I'm glad to see him back on the bike hitting DJ's again. TBH, I expected him to be wearing a full face with a Leatt brace. I'm not a quality rider or Dirt Jumper like Dan Atherton is but accidents happen. He knows better than anyone. I'm too scared not to wear my full face and Leatt brace while dirt jumping.
You know what, I just read the new Decline where Dan stated that he was gonna proudly sport the new 600.00 Carbon Leatt this season.. Gee and Rachel had made a joke about how wearing one could supersticiously bring on a bad crash. Gee just won't even talk about it. I think if the Factory Team one doesnt weigh hardly anything, wear it!! Your chances of a full recovery on a second neck injury are a long shot. Your just messing with the odds now bro!!!!
"On Tuesday night of this week Dan was out riding dirt jumps at his local trails in Llanfyllin, when he crashed and landed awkwardly on his head. Dan was taken to Shrewsbury hospital in a ambulance where they X-rayed his upper spine. The results confirmed a fracture to his C2 vertebrae with a further CT scan confirming another fracture to his C1 vertebrae."
Guys chill. People have been jumping forever without full faces and leatt braces. It might be hard to believe but just straight airing jumps when you've been as skilled as the Athertons isn't a big deal at all. You can't tell people that you don't know to wear every bit of protection available. Yes accidents happen, but don't you think they know when certain protection is required? That level of skill coincides pretty well with the quality of personal judgement.
scott-townes: He was straight airing a dirt jump when he broke his neck the first time.. Even pros can't know when an excident is going to happen you are just dumb. I think Dan is sooo stupid right now riding without a leatt. It could give him so much respect and positive feedback but I guess he's just another "cool dude" too cool for wearing it..
good to see this video come out the same day i was riding with him and doing uplifts. him gee and rach. so i already knew he could ride and we were riding small downhill sections at llandegla
Leatt braces if properly adjusted don't even get in the way at all and you can't feel that you are wearing one. You don't know what you are talking about.
Well Jamieep, if you ever break your neck, then you'll find out what real limited movement is. I wear a neck brace every time I ride now, DH or DJ, since I had a close call last year. Your spine is precious, and you should protect that.
Correct. All in all I think everybody was surprised to hear that Dano got so hurt airing in his backyard. Regardless of how new the line was, that would have been the last place I would have thought something that serious could have happened to someone so good. I saw a kid get pretty effin hurt on the big kickers at hiland on last day of the season, (I'm still not sure how that ended up for him.) That was all it took for me to buy one. As a forty something I would love to see the pro WC and Slopestyle Leatt sponsored riders actually wear them when the cameras AREN'T on them and their guard is down. Precisely like in this video. I think it's gonna make a big impact on saving lives. 2 US hopefuls were killed at their local Bike Parks last year. TJ Lavin and of course DA both in scary scenarios. Every time I read about one, it just brings the fear level up a little bit more when I ride. Sorry for the preachy ramble!!!
You guys might want to think about switching browsers. I liked Mozilla over Explorer but then I found Google Chrome . The CHROME browser is just awesome. I havent had a problem with any videos since. Just an FYI.
Good to see that the banter between Dan and Gee will return for the next Atherton Project series! Hope he gets a solid season down to settle himself back into DH
I tell you what, fair play it is AWESOME to see him back on the bike. After that injury - he was lucky to be alive, to see him riding again is just amazing
Yeah totally man , might sound funny but cos of the Atherton Project you kinda felt like you knew him a bit so I went from feeling pretty shitty when he was 1st injured to feeling happy as fekk for him.
Yeah man, totally know what you mean by feeling like you knew him - Atherton Project does make you feel like you know them, i guess cos it shows you there day to day life and personalities and stuff. But yeah, he was good at Moelfe this weekend. Also good to see all the Athertons wearing neck braces when they were riding DH there.
dude. sick to see him back, but he needs to be wearing a leatt and full face. thats just asinine without one. i broke my neck back a few years ago, and i dont leave the house without mine now.
It was only dirt jumps on his backyard track on a routine run that he has probably ridden a 1000 times before ,that he broke his neck last time. I watched it on the Atherton Project. It's gonna be hard to come up with a good excuse for why he broke it, if it happens again, when the Leatt is prbably sitting right in the van. I f*cking hate wearing mine on local trails, but I do it for my family.
^^^^+1 I was just about to say yeah it was only dirty jumps that got him in the halo in the first place. I dont care what trail it is, I dont care how much shit my friends give me for rockin the full face all the time, I've had nasty spills with little xc helmets. Concusions aint fun and neither is explaining to everyone why your face looks like ground beef after sliding face first across the trail. I dont care how easy a trail looks, any injury is possible.
well yeah, shit happens, it only depends on how willing you are to minimize the damage. you could wear your ff helmet and your neck brace the moment you get out of your bed in the morning, but do you?
Only if I forgot to take it off the nite before while going to bed while drunk. Other than that I usually wait until I arrive to the trail head and I plan on biking that day. I think I would look pretty foolish showing up to work and giving out orders in my bike gear. BUT since we have or kidding hats on, My guess is that you are either 1. working on , at least, your second concussion. OR 2. You don't actually read your posts before you hit send..... Just a healthy brained guess. :-) That's not a professional opinion or anything. Good luck at the neurologists.
I broke my neck riding dirt jumps, on a jump I'd ridden well over a hundred times before and I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary - mistakes happen!
He'll be even more determined to do well now! 
