Debra Hornsby (Thomas Breen photo)
September 28, 2015 - Rob Jarman pushed his mountain bike to the top of a rock-strewn hill in Yorkshire, England. After spending weeks in the hospital recovering from a near-fatal brain injury, itself exacerbated by head trauma from years of stupid, exciting, and jaw-dropping bike stunts, Jarman was looking to return to his vocation—and bolster his shaken confidence—by attempting to set the British record for downhill speed on a mountain bike.
“I woke up and asked myself, am I going to die today?” Jarman’s voice sounded confident and condemned as he looked down the steep, jagged, pathless descent. “Somehow, I don’t think so.” He leaned into his bike, barreled over stones and roots and other natural debris, all the while staying upright and emphatically alive. At the bottom of the hill, he hollered with joy and relief. He had done it, setting the downhill record at 96kps, proving to himself that he still could, and had to, perform outrageous stunts on his beloved bike.