In a revealing and very honest interview, Jett Lawrence admitted that at one point during a very tough recovery from his latest injury, even he had doubts if he would be as good as he used to be. He even had to get a second surgery and fragments shaved down to endure he could be ready to race the outdoors!
Jett said: “Interesting and very painful process. Missing having a fully healthy ankle and not waking up in the morning with a stiff ankle until I get full range of motion back, I think it’s still going to be still a year or so. If I can just get away from my pain, I think I’ll be okay.
“But it definitely crosses your mind even when you’re laying in bed at night, your mind loves to play games with you and think, ‘will you be able to ride the same,’ ‘how long will it be painful for?’ All the questions you have to answer yourself over time. I dislocated my ankle and the tibia smashed the top of my talus and that is what really broke my talus into three. I ended up getting 11 screws and four pins then I had to go in for a second surgery and have a screw taken out. And also, one of the fragments rose up and my tibula was hitting it, I had to get that shaved down because I wouldn’t have been able to ride if I had that.”
“Kind of a scary moment for me, because we improved and improved and then hit a wall so I’m like, oh, it’s a little bit of a down spot. The biggest thing is the team around me that I have is so good. That’s sort of plan and action. You have to have that strength in that joint to be light a little bit with your feet, my left leg is taking most of the landings, braking, my right foot is a little difficult because it doesn’t have that full range downwards .So little things like that where it’s like, ahh, you just wish it could speed up a little bit!
Lawrence has, according to Johnny O’Mara, been riding for the last two months and Jett is ready to race in Pala against Deegan and co. But it might take a while to be back to his best!
“I just want to be there for outdoors because I know if I can start with them and maybe not win the first one, all my mind will be on the championship. There’s another side where I really want to win the first round because it’s Pala and I have never lost there, overall wise. But my body and health is more important than winning one race at the start of the season.”
See the video below as the world gets ready to finally see Deegan v Jett Lawrence with Deegan saying, “It’s going to be gnarly, I am ready to fight, I am ready to go to war.”
