In the resulting crash, he suffered a perforated bowel and partial paralysis on his left side, the result of a life-threatening brain bleed.
Today, he is still in recovery, in rehab and on light duties.
‘‘Trying to find a job when you still have ongoing rehab is very challenging, as it's certainly challenging times out there for everyone,’’ he says.
So rather than sitting at home in Kaiapoi, doing nothing, the former BMX and mountain bike enthusiast decided to turn his passion into a business — bicycle maintenance and repair.
‘‘My left side is a situation of use it or lose it, so starting this journey means light mechanical work is the perfect movement for keeping my left side going.
‘‘I can monitor myself and rest when required.’’
Being able to turn his lifelong passion into a business, and working from home while still being able to monitor his rehab, is the best of both worlds as far as he's concerned.
‘‘I do get tired, and this way I can watch out for the signs and remedy it,’’ he says.
Back on Track Canterbury, which opened four months ago, offers bicycle servicing and repairs from Rod’s garage.
‘‘It keeps me working, keeps me thinking and moving ahead.
‘‘I have always enjoyed working with bikes, as over the years, being a qualified technician, I’ve helped many riders and adventure racers with their machines.’’
‘Here I’m working on fixing bikes and also conducting one-on-one training for those riders wanting to learn how to maintain their bikes.’’
He says there are many young riders he knows of who are keen on learning how to keep their bikes going in top condition.
‘It’s sad to say that bike mechanics are slowly becoming a dying profession, despite the increased awareness of cycling due to the current fuel crisis.
‘‘I am ideally positioned to do that one-on-one training, as due to my ongoing rehab, I can be selective about how much work I take on each day, based on my health and how I am improving.
‘‘It’s been a long road. I spent a year applying for jobs but got nothing. Basically, your life’s on hold while your body recovers.
‘‘But I didn’t want to just sit around and do nothing.’’
Rod says creating Back on Track Canterbury is his way of moving forward, of engaging with the world and ‘‘creating a platform for me to help others, especially young people, which is something I want to do more of in the future’’.
‘‘They want to learn skills that will get them work, and this is what I can teach them while they help me recover.’’
