Lea Dobrowski: I Did Not Fall Off, I Never Stopped and Never Will Stop Riding
I know many people apparently think I fell off the face of the Earth never to return again. I know there are some people who were probably happy about it, some who didn’t like it and a lot of people that didn’t care. Well I am here to inform everyone that I have not indeed fallen off the face of the Earth, I have not stopped riding, and I will never stop riding. I started riding Flatland because something inside of my soul sparked when I would watch other riders; something inside me said I need to do this and learn this NOW. This is why you may think I fell off the face of the Earth or quit riding . . .
Last year I was told I tore my rotator cuff when indeed I did not; this will be further explained in a moment. I went through loads of physical therapy was told not to ride my bike for a certain period of time to heal. I listened. I listened because I felt that when you ride on an injury you hurt yourself further and really there is no point in doing that, I have my whole life to keep riding. So for a couple months I didn’t ride at all. When I did get back on my bike and got into a normal groove again, I slammed and I slammed hard into that shoulder. Not only was I unable to raise my arm above my head but my hand would shake uncontrollably for no particular reason. Eventually I built up enough stamina and strength to get on my bike once again. To only realize if I rode like how I used to that the shaking hand would reappear. So I took some more time to heal, and more time to grieve over. . .
In the beginning of last year the woman I looked up to most was diagnosed with a rare form of Leukemia. May my grandma Marge rest in peace. This was the biggest upset in my life. At her bedside I could see the sparkle of her eyes disappear and this deeply saddened me. She was more than a grandmother to me; she was my hero, my muse, my inspiration. She literally meant the world to me and to this day I feel that I never showed her enough how I felt. While she was dying an excruciatingly painful death, I then found out my other grandma, who shared the same birth date as me, was also dying of numerous cancers. How much harder could this really get? Her name was Minnie and she was a pretty rad lady. My grandma Marge suffered for only a couple months as the Leukemia killed her. I will never forget the last “I love you” I heard her speak to me with tears in her eyes. She died last mother’s day. Six weeks later my Grandma Minnie died. I was so depressed that I sat at home and grieved for a long time. The panegyric I gave to my grandma Marge at her funeral took every ounce of my courage, all the energy I had just to say that last praise to her. And my grandma Minnie was cremated and never had a funeral.
During all this, I also was doing a full course load during the summer at CSU. And through all this I still managed here and there to ride when I could muster up the strength and the happiness to do so. Not to mention I was in a bad place with my feelings towards my ex fiancé. So no, just because I did not put out any videos, didn’t attend any jams or contests, does not mean I fell off the face of the earth, or quit riding. I was simply living my life.
In the summer I had to have surgery and in December I went through a surgery in my abdomen and I am still dealing with the repercussions of that but am fully managing. Also, after much time spent sitting in orthopedic offices, I finally found a specialist who gave me the real and legit diagnosis of my shoulder. After two MRI’S and finding out that it was obscured, my specialists found that I have indeed not torn my rotator cuff, I have shredded the long head bicep tendon (this explains the shaking hand). With 3 cortisone shots surging through my shoulder I am riding. I am healed from surgeries, I am healed over the deaths of my grandma’s, and I am healed over the long and quite frankly annoying relationship I was in.
Although I have not ridden the last year on my bike like I had the previous, I have managed to progress certain things in my riding. Have I learned to the point of going up a level in contests? No definitely not. I had to take time to deal with my life’s circumstances, but I have never quit riding. I am here, dealing with a hand that sometimes shakes because of my bicep, I am here even as a double major student that has to keep an extremely high GPA to keep her scholarship, I am here as a writer, I am here as a genuine friend to anyone, I am here as a BMX rider. I am on my bike at a steadier rate than months ago, and I plan to attack with vengeance. Although I care not to injure my shoulder further, I also at the same time don’t care because I am on a waiting list for a specialty surgery, and I can always go get more cortisone shot into my tendon.
I am humbled by this last year, I am humbled by all the people that helped me through the rough patch, and I am humbled to know that this is not even that bad. I give a great applaud to all the riders who struggle in life, who struggle with horrible injuries, who ride and ride whenever they can, who seem to do about a trillion things in a day and still manage to session, and all the BMX’ers.
I hope you are prepared to keep on seeing my face because I do not plan on leaving and I do not plan on stopping any of my writings or interviews.
On that note, I will be interviewing Jim McKay for my next article. If you want to send me your videos, or shoot me an email if you think I would be interested in interviewing you, please do! I am always open to talking to anyone! Thanks