Down but Not Out, James Newbury Recovering from Accident
Fans of James Newbury held their collective breaths this weekend as the 5th fittest man from 2019 made a frightening revelation on his Instagram yesterday. The lengthy post – which included a photo of Newbury in the hospital and comes just days after he performed 20.3 during the live announcement – revealed that he spent his 29th birthday laid up in the hospital following a mountain bike accident.
What happened: While coming around a corner on his mountain bike, Newbury’s front tire slid out on some loose rocks, causing him to fly over his handlebars as he locked out his brakes. Newbury’s head hit the base of a tree and the middle of his back hitting a protruding branch.
The bad news: Newbury’s Open is over as he’ll be spending the next couple months resting and recovering from the list of injuries sustained during the accident.
- Fractured processes, boney pieces protruding from the vertebra, in his 2nd and 3rd thoracic vertebrae. Recovery is typically 4-6 weeks with a gradual return to activity over a few week period.
- Fractures in his 7th and 8th rib, recovery is typically 6 weeks.
- A gash in his left lung, that caused a leak in the lung. Recovery usually takes 6-8 weeks depending on severity.
The good news: He was wearing a helmet and will make a full recovery, which is most important. HIs recovery timeline also means that his 2020 Games season isn’t over yet.
- Newbury’s doctors: “If you are going to break your back you’ve done it the best way possible for a speedy recovery.”
- Newbury on coming back this year: “This is NOT the end of the world nor is it the end of my season……I’ll now be “working IN” as much as possible to allow the bones to heal well so I can get back to another thing I love which is training and competing (yes for the 2020 season).”
One might ask why, in the middle of a season, would a professional athlete of Newbury’s caliber coming off a career season partake in an activity such as mountain biking that carries this type of risk. Newbury addressed the issue and made his outlook on the topic very clear.
“If I wrap myself in cotton wool and deprive myself of things I enjoy then none of it is worth it for me. I need to be happy and I need to be sharing exciting experiences with loved ones for me to stay focused in other areas of my life and that’s exactly what I was doing.”
Rest up James, wishing you a speedy and smooth recovery.
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