms.”
Hoskins is now a qualified fitness trainer and massage therapist and living in Europe with fiancee Rohan Dennis.
They are getting married at Margaret River this month.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK ... (best of from track nationals)
You go from being the greyhound to the rabbit, so it’s about learning to deal with the pressures. For so for long it was Anna and now she’s gone it’s all eyes on me.
- Stephanie Morton after winning the team sprint/sprint/keirin treble.
It was a big day today, up at 7am to do a two-hour gym session, which I worked really hard in, so it just shows that I can do that, and still come out here and contest a sprint competition and win.
- Matt Glaetzer after winning the men’s sprint.
I wanted that so badly ... I am so buggered right now, to go that fast, on this track especially, it really has given me a lot of confidence.
- Kaarle McCulloch after collecting her sixth national TT title.
I just went out there and took the race to him for the whole race, it came down to the last two laps I think. I just had enough to hold on so I’m over the moon.
- Sam Welsford on beating world champion Jordan Kerby in the IP.