Tara Llanes

I don't follow pro mountain biking, really, but I did know of Tara Lllanes, the beautiful young MTB racer. She was national champ in dual slalom and races BMX and other more extreme MTB events. She's also freakishly pretty. :rolleyes:

Anyway, I saw a Cyclingnews headline that said "Llanes injured" and went to the article. Turns out she crashed during the finals of some downhill event in Colorado and no longer has any feeling below the waist. That gave me chills just reading it.

I did some more digging around - coincidentally, on the Giant for Women site that RunningMonny pointed out yesterday, there was an article about here (she's a Giant athlete), which points you to her blog which gives a pretty frank description of what she's going through:

http://www.myspace.com/mtbtara

Her race page is here: http://www.tarallanesracing.com/results.htm

I think TE needs to be thinking really good thoughts for this woman. Really good thoughts.

I heard about this right after it happened, but I didn't know the details. Now I do. :(

Yes, this woman needs our very positive energy flowing her way!

Oy! That's awful! Sending amazing butterflies to keep her spirits high, to heal her battered body, to give her strength and calm, to hone the surgeons' and medical team's focus and precision, to make the long road to recovery seem shorter and filled with little joys and soul lifting wonder.

Hugs & butterflies to Tara,

~T~

So glad her partner and family are right there with her.

Wow thats awwful, ill for sure be praying for her and all her family...

Healthy, healing vibes out to Tara. What a terrible injury. She has a very long and tough road ahead.

She had her surgery yesterday and still no feeling below the waist. That cannot be good. I don't know what they expected, though, beyond stabilizing her spine.

I've been very sad about this, I have seen Tara race many times as she is my favorite! DH has a slight jealous streak about it. When I started jumping, I found inspiration in Tara's abilities and her strength. She's always gracious at races and I believe that strenght and commitment she has will be helpful in her recovery.

Will definitely be praying for her, for her doctors, for her family, and for her circle of support.

I will be praying for her and checking back to that website and the fund they are setting up.

Sarah, thanks for posting this.

Wow, just saw this post & hadn't heard. I took a private mtb lesson w/Tara back in May and she was great. Am so sorry to hear this and will be thinking of her and her family.

Thank you for posting this
I was unaware of her crash
Gives me the chills also
All positive energy sent her way must help, surely