BaC k FR om T he B R i N k

Vanessa Ruck came back from a serious accident, thanks to bikes

Imagine you’re a fit, active 20-something (as some of us still are of course) who enjoys kite surfing at weekends. You’re cycling to work one morning when a car driver risks a red light and knocks you off. Left with life-changing injuries, you have to undergo a total of seven operations, endure months of physio, and years later you still have to live with pain and reduced hip and shoulder mobility. And yet, a few years after that accident, you’ve built a new life revolving around motorcycles, ridden trials, motocross and even desert rallies. That’s the story of Vanessa Ruck, who has turned her life around using bikes as the catalyst.

“I got to motorcycling late,” she told me. “I did have a 250 briefly when I was living abroad, and got my licence in the UK, but hadn’t done anything about it for years.

“It was tough after the accident. I had to do all the physio (swimming and walking) on top of a full-time job, and the operations went on for years, but I knew that if I didn’t put this work in, I wouldn’t get my fitness back. I still do mindfulness, which helps cope with the pain and avoids getting into a negative spiral. It’s about being conscious of how the mind is working, recognising when thoughts are turning negative (self-pity, it's not fair etc) and taking control. It’s crazy how these conscious thoughts connect to your subconscious – being positive improved both.”

Breakthrough with Bikes

You don’t have to talk to Vanessa long to twig that motorcycling has played a key role in her long recovery process. At first, she had a bike purely for practical reasons. Working in the centre of Oxford, she bought a Suzuki Bandit 600 simply to get through the traffic, though the bike didn’t produce an immediate turnaround in her condition, and just getting on board proved a struggle at first.

“I had been diagnosed with multiple mental health issues like depression and fear of the road. Part of me said that buying a bike was a terrible idea. Early on, I’d be overwhelmed by fear –panic attacks sometimes, but I knew that I had to overcome it. That driver who had knocked me off my bike had changed my life irreversibly, but I couldn’t let her have that much control. With anything that scares you, you can always normalise it eventually.”

Eventually, she managed to ‘normalise’ commuting by Bandit, but this still wasn’t her Damascene moment. That came thanks to a day on a Harley. “My husband had just come home from serving in Afghanistan with the RAF, so to celebrate I hired two Harleys for a day. We loved them so much that we bought two, and that was by far the best thing I ever did for my mental health. Before that, I couldn’t see the point of anything much, because my whole life – hobbies, friendship circle – had just been wiped by the accident.”

Not only that, but the Harley proved more comfy than driving a car – rather than moving her legs between pedals, which was painful, the Harley’s gearchange and rear brake were right where she needed them. Vanessa and her husband began doing longer rides including camping trips, riding about 20,000 miles over three years.

On the Dirt

“It was after the next hip surgery, when I was bed bound for a while, that I just decided that I needed a dirt bike – I’ve still got no idea where that came from. We bought a Yamaha WR250, and it was five months before I could even sit on it, but it was a reminder of what I was working for. When I finally was able to ride the WR, I had a shock. I considered myself a fairly competent road rider, but on the WR off-road I was like Bambi, didn’t have a clue.”

Gradually, Vanessa built up her off-road skills, concentrating on green lanes before going on to trials and more serious offroading. The WR proved too heavy for her damaged hip and shoulder, so husband inherited it while she moved on to a lighter KTM EXC.

This was all great fun, but Vanessa had no thoughts of competitive riding until Paul Bolton at Toro Trail, who runs off-road holidays in Spain, encouraged her to enter the Valleys Xtreme, a hard enduro race in south Wales. “Paul knew my capabilities, so I decided to enter. The practice day on Saturday was brutal but amazing, and next day on the start line I was terrified, but I got over that, got round, was overtaking other riders and bagged a silver finisher’s award. I was buzzing after that – and before we got home I’d signed up for Red Bull Romania.”

Lots more off-road events followed until someone suggested desert rallying, and after riding the Rallye du Moroc, the desert bug had clearly bitten. “I love the remoteness of desert rallies. You’re completely on your own, with just a paper road book to navigate by, so it’s very satisfying, and with your focus just on riding and navigating, you forget everything else.” More recently she tried the 1000 Dunes, a non-competitive Raid rather than a rally, and accepted the organisers’ offer of a Triumph Tiger 900 to do it on. That 235kg adventure bike brought challenges of its own, but she finished (many didn’t), the first woman to complete the event on a standard adventure machine.

Giving Back

These days, Vanessa spends much of her time giving motivational talks based on her experiences, to schools, companies and clubs. And it’s clearly the school talks (which she offers as a free service), that are the most rewarding. “The energy I get from these kids, seeing their faces, is just wonderful. I’ll bring a bike with me into the school and show a couple of videos, and the kids love it. Sometimes we do workshops so the kids can look at their own challenges and how to deal with them. My crash took me to some pretty dark places, but if I can share that and what I’ve learnt from it, then that’s worth doing.”

It's quite sobering to think that if it hadn’t been for that car driver, it’s unlikely that Vanessa would have done any of this. “You know,” she says, “I had this weird realisation a few years ago that I almost have gratitude for that accident. Despite everything I’ve been through and the pain I still live with, it set me on another path. It made me realise that what really matters isn’t money or material things, but friendship and achieving goals – that’s what it’s all about.” www.thegirlonabike.com