For more than 25 years, Larry Melnik, a.k.a. Crazylarry, has called the community of Banff home and now, after suffering serious injuries from a bike crash, he says the mountain town is truly his family.
Last Friday (July 25) evening, Crazylarry was biking west towards Banff on the Trans-Canada Highway near the East Park Gates when a gust of wind hit his trailer.
“I went into a little bit of an uncontrolled wobble from the wind that blew by,” he said on Monday (July 28) from Foothills Hospital in Calgary. “When you have a trailer and the wind blows against it spontaneously that can cause your trailer to want to swing your bike, which in turn causes you to try and counteract the swing.
“The reason why I think it went uncontrollable is the bike is a race bike so it has carbon fibre back stays that go to the back axle … and so I started to wobble and when I hit a frost heave crack in the road, that is when I flipped the bike.”
The injuries he suffered were serious, but non-life threatening. Cracked ribs, punctured lung, a gash on his forehead and significant skull fractures along with bruises and scrapes sent him from Canmore Hospital to Calgary via STARS air ambulance.
The news of his accident spread quickly in the Bow Valley, with residents of Canmore and Banff flocking to a gofundme.com account set up to help with his recovery to offer thoughts, prayers and donations.
Lisa Rosvold set up the account and said it was because of how much Crazylarry means to her children and all children in the Bow Valley. The 54-year-old is best known for his exuberance at special events and making balloons for the young and young at heart.
“As you know, everyone loves Crazylarry,” Rosvold said. “My kids are in love with him and every other kid I know in the Bow Valley is always flocking to him when he is out and about.”
She said after hearing about his injuries she thought the gofundme account was a good opportunity to try and help him out and get him back on his feet, as it would be tough to work after such a traumatic event.
“He means so much to so many different people,” Rosvold said. “I think he is a source of inspiration to really look for the things in your life that make you happy.”
As of press time, 390 people have donated a total of $19,075 for his recovery. The site was also shared 2,500 times on Facebook and Twitter. The numbers floored Crazylarry as an outpouring of love from his family – the community.
“That is unbelievable – does that ever warm my heart up,” he said, his voice full of emotion. “It just warms my heart an enormous amount.
“It lifts you to give you confidence to get well and hurry up and train for the Tour Divide and maybe I will have a chance with my dream.”
The Tour Divide is his dream, he said, and he hoped to finish the grueling and longest off-road mountain bike race in the world. At 2,745 miles or 4,417 kilometres in length, Crazylarry said it is his goal to set the world record on the course.
That will have to come after his recovery from this accident. He said he expects to make a full recovery, but it will take time and right now he is taking it one day at a time.
With donations pouring in for him, he said something for sure he will purchase is two glow in the dark helmets.
“I only had one, but I am going to get two to make sure if I lose one, misplace it or whatever, that I always have an extra helmet,” he said, acknowledging he was not wearing a helmet at the time of his accident.
The rest of the money, he said, will help him pay rent and buy healthy food for his recovery along with the physiotherapy and rehabilitation he will have to undergo.
“I never had the backing, or the confidence, or encouragement from any family – they just never cared and when I see people like this caring, it gives me the family feel in a real sense that I know what I need to do. I need to get well really quick and go back and tie some more balloons for the valley,” he said.
