December 5, 2007
CORONA, Calif., (Dec. 5, 2007) – – Hearing Monster Energy’ ’s TJ Lavin talk about his gnarly BMX dirt jumping wreck the Dew Tour is enough to make your socks roll up and down.
“ “Everything was going great. I was going for a Decade on the last set and over shot the landing a bit,” ”said Lavin. “ “My foot came off the pedal and hit the ground just right.
“ “And I felt my shoe come up and kick me in the knee.” ”
Compound tib/fib, national TV, surgery, rod, screws. It’ ’s a story Lavin’ ’s had to tell dozens of times. But six weeks later, the story he’ ’s telling now is even more compelling.
“ “I just started to walk again. Well, limp,” ”he says. “ “I started physical therapy like two weeks after it happened. Went at it hard, training in a pool. So the feeling’ ’s pretty great that I can walk again.” ”
And the feeling’ ’s coming even though there’ ’s no feeling in Lavin’ ’s big toe. “ “Yeah, my big toe’ ’s paralyzed, which is kind of a bummer,” ”he said. “ “But I’ ’m hoping with some electro-stim and more PT that it’ ’ll come around. If not I’ ’ll have to have it fused to my other toe in order to get it to work properly.” ”
During his down time off the bike Lavin’ ’s had some more time to mess around with a longtime passion of his, music. Honing his skills at producing music at his Vegas home otherwise known as "Lavs Lab" the past decade, Lavin’ ’s proved he’ ’s got a knack for it – –at least that’ ’s what his friends think.
“ “Everybody’ ’s been telling me ‘ ‘Man, you’ ’ve got to put out a CD,’ ’” ”said Lavin. “ “My buddy here in Vegas, Tom Parham, has 30 years experience in the music industry and has helped show me the ropes. So with this recent down time I was able to get up the nerve to put out a CD.” ”
Lavs: The first set , according to Lavin, is a “ “hip-hop, viby mix that’ ’s a little bit underground – – something that you wouldn’ ’t likely hear on the radio.” ”Check it out at: http://www.monsterenergy.com/troops/bandDetail.php?bandID=62 and www.lavslab.com
“ “But I fell in love with producing music like I did with BMX bikes,” ”added Lavin, who’ ’s worked with such notable artists as the Kotton Mouth Kings and Big B.
As for what’ ’s up next, Lavin says in no way should the legion of Monster Energy drinkers rule him out from BMX competition. In fact, if his burgeoning TV (MTV’ ’s “ “Challenge” ”series) and music schedule allow it, he’ ’ll be back for sure full time in ’ ’08.
“ “All this injury did was really give me some time to think about how much I love to ride my bike,” ”he said. “ “I’ ’ll come back from this, no problem. I’ ’m not scared to send it!” ”
Monster Energy supports the sport. Be it BMX, music, SX, off road, MX, MotoGP, road racing, supermoto, off-road, FMX, skate, MTB, surf, snow – –name it – –the athletes are rockin’ ’Monster Energy more than anything these days. Check out all the types – –Original Monster Energy, Monster Lo-Carb, Monster Assault, Monster Khaos, the new Monster/fruit juice hybrid called “ “M-80” ”and the ground-breaking Java Monster premium coffee & cream supercharged with our Monster Energy blend. TJ Lavin’ ’s diggin’ ’‘ ‘em– –so will you. On the ‘ ‘Net at www.monsterenergy.com
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