I’m donating two one-off, signed 12″x18″ archival-quality photo prints of Greg Watts doing what he does best, getting RAD! The first is a backflip barspin from Joyride 2011 in Whistler. The 2nd is one of the few flips seen at 2010 Red Bull Rampage.

I have been in a similar situation myself breaking my C3,4,5 back in 2005. The support I received from the MTB community meant a lot and made the challenges ahead seem a little easier. Best of luck Greg. -Sven Martin

To help Greg out, Chain Link Clothing and several of Greg’s sponsors teamed up to create an online auction, the proceeds of which will go directly to Greg. The auction ends February 20th.

Last week our good friend and athlete, Greg Watts, suffered a horrific crash, while wrapping up his section for “Barred For Life 2″. The crash happened around 1:30pm at Woodward West, while in rotation for a double back flip. Unfortunately going into the second rotation Greg tried to eject from his bike and fell 8 feet onto his back and neck. Right away, everyone ran to the scene to make sure Greg was okay, but we knew at that moment that something went super wrong. When he finally caught his breath he told us is neck and back were in tremendous amounts of pain.

We quickly reacted by calling up our friends at Woodward for a backboard and neck brace, as we waited for the “Tehachapi” fire dept and ambulance to show up and assess the situation. When they arrived at the scene, the Tehachapi ambulance paramedic suggested that due to Greg’s serious condition, that he be transported to “Bakers Field Hospital” that was an hour and a half west of our location.

Needless to say, “Bakers Field” is an experience that no-one needs to endure! This was an ordeal all on its own and unfortunately Greg was going to have to deal with it. The paramedics dropped Greg off in the ER in Beakers Field and since this was “Bakers Field” it just happened to be full of convicts from the local prison who had just happened to have a 100 man riot that very day. This meant that Greg was going to have to wait for 6 hours before any attention or answers would come regarding his current condition. Also, to make matters worse, his friends had to wait out in the waiting-room and couldn’t help him out in anyway as they were restricted to wait out front.

By the time we were able to see Greg he was still in “over flow.” A.k.a. – out in the middle of the hall with no answers. We would then have to wait for another three and a half hours before finally seeing some X-rays to help understand what he was dealing with. From this point the doctors were very helpful in giving us some insight into Greg’s condition. The doctor walked Greg and myself through what had happened and we were able to record our overview of the X-Rays to show Greg. Unfortunately the X-rays showed two fractured vertebrae – the “C1″ neck and “T3″ in his back.

We have attached a little video shot on Greg’s iPhone. This gives you a good perspective of the injury that he sustained.

This was obviously very bad news to hear, since we were all hoping for a popped disk or kinked neck. However it was a blessing in disguise to know that he wasn’t paralyzed and will make a full recovery. The doctors informed us that Greg will have to wear a two piece neck and back brace for the next 3-4 months. After that he will continue with his rehab on a strong path back to his bike. The full recovery is expected to take up to 5-6 months before Greg will be back to full health and throwing down.

With that being said, we have been working very hard to get behind our good friend in-order to raise money to help him out with his hospital bills and for any other costs that he might endure on his road to recovery. We will be holding an auction on the www.chainlinkclothing.com to raise money for Greg. So far we have had an over whelming amount of support from his sponsors and friends within the industry.

Below is the line up of great companies that are standing by Greg at this difficult time… ALL PROCEEDS RAISED THROUGH OUR ONLINE AUCTION AND GREG’S NEW SIGNATURE BADGE TEE WILL BE GOING STRAIGHT TO HIM!

Recovery Badge Tee | Pre-order Now

Auction Items:

Haro Bikes
·         Full 4130 chromoly frame w/ internal head tube, Euro BB shell, removable cable guides, and our “Six-Shooter” interchangeable dropout system
·         Pivotal seat and post
·         Tektro Draco hydraulic rear brake with 160mm wave rotor
·         Alienation Skylark double-wall rims
·         6000 series alloy CNC’d Thin Pedal w/removable pins and sealed bearings
·         Syncros FR38 OS double-butted alloy riser bar and FR50 V2 OS alloy stem
·         Three-piece chromoly 175mm 8-spline cranks w/ 6000-series alloy 25t sprocket
·         X Fusion Velvet R 80mm travel suspension fork with X-15 tool-less 15mm thru axle
·         Available in two sizes: Short (21.8″” TT) and Long (22.3″ TT)
·         Ritchey Logic Zero Comp internal headset

FOX Shox: 831 Fox Fork

FiveTen Shoes: 2 pairs of shoes (size and model of your choice)

Gamut: 5 Gamut chainguides

Rockstar Energy Drink: Signed Rockstar BMX helmet

Smith Optics: 3 signed Smith goggles

Easton: Aluminum wheel set (hub spacing of your choice)

Giro: Full Face Carbon remedy helmet and a half shell section (both in sizes of your choice)

Camp of Champions: 5 day Camp with coaching lunch and compound access . Prize Value $645.

Greg Watts Images (Photos by Sven Martin): Printed on Archival Photo paper 12×18″ size. Limited 1 off signed prints.

From Greg:

“Special thanks to Ryan Howard, Tyler McCaul, Bjorn Aunet, and Andrew Taylor for helping me out while I was in the hospital as well as at the scene of the accident. I’d also like to thank everyone who gave me words of encouragement and positive thoughts as well as my sponsors Haro, Rockstar, Giro, Easton, Chainlink Clothing, Fox Shox, Gamut USA, Five Ten, Maxxis, Smith, and Shimano for sticking by me through my time of recovery. I’ll be back with a vengeance before you know it!”

Tyler McCaul:

“Sometimes watching one of your best buds hit the dirt is worse than actually hitting the dirt yourself, and last Wednesday was one of those moments for me. Watching Greg bail out on a double flip was scary as hell and is something that I wish I could erase from my memory, but I’m grateful that we took the proper precautions to get him in an ambulance and off to the hospital safely. He’s a tough mother F’er and there’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll bounce back from this and continue to make the impossible look possible on his bike in the very near future. Sometimes even the best make mistakes, but it takes a true champ to get back up. Heal up homie, you’re a champ!”

Bjorn Aunet:

“Seeing one of your best friends go down is never a fun time, so I’m just glad we can all be there for him on his road to recovery. Greg’s a strong dude and I’m sure he’ll be back stronger than ever in no time!”

Follow up on Greg’s recovery status at :

http://www.facebook.com/chainlinkclothing

From your CLC family…”We wish you a fast and healthy recovery, brother!”

AUCTION INFORMATION – Place your name, email, and the amount that you would like to bid on each page in the form. It will then post to that page and once the deadline for all bids is reached, we will take the highest bid and contact you personally. HAPPY BIDDING!

I know that many of you guys knows about this, Greg “Double or Nothing” Watts went down on a double flip attempt earlier this week. He has two broken vertebrae but is back on his feet. Keep strong champ. Vital MTB

Rockstar’s Tyler McCaul

Jack Fogelquist

Andrew Taylor

This trio of slopestyle personalities offers more than just fresh web edits and big time local contests. All three riders live within pedaling distance of the X-Fusion US headquarters in Santa Cruz, CA. The unique ability to work closely with riders on product development and marketing projects has created a comfortable and beneficial relationship for all. X-Fusion looks forward to another year with all three of these athletes and the continued success we hope to share.

2012 marks the 3rd season for Tyler McCaul aboard X-Fusion suspension. He commented, “The last two years with X Fusion have been nothing but awesome for me and I’m pumped to be re-signing with them for 2012! As riders we put a lot of trust in the parts we put on our bikes, and X Fusion suspension has those parts that I trust in enough to put on the bikes that I ride. I also like to be in close contact with my sponsors and the fact that X Fusion’s US headquarters is in my hometown makes it that much easier to continue working with them in 2012!!”

Click HERE to read the rest of the line up.

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Which one do you think will be your new favorite? Visit our facebook page now and let us know or on Twitter @rockstar6969.