could have been the last time riding a bike and I had doctors in America telling me that Ill never ride or race a motorcycle ever agai

In 2013, long before he made history, Australian motor racing champion Toby Price was battling the physical pain of three broken vertebrae in his neck and the emotional hammer blow of being told by doctors that he would never ride or motorcycle again after an horrific accident while racing in America.Less than three years later, he became the first non-European to win the prestigious Dakar Rally, an event Price describes as 14 days of self-inflicted pain and torture.Such a dramatic turnaround paints a picture of Prices resilience, passion and drive -- attributes that have combined to produce one of Australias most talented and unsung sporting heroes.Growing up in a motor-mad family in country New South Wales, it was only natural that Price began learning his trade at the tender age of two. By four he was winning races and the idea of a career in motorsport had turned from dream to reality.From a really young age I always looked up to Mick Doohan, so I had ambitions to go down the MotoGP route, Price tells ESPN. I loved the way Mick approached everything; hes an Aussie that had the world against him and he just wanted to prove everyone wrong and go out there and race.Being an Aussie myself, I really wanted to emulate him; but I started to grow too tall and too heavy and couldnt quite go in that direction, so thats when I decided to switch to off-road racing.While his fall-back option has paid enormous dividends, it has been far from plain sailing. Tragedy struck the Price family in 2011, when his disabled sister, Minnie, passed away at age 29 from a brain haemorrhage. The event rocked Price enormously.When we lost her, it hit him harder than anybody, their father, John, told the Daily Telegraph. They got on like a house on fire. Always laughing, always being cheeky with each other. He takes her along for the ride now, as his guardian angel.And then, of course, there have been the injuries.Price has been battered and bruised in his fearless pursuit of becoming the worlds best off-road racer, and with 27 broken bones he has experienced unthinkable levels of pain and terror.Hardly a day passes when the 29-year-old isnt on a motorcycle, but in April 2013 he appeared to have run out of luck.I thought it was all over, Price tells ESPN.Racing at the AMA Hare and Hound National Championships in Lucerne Valley, California, Price crashed and broke three vertebrae in his neck. Amazingly he avoided becoming a paraplegic, but he was forced to spend six months in rehabilitation.It definitely was a tough time because you know that not a lot of people bounce back from something like that. It hit me that it could have been the last time riding a bike and I had doctors in America telling me that Ill never ride or race a motorcycle ever again.Even through it all I still always had those ambitions of being one of the best riders on two wheels in the world, so I put my head down and worked hard to get back.But the risks pale into insignificance when weighing up the rewards, particularly those that come from the monumental Dakar Rally.Forget the Bathurst 1000, the Indianapolis 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix; this gruelling two-week motor race has rightly been labelled the toughest in the world. For Price, its the Holy Grail.The race sees almost 400 competitors from all over the globe congregating in South America for a hellish 9000 kilometre off-road journey. Riders and drivers must trek through multiple countries on gravel, sand and dirt while battling extreme heat if theyre to avoid being among the 40 percent of annual non-finishers.The first few days are pretty exciting, Price says. The event is pumping and everything is going in the right direction. But by the middle of the first week you go into shutdown mode and turn into a bit of a robot.Youre getting four, maybe five, hours of sleep a night and then youre back up trying to cover 500-1000km in a day. The amount of strain and stress and fatigue it puts on the body, theres no way to describe it. I lose around eight kilos in 14 days of racing, and Im not being shy on eating, either. That just shows how much of a strain it is on the body.In January this year, Price became the first non-European to win the prestigious event in any category; amazingly, it was just his second time competing.Now, approaching 30, Price continues to live his life -- and share with others -- one simple, yet resilient motto: Never give up.He hopes to inform others battling through adversity that dreams can still be achieved.The best lesson Ive ever learnt was to never give up. Hopefully my story kind of shows everyone that nothing is impossible and if you want things bad enough and youre willing to put the hard work and effort in, then you can achieve those things, he says.Toby Prices documentary Paying the Price premieres on Red Bull TV in December. Nike Air Max Plus Canada Sale . SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. Nike Air Max Zero Canada . 1, meaning problems for the doping controls at both major international sports events next year. The World Anti-Doping Agency provisionally suspended the Moscow Antidoping Center on Sunday, saying its operations must improve or a six-month ban on the facilitys accreditation will be imposed. http://www.clearanceairmaxcanada.com/air-max-tn-canada-sale.html .J. -- Josh Cribbs was in the Pro Bowl in February and out of a job six months later. Air Max 1 Sale Canada . LOUIS -- Cardinals cleanup hitter Allen Craig says hes recovered from a foot injury and ready to be put on St. Nike Air Max Uptempo Canada .C. -- Kemba Walker and the Charlotte Bobcats got off to a fast start, and the Sacramento Kings were never quite able to catch up. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday that the league is looking at limiting the use of relief pitchers in games.Manfred was a guest on ESPNs Mike & Mike, where he was presented nine suggestions from fans for improving baseball. One suggestion was a restriction on relief pitching in an inning or game.I am in favor of something like that, Manfred said. Weve spent a ton of time on this issue in the last few months.You know the problem with relief pitchers is that theyre so good. Ive got nothing against relief pitchers, but they do two things to the game: The pitching changes themselves slow the game down, and our relief pitchers have become so dominant at the back end that they actually rob action out of the end of the game, the last few innings of the game. So relief pitchers is a topic that is under active consideration. Were talking about that a lot internally.This year, the average time of a game is 3 hours, 4 minutes. By comparison, in 2005 games averaged 2 hours, 49 minutes.In mid-May, Manfred said he was unhappy with the pace of games, which at the time was 3 hours and 26 seconds. HHe said then that MLB would look at creative ways to improve both time and pace of games.ddddddddddddRed Sox manager John Farrell said Thursday he isnt keen on any bullpen limitations.?Fundamentally, when you begin to restrict things, rather than being able to use your roster at your disposal, that begins to artificially control the game, Farrell said. I understand the need to keep the pace of the game going. Without knowing what options would exist and what are the alternatives being considered, thats my first gut reaction.In the moment [as a manager], Im not worried about the pace of the game. As a person who works in the game, sure, were always looking for ways to make it more attractive to fans, to grow our fan base, to attract young fans. We are all aware of that challenge. Were all open to ways to grow that. But in the seventh inning in a bases-loaded situation, Im not thinking about pace of games.?Information from ESPNs Scott Lauber was used in this report. ' ' '