Gary McCoy: What drives road racer after second big crash in 13 months?

When Gary McCoy slid off his bike at the Isle of Man TT in June, he had two seconds to process what was about to happen.

“‘Oh no, not again’ I knew what was coming,” he recalled.

The Northern Ireland road racer ended up in hospital with five broken vertebrae in his back, one of which was crushed, and a broken shoulder blade.

Just 13 months earlier, McCoy had another big crash at the North West 200 which left him with serious injuries.

On that occasion, a following rider crashed into McCoy from behind approaching Mill Road roundabout and he was left with a bleed in the brain, a punctured lung and 22 broken bones.

Yet, despite an extensive list of injuries from the two accidents, McCoy plans to get back on the bike and hit the roads again next year.

Speaking to the BBC Bikes podcast, McCoy says he was in “disbelief” after his accident at the Isle of Man TT, and says he was “very, very lucky”, but the thought of competing again is not only driving on his recovery, but also his drive to get back to work.

“Whenever you want something bad enough you sort of look by it all, and it keeps you going forward,” he said.

“But motorbikes is driving me on, motorbikes is driving me on to get fitter and get better, get back to work, get back to racing.

“If you didn’t know motorbikes, you would have no drive. I don’t think so. I don’t think so. It’s driving me on at the minute and long may it last.”