- Blake Jones broke his back in six places in a motorbike accident in April last year.
- Getting back on his road bike was a big part of his rehab.
- He has entered the Tour of New Zealand to support the NZ Spinal Trust.
Blake Jones was in a serious motorbike crash last year and has made a full recovery. He wants to give back to others who have not been as fortunate, so he has signed up to ride for the NZ Spinal Trust team in the Tour of New Zealand bike event.
Blake Jones is lying in bed in the Palmerston North Hospital in a world of pain, but he knows he is lucky.
On 18 April last year, the 37-year-old was adventure riding on his motorbike across a Waipukurau farm, helping a couple of mates plot a route for an upcoming event. He was riding in a creek, taking on climbs up the banks of the creek, and then down the other side as he wound through the paddock. The father of two went up a climb and didn’t realise there was a 2.5m drop off that had been washed out on the other side. He rode off a small cliff to a sheer drop.
“I thought F…, this is going to hurt,” says Jones of that fateful moment.
As he was going over the crest of the bank, Jones separated himself from his bike and braced for the impact. He rolled off, flipped in the air and landed on top of his helmet. His body folded into his sternum with the impact.
“I remember grabbing both brakes at the top and then realising, this is futile.
“I don’t remember too much else, just the pain afterwards and knowing it was serious. I lay there thinking my wife’s going to kill me. That ran through my head a lot.”
Jones was knocked unconscious from the fall. His mates who he was riding with found him at the bottom of the drop a few minutes later. They helped him back on his bike – and with adrenalin coursing through his veins – he rode 40 minutes back to his ute to head home. He was in agony and when he got off his bike, he collapsed to the ground.
Jones made the decision to drive back home to Palmerston North and on the journey, he realised that he needed urgent medical attention. He was struggling to breathe and had acute referring pain in his kidneys. His wife took him to the hospital where X-rays revealed Jones had sustained compression fractures from T7 – T12 in his vertebrae.
He was informed the compression fractures were at about 30 percent where at over 50 percent he would have needed stabilisation surgery. From the accident, Jones lost five centimetres of height, from 188cm to 183cm.
“I was pretty shocked to learn that I had broken my back,” he says. “But it was clear that I was really fortunate to not have damaged the spinal cord. It was the best possible outcome for breaking a back I guess.”
He spent five nights in Palmerston North Hospital and then went home and spent four weeks in bed. Following that he was in a back brace for 12 weeks. Jones says the first four weeks of his recovery were the hardest.
“You just wanted to lie down on your back and rot in bed, because it was the only thing that didn’t hurt. But I knew that if I lay there, it wasn’t going to get any better.”
He set an alarm on his watch for every hour, and he would force himself out of bed to walk to the end of the hallway and back. He got to the point where he could walk to the letterbox and then, in time, down the street.
“It was slow progress, but it was good to make those small gains and get out of bed.”
Jones is a senior manager of a forest management business, and he was able to continue in his work. He says the biggest impact of his accident was on his family.
“I have two young kids, and my wife had to do it all. It was pretty challenging at times.”
Jones says the support of ACC and connecting with local physiotherapist Michael Cumming at Rehab Physio Centre was a huge boost in his rehabilitation.
“It’s at times like these, you realise you are fortunate to live in New Zealand and have the support of a scheme like ACC. They took care of everything so I could focus on getting better.”
Giving Back
Around 20 years ago, Jones was into his cycling and following his accident Cumming advised it would help with his strength and mobility, so he bought a cheap bike and started riding. He saw an ad for the Tour of New Zealand cycle event on social media, and that the NZ Spinal Trust had a team. He wanted to help raise funds and awareness for their work.
Around 220 people sustain a permanent spinal cord impairment in New Zealand every year, and the NZ Spinal Trust supports people with spinal cord impairments and their whānau to embrace positive futures.
“I know I was lucky to get away without any spinal damage, many others are not so lucky, and I felt the opportunity to support the Trust – who do incredible work for people with a spinal injury – and supporting these people was too good to turn down.”
Jones knows it will be a huge challenge to complete the 450km bike ride over five days. It begins in Greymouth and finishes on the Crown Range in Central Otago.
“There’s a few nerves there,” he says. “I have done a bit of training, but the test will be how my body copes with those sorts of distances back-to-back. I am looking forward to the challenge and also the banter with the other riders.”
Jones has good advice for people who have sustained a life changing injury.
“Firstly, every person’s injury and journey are different,” he says. “You have to take it one day at a time and chip away at those small gains. For me it has helped to have something to aim towards and be positive about.
“My injury has given me that perspective that a serious injury can happen to anyone so it’s about giving back and supporting others.”
Pictures: Julia Sabugosa
Tour of New Zealand cycle event
When: 7 – 11 April, 2025
Where: Greymouth to Crown Range (Central Otago), 450km bike ride over five days.
What: Individual and Teams cycling and fundraising event.
Over seven Tours, they have raised $2.2 million for various charities.
For more information: Tour of New Zealand
