Hutt Valley mountain biker Erice van Leuven says she endured the “biggest crash of my life” at the Red Bull Hardline event in Tasmania over the weekend.
The 18-year-old broke her neck, back and wrist and suffered some “small internal injuries” whenshe went down hard after catching her rear wheel while trying to clear a massive 26m jump near the bottom of the course.
In a post on social media, van Leuven said she was lucky to be able to walk and would have to wait for her lung to heal before she could fly back to New Zealand to rest up.
The two times junior women’s downhill world champion was one of only eight women invited to compete at the race which featured 14m drops and 26m gap jumps - which required riders to launch themselves into the air at speeds of up to 70 kilometres a hour.
Ahead of the event van Leuven told RNZ she had being working hard during her new team’s - Norco Race Division - training camp in Queenstown to get used to clearing the massive jumps.
“Its a downhill race [but] with a lot of big features in it. So there’s a lot of step-downs, which is like a big drop, and then gap jumps as well.
“There’s one that is like a 45 foot (14m) step down and a couple of the gaps are like 85 feet (26m) - which is insane. You have to be going about 70 kilometres to hit them,” van Leuven said.
Erice Van Leuven after winning the Women's Junior Downhill at last year's UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. Photo / Photosport
She said the scale of the obstacles in the course would push the boundaries of her courage and skills.
“I’ve always loved riding jumps. I’m a fan for big jumps but I’ve never ridden something this size. I’ve ridden 50 foot (15m) jumps before but that’s a bit of a step-down from the 85 feet (26m).
“The jumps on the [Hardline course] its more a flat ramp, built for speed rather than for height. So that’s kind of more playing with my style and abilities,” van Leuven said.
Erice van Leuven competing during the RockShox Canadian Open DH at Whistler Blackcomb last year. Photo / Getty Images
Van Leuven had been making impressive progress during practice runs alongside team mate and now 2x women’s Hardline winner Gracey Hemstreet.
In her team’s Instagram posts - during practice runs - van Leuven can be heard whooping in adrenalised excitement as she followed Hemstreet down the course.
Following the crash van Leuven posted pictures of her walking gingerly wearing a torso and neck brace and sporting a cast on her wrist.
“A rollercoaster week at Hardline. From not thinking I could ride to ticking off the whole course in the space of a few runs. This place is rad, but also no joke,” van Leuven wrote.
Van Leuven said she was “fired up” to return to Hardline next year once she had spent “some quality time with the animals at home,”.
