05/15/2008

Simon's letter

Hi out there Wade!!

Kind of pretty weird here, me e-mailing you out, though, I love it! It's been a real long time that I wanted to have a little
chat with you, for so many reasons! It seems that I don't really know from where to start! Hu, I'll first brief you up a little on me! ( And hu, sorry if my english not really perfect, - I'm a born french-canadian! ) Well, my name's Simon Gauthier, I'm 19 years old, soon 20, and I live in Quebec, Canada.   I've always been mountain biking, since 2-3 years old, but not really seriously until 3 years. Back in the days, I was skateboarding, and pretty good at it after 8 years, but, got a pretty nasty bail, and I never let her the time to heal up. So I had to quit it, and it was really a hard thing. I was still snowboarding though, and I am still now too. Then, I had to attach myself to another adrenaline booster sport... Extreme Mountain Biking.. I now call it freeriding. One of my old friend introduced me to that, and now, this is my living, my way of life, my heart! 

But to explain that, I have to tell you another short story. During spring 2005, I entered a bike shop as a tech/mechanic, full time. I was doin' a Professional study course in Automobile Mechanics, but when I  knew that I had the chance to get in a bike shop, I left my studies. At 17, I was already in the professional biking world, and lovin' it more then ever. May 2005, my birthday, finally 18. July 8, during the night, I was  hangin' out in clubs with a bunch of friends, pretty nice soirée! Until I fell off a 26 foot balcony, landing head first on the street down there, half on the street, half on the pavement. I was straight away carried by Helicopter to Quebec City Mental/Chirurgical Hospital. I was in a coma for about 24hrs, the first thing I saw was my parents, sitting next to me, smiling at me, happy that I was still alive. They said that I had a Cerebral Trauma, category 3, the  worst one. My head was multi-fractured, and every bone in my face were broken : jaw, nose, sinus.. They said that I was not expected to walk again, either to be speaking good, I would have no concentration, no memory, and  worst than anything else, I couldn't sit on a bike for the rest of my life. I wasn't expected to live at all after my crash, I wasn't supposed to come out of my coma...

That last sentence, I will remember it forever... I was freakin' out in  my hospital bed. When I wake up the next morning, my parents said to me that, during my sleep, I was pedaling in my bed, I was doin' '' Air Biking''! That was it, that was my resurection. That was the light coming from inside me. And this is where you come in. A year before, I read the Darren Butler interview after his huge gnarly crash, that almost took his life off. I was feeling exactly the same as him, freakin out, and seeing my life  passing in front of me, loosing one after the other the things that I loved... I remembered when he was talking about you, when you two were in the hospital. He was saying that he was just simply amazed by the mental  strenght and desire that you had to be back on your feets, more solid than ever. And then, I remembered the interview that you did with a NSMB guy, before goin to Germany, a while ago. Before this interview, I was seeing you as a Pro-Freerider, killin' it more than anyone out there, with a brilliant way of seeing things in life, and in your carreer, also about biking! But
after I read it, I was just, whoaaa, this man is just THE man. I was seeing a part of myself through you, I was just, hands down, he his the meaning of free-riding spirit. Not just that though!

So, In my hospital bed, I decided that I WOULD walk again, no matter what they said, and I WOULD be mountain biking more then ever. 'Cause this was my  life all about since then, Mountain Biking, this was now my reason to live, my reason to be, my reason to smile, my true heart, my true soul and in what I believe. Believe it or not, 8 days later, I was back on my feet, walking  feet by feet, really sketchy, in my home, to my bed. The doctors, all the specialists, even the nurses and people out there, had NEVER, NEVER in their entire life and career, seen a guy like me, with a Severe Head Cerebral  Trauma, category 3, walk out of the hospital in 8 days, talking pretty right and nearly good walking! Since I wasn't expected to live again... It's a miracle, a true one, and I thank god for every morning sun I see everyday  now.

All those simple things in life that I almost lost, in a manner of seconds, falling from this balcony. When I got back at my house, the real battle began, sleeping about 20 hours per day, to give my brain the time to heal itself out, during 3 months.  Always thinking about, will I be able to bike again, will I be able to be as good as before, will I be able to continue in life, will I be able to work in bicycles anymore? '' I don't know if I'm gonna be able to ride my bike  the same again...'' Darren Buttler, Drop-In , Kamloops, I'll always remember him saying that, and me saying that too... After 4 months, the answer was YES! I was able to be back on my feets, solid then ever. I was able to bike again, I raced a Full DH Racing year this  summer, a full time mechanic in a pretty respected bike shop, and I did managed to pull some pretty nice stuff while freeriding, the thing that I was doin' most of my time. But the bottom line is that I managed to be living again, and lovin' it more than I could ever think. You were my inspiration way before my accident. Now you're a Hero for me, you're the one who pushed me up, inspired me, while I was freakin out in this goddamn  hospital bed, the one in which I believed that I was able to be doin' my things again, the one who saved me. The one who was coming right next to my bed, telling me to not put my head down, that told me that I could walk  again, and be sitting on my bike again, and you told me not to worry, to always stay true and strong to myself, stay true to the people who loved me, to the things into I believed and put all my trust in. And I did that, I  worked hard to be where I am today, and I continue to work hard everyday, never puting my heads down, for whatever could happen to me again. And if, well, sometimes I feel a bit weird about being here again, not dead, and  sometimes when I feel down, I remind the things you said to me, and I remind Wade, the guy, the Godfather, then, the smile just happens!

Wade, I Thank You.
I Thank you more than anything in this world, for being the man you  are everyday, for being what you are, for being the true one, who helped me out, even If you didn't know until today who I was. Thank you for never selling out, you're my everyday inspiration, boy!! Thank you for helping me  out, during the hardest times in my life, you were there, and you are still. Well, this is it, this is my story! And well, for now, I now work in summer time for Gendron Bicycles, Chicoutimi, Quebec, Canada, who is a Pro-Cycle  dealer! Rocky Mountain, Miele, and we also sell Giant and Marinonni custom road bikes. During winter, I work for Cycles Devinci, for 2 years now!
Working in the production side of things, building up bikes, and working  with the sponsored riders we have here in connection with the guys in Research and Development, pretty damn cool job!! Next summer, I'm coming to BC for a whole month trip!! I'm self training too, pushing my physical  health to another level. I'm doing kind of body building, spinning, and running too, to keep myself in a 120% physical shape.

So this is it, thanks again, for all that you have done for me, I will never forget, no way, you're my MAN! Feel free to email me back, I would love it though!! Say hello to David Tremblay that works at the Service at Rocky Mountain Bicycles!
Keep pushin' it! Hoping to have the possibility to session a little bit with you and bushpilot biking adventures! This would be just so.. DREAM come true...!!

Well, seee yaaa Wade Simmons!! On 2 wheels this time!, maybe one though!! Sincerly yours,
Simon Gauthier

Send Wade an email by clicking here - wade@nsmb.com