Today, Percy PM'd me via Pedalbmx with this letter. I copied and pasted it here because those of us that went to Canada and rode with him would like to know how he is.ah man thanks for the shout brotha. i have potentially bad news for you. i can never ride a bike ever again. not only am i not able to, but i now have many months ahead of me to undue the damage that it has done. i think it was my style. most of the pain comes from by spine but it affects my whole body and makes everything painful. on the plus side i can now eat again, so i am getting healthyer and getting my weight back. i was off 45 pounds from my normal weight! but now i'm only ten pounds away from my norm. life's changed completely for me.
i had to quit all flatland, my job, my friends. i couldn't do anything i was so sick. i still am but getting better. no more puking and stuff, nor do i need to go to the hospital every night anymore. i have 12 doctors currently addressing the different discomfots in my body from my spine and back problems. i still love flatland totally, best thing in life is flatland. every night i dream of me riding, 3 times a day i get the flatland urge to ride, but no more.
but i got into new stuff like paintball and goin back to school when i get better, maybe i nice job too that won't have to revolve around my riding anymore. i'm keeping my bike forever, never selling it because i made a deal with a friend that if either one of us lives to be 80, we'd go find the other guy, and if he's alive, go out riding flatland. and if he's dead, ride flatland on his tombstone in honor of the good ole days. also bike won't ever sell for good money. maybe 50 cents cuz of all the blood and skin stuck to the welds.
i'm gonna remember your style forever man. i'll remember all of it, use it every day as inspiration. last time i was on a bike, i didn't last very long, and had to be wheeled home on a skateboard cuz i couldn't move. originally i had evidence of a bunch of stuff wrong with my back, but recently i found out there are TONS more things wrong. i'm not dying though, it's just pain. i'm getting better i think. man it's slow though, been sick since western canadian flatland jam.
i'm glad i flatlanded while i could. a life changing experience it was for me, but for the better in the end. i thought i'd end up having to resort to wheelchair tricks! hahahahah, but than i got feeling better. i wanna see some vids of your new stuff man, the whole crew, everyone. pictures and videos of flatland stuff. oh hey i got all my videos ever taken on my website
www.angelfire.com/extreme2/bmxflatland i had been thinking of quiting for a while cuz of the pain, but when i found out i was headed for very bad times and cripple kindof stuff, it was easy way to part. i don't suspect too many will have to quit like me though, most people are more fluent style, i was all jerky and chit. i fell way too much, way too hard, i wanted tricks too much. i learned them fast, but i sure payed the price. i couldn't have done it any other way though, you gotta be you with flatland. i wouldn't have enjoyed it if i'd have been holding back anything any at the time of the trick. i appreciate all that you have done for me and all the momentous tricks you have given me the honor of witnessing. your performance is perilous to even the most objective of bystanders. may all your flatland dreams be happy ones. and i will see you on the other side, mylord. thangow.
Bummer. Suddenly, I want to ride my ass off while I can. For those of you who didn't meet Percy, he is totally friendly, was very committed to his tricks and apt to say things which make little sense to those around him. He was the kind of rider you would love to ride with because he went for it with disregard for his bike or body. It was inspiring and it sucks that he won't be able to ride. Hopefully, he'll attack the rest of his life the way he did flatland.~J
