Bobby Langin Jr.–“Did you learn your lesson?”

A question I have been asked by many people, very often.

My name is Bobby Langin Jr. and I have the story of broken bones. Whether it be from motorcycles, bicycles, or even a pink plastic Barbie Corvette (Pow Pow Power Wheels!!), I have found a way to injure myself more often than most, including those of my peers that join in on similar activities.
However, this story is not really for them. This is for those who repetitively ask, “Did you learn your lesson?” as if the lesson is to give up riding my bikes. (Though, I will say I did give up the power wheeling – we will get there later). To those who think an injury can always be avoided unless a “freak accident” occurs. To people who watch the TV and other people live extraordinary lifestyles and think, “Those people are nuts! Why can’t I do that?” These words will be my case for my actions, and my apparent inability to “learn.”
To get this show on the road, we should start from the beginning. I do not know life without two wheels. I was born into a house where a mini motorcycle track was already in the making. When I was just 3 months old my father Bobby Langin Sr. bought a house with a yard big enough to fit a BMX track for him to practice on. He was, at that time, racing professionally. It was not long until he and his buddies were messing around racing mini bikes, Honda XR75’s. I, being just a baby, don’t remember this so much. Fast forward 3 years and I’m now racing a bicycle myself with a massive grin! Then another 3 years, now not just a bicycle but a motorcycle–6 years old in the LA Coliseum in front of thousands of people!! This was the start of my life. What a wonderful life!
Motorcycle racing began to take over my childhood. Just before my 9th birthday, I broke my first bone. I had been showing off to these older kids that were watching me practice at a local, not so legal, track. I over jumped a jump to flat and my heel had hit the ground hard enough to buckle my fibula. Not the worst break by any means. I did cry, however, although not from pain but because this meant I was not going to race the World Mini held in Las Vegas. I know, bummer! I was really looking forward to the craps tables.

The good news is that five weeks later was the first race back. My dad bet me if I won, we would go to Ponca City, Oklahoma for the Grand National Motocross- a huge amateur motocross event for a kid. Of course my father didn’t think I had a chance; it’s probably my favorite trophy to date. We can go into my racing career, or lack thereof, another time. For you to at least understand the concept that I have been on two wheels for 27 years– yes I am 30–you did the math correctly– it will suffice for this story.
Now for the bones: I really did not have many injuries until I was 14, starting off with a clean break on my left tibia and fibula up at the growth plate by my knee. I tell you what; these full leg casts in summer are the worst! From there, over the next two to three years, I managed to rack up another 15 bones fractured or broken, including but not limited to: two broken wrists–ulna and radial in both, with my right radial being an open wound fracture (gnarly looking), fractured tibia, metatarsals, wrist again, and finally ending that season of hospital visits with a bang. I compound fractured my left tibia (not open wound) and it tore through my popliteal artery. A long surgery and a bypass in my knee were able to save my leg from having to be amputated, much appreciated, Dr. Mintz! This injury kept me off motorcycles for two years. Nerve rejuvenation is a b… Pain in the neck. During all of this, my good friend in high school, Wyatt Vandergeest, was trading hospital visits with me. If I wasn’t in a cast, he was. Poor kid got jinxed by me.
When I turned 18 a year and a half later, I was back at it again. This time, proper training allowed me to bounce up a little better when a crash would happen. It is not if you will crash, it is a when. At 20 years old, I found with a few of my friends had taken the transmission out of a Power Wheels 6-volt battery operated child’s toy, using duct tape on the front wheels for traction during corners, finding a steep hill with good curves, throwing on a proper helmet, and shoes with plenty of stopping power equals a great time. That is of course until you spin out around a corner and find a parked car’s front bumper with your lower back. Three crack transverse processes on my L1-L3. Say hello to back problems starting at age 20. Now after this, the next few years are relatively easy on injuries: proper training and weight gain were essential to keeping me healthy through my motocross career. A couple of separated shoulders happened, but nothing that required substantial recovery time- a week or two.
Then the shoulder blow up happened. 2010, I was screwing around on a buddy’s bike, a few years after I gave up hope of becoming a professional motocrosser. Twenty-six years old and now a collapsed lung from a rib or two piercing it, along with a broken clavicle, glenoid cavity (scapula through your shoulder socket), and small fractures in my humerus, that is just now starting to get a chuckle out of me, humerus HA! That was an expensive stay in the ICU. At least I know some anatomy. Learned it the hard way so you can say I learned something.
As the list is coming to an end, with what currently got me to write such a lengthy thing, my current injury that I am recovering from is yet another broken spine. The L2 even, this time things got a little more carried away. I now have a titanium cage surrounding the L2 with a titanium bar bolted up from L1-L3. My legs are fully functional and a full recovery is expected. But boy howdy have the “lesson learned” questions been coming at me again.
For a minute, picture a beautiful painting- the piece you pick is up to you. As you picture it, you can see the brush strokes in such detail that you start to feel an emotion, an emotion the artist intended for you to feel. It may be sad, happy, angry, but the emotion is now overwhelming you. This painter has done his or her job. They were able to portray their emotions in their brush strokes. The way a composer gets a symphony of instruments to sing his masterpiece. The way I ride my bikes.
Bicycles and motorcycles both work, but the more aggressive bicycles and motocross bikes seem to work best. I use these to paint my canvas, to sing my song. Whatever I am feeling will have a direct effect on what happens on the bike. The feelings are not limited to that of total escape, flying, aggression, joy, and worship. I know the last part may seem odd to some, but yes I use my riding to worship my God. It’s a talent He gave me, why wouldn’t I worship Him with it?
Worship: man that can be a really neat thing for us as humans to do. Especially as we come as broken as we are, in my case mentally and physically! Jesus is now allowing me to use my story of brokenness to a whole new level.
I can share my experiences of different injuries and rehabilitation of those injuries with others that are going through similar situations. For those that have had any experience with pain pills, or any opiate or opioid, man, you know the struggle and the demons that come with those. I can help, or at least talk over with anyone who wants to know that they aren’t alone. I’m not saying my injuries were God’s plans, but there is a way for me to use them with God’s plan for me.
Finally as I come to a close, I would like you to know that as I look at my scars, bumps, and bruises that line my body I see life, not pain. Shoot, some of them make me keel over and laugh. By no means am I the most beat up piece of equipment either. Maybe more than most, but it could be much worse. To put this into a parable most may understand: in the game of life I stepped up to the plate, I swung, I connected and that thing is outta here! Sure, I may have swung at some I’ll advised pitches.
Now for my next at bat, I will be backing off a bit. However, it is not for myself, it is time for some RBI action. I am pleased to announce that I have a baby boy, Levi, coming into this world shortly. It is for him I will let the throttle off a little, at least for a hot minute. I was not able to pass my father until I was 16, let’s see if I can last longer. I have been asked about how I would feel if Levi wanted to do what I do. I would support him every step of the way like my family has done for me. He will have to train a little more than I did in my teens for injury prevention, of course. If this happens to be the case, wrinkles, gray hair and tears in the waiting room of a hospital are all in my future. But most of all, the love and support that my parents gave to me, are which I hope to give to him tenfold.