down and charged. About half way through the race I was in 6th position and blasted down the gnarly downhill section when the sled started swapping side to side. I wasn’t able to hang on and was sort of bucked off the side of the machine. As a stuck my leg out to brace my fall, my knee was in full extension on impact, it instantly crushed and hyper extended my knee. It was a compound fracture of the tibia plateau. The crash also severed the main nerve and artery that supplies the lower leg. It was the most painful injury I’ve ever had. After a horrible experience at the first hospital, I took a two hour ambulance ride to Duluth and had multiple surgeries. The doctors attempted to repair the damage but I was having circulation problems. My physical condition was at rock bottom and there was a possibility I may not survive more surguries, we had to make the decision to amputate just above the knee. To me, it was unbelievable that a knee injury could end up this way! Thirteen days later I arrived at home on Christmas Eve day, minus my left leg. TEKTALK: Tell us how your current prosthesis came about? MIKE: While I was in the hospital, friends and family were joking about me building my own leg. After a couple weeks at home I started to get a plan going with Chip (my prosthetist) at Prosthetic Laboratories. They were always really interested in getting me back into action as soon as possible. I did get back on the sled even before I had my first prosthesis and I could lean into the left
corners like nobody else! My ideas really went into overdrive in March of ’09, I had heard of the Adaptive Supercross at the Summer X Games and I wanted to go after that. I needed something new to focus my energy on so I did not start being bummed about my situation. I designed the knee prosthesis (what I now call the Moto Knee) around a Fox mountain bike shock because of the compact sizes and lightweight materials. Ricky Stroble with Fox Shox allowed me to use some of his machining equipment to get the first prototype going. I had never used a mill or lathe at that point so one of their employees and a friend of mine (Ben Hayes ) taught me the basics. I created a bulky working prototype a little over a week later. I bolted it all together, walked over to the motocross bike and hi tailed down the ditch. Within 2 minutes, I knew I was on to something great. I had a smile from ear to ear and you probably could have seen it through my helmet! Over the next few months I fine-tuned it to the motocross bike and headed to the ESPN Summer X Games Adaptive Supercross (seven months after my accident). I came home with the Silver!! It was an unbelievable experience and never would have dreamed of anything like that right after my amputation. I do have to say this: the snocross community and my home town (Brainerd, MN) put together a benefit shortly after my accident. The amount of support and number of people that attended was absolutely unbelievable. That event is what allowed me to get the Moto Knee project started. So I need to give a huge “thank you” to everyone that was
involved and that attended. TEKTALK: Since your injury, tell us how you’ve changed your sleds to go racing? MIKE: The fall of 2009 I decided to get back on the snocross track, especially after hearing that the X Games were going to have an Adaptive Snocross as well. That winter I was still involved with Warnert Racing as a riding coach and practice track builder. I remember the first time I finally got on the track with the Moto knee, I had pretty high expectations after riding motocross all summer. The first day of riding was a huge disappointment, I felt so awkward I was wondering what I was getting myself into. I just kept at it and made adjustment after adjustment to the knee and the sled. The biggest modification was to the running board on the sled, I had to control where my foot position needed to be. So I developed a stirrup that held my foot from sliding too far forward but would still allow me to get out when I needed to. TEKTALK: How did you have to change your race style? MIKE:Well, the biggest thing was that my mental speed had to slow down a lot to match my physical speed! Meaning; I wanted to go much faster than my legs would allow me. I need to ride with much more control and not let it “hang out” like I could before, I am physically unable to react the way I did. For example if I get bucked off balance one way or the other I can’t just bend my leg to transfer my weight. Think of it as always having your quadriceps