Wed, Jan 28, 2004 page19

• Dare devils break bones

  WINTER X GAMES An odd combination of motorcycles and snow, Moto X features riders who do tricks and flips off ramps that may even draw Evil Knievel's appreciation

  • AP
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  Brian Deegan realized he wasn't going to complete the backflip, so he let go of his bike. One problem: He was still nearly 14m in the air.

  To the gasps of the crowd, Deegan landed with a thud, breaking both wrists and his leg.

  Welcome to Moto X, an event considered dangerous even among the risk-taking crowd at Winter X Games.

  

  SuperPipe judge Rory Will takes some air as he tests the conditions ahead of the the eighth Winter X Games at the Buttermilk Ski Area in Aspen, Colorado, Monday.

  PHOTO: AP

  "Those guys are crazy," snowboarder Andy Finch said. "But I love watching them."

  It's easy to see the appeal.

  Moto X features riders who do tricks and flips off ramps.

  

  Caleb Wyatt flies upside down with his CR250 Honda motorcycle during his first jump of the finals at the Winter X Games, Monday. Wyatt placed first with his first jump.

  PHOTO: AP

  Some choose to do backflips over a 10.5m gap, while others sidesaddle their bikes or let go of the handlebars over a 27m gap. The more daring riders, like Deegan and 2004 champ Caleb Wyatt, do flips off the big ramp.

  The fans certainly eat it up, lining the course more than a dozen deep and cheering wildly as the sounds of Metallica and Korn blare through loudspeakers.

  "Huge, 250cc motorcycles over 90 feet over ice -- it can't get bigger than that, really," fan Ed Klaus said.

  The pain is bigger, too.

  There are certainly injuries in other Winter X events. Snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler and skier Candide Thovex, gold medalists at the 2003 Winter X Games, missed this year's event with knee injuries.

  But injuries in Moto X tend to be more traumatic.

  While the twisting and turning in snowboarding and skiing lead to sprains and tears, wrestling with a 112.5kg motorcycle 12m in the air tends to cause broken bones and head trauma.

  "We're really looking at a class of athletes that's like an NFL football player," said Dr. Robert Waskowitz, one of Winter X's onsite physicians. "We're talking high impact, a lot of velocity with tremendous force versus some of the other disciplined athletes where it's more of a twisting mechanism injury."

  Deegan sure felt the impact in Saturday's crash.

  He'll spend the rest of this week in the hospital and could be out of competition up to six months after having pins put in both wrists and a plate in his leg, which was broken just below the hip.

  "That was a severe injury," Waskowitz said. "That was one of the injuries that we are prepared for, but hate to see."

  But as bad as it was, the show kept rolling.

  While doctors stabilized Deegan's injuries for nearly 15 minutes at the bottom of the track, Moto X king Mike Metzger was at the top waiting his turn. Seconds after Deegan was taken off on a sled, Metzger landed a near-perfect backflip -- just a few feet from where Deegan crashed.

  "You really can't think about that stuff," Metzger said. "You have to concentrate on what you're doing or you'll end up getting hurt, too."

  And Metzger knows all about injuries.

  Known as "The Godfather" for creating freestyle riding, he's won three Moto X golds and finished second to Wyatt this year.

  But it's come with a price.

  By Metzger's estimation, he's had at least one injury for each of his 28 years. That includes more than a dozen concussions, three broken backs, three broken femurs -- "breaking the biggest bone in your body isn't fun, for sure" -- and metal plates in his forearm.

  Metzger initially didn't sign up for this year's Winter X Games because of two serious concussions last year, but changed his mind four days before the event after Chuck Caruthers broke his ankle during practice.
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