Travis Pastrana has grim memories of failed trick

Ask motocross and rally racing veteran Travis Pastrana, 26, about the craziest thing he has done and he won’t hesitate to answer.

At last summer’s X Games he attempted a two-full-rotations back flip on a 220-pound motorcycle.

“I lost a trick and went for it anyway,” Pastrana said of the jump, dubbed a rodeo 720. “I had it down [in practice] maybe one out of 10 times.”

With ample hype, Pastrana took off in the moto X best-trick competition but lost control of the bike during the jump and landed with a thud. He lay on the dirt for about 90 seconds and was soon surrounded by paramedics and his mother, Debbie, who jumped the barrier to check on him.

“Last year was hell,” Pastrana said of his last public try at the move.

On Wednesday, Pastrana dropped out of Friday’s X Games 16 moto X best-trick competition because of the threat of further injury, forgoing a chance at a record five events in the same X Games.

His trainer Todd Jacobs said they weren’t sure that Pastrana could land the jump cleanly.

“It was never coming around in a predictable fashion — too much of a crapshoot,” Jacobs said.

But Pastrana will compete in the X Games’ moto X freestyle and speed and style events, plus rally car racing and the superrally.

But it’s hard to ignore last summer’s fall. His rodeo 720 attempt resulted in damaged disks in his back, a badly bruised elbow and a swollen hip. Last winter he also suffered a broken collarbone and needed a third operation on his collarbone.

The crash and his injuries brought about a new level of delicacy to his training. Jacobs said he knew Pastrana could “go from five to no events” if he took a substantial hit in practice.

The collarbone injury also affected Pastrana’s upper body strength, which is vital to finishing the back flip trick.

Pastrana says he now can land the rodeo 720 on two of every three tries in practice, but he decided that wasn’t good enough for another attempt in competition.

“He felt obligated to try the trick” last year, Jacobs said. “But there’s a point where courage is no longer courage. Being close to him and caring about him, I thought it was kind of silly.”

Pastrana, a nine-time X Games gold medalist, said he was unwilling to compromise for the best-trick event.

“Best trick is about innovation for me,” Pastrana said. “I could do a simpler trick, take bronze and get a check. But that’s not what it’s about for me.”

Jacobs said he sees a newfound restraint in the rider. After all, months of training can go to waste if one movement goes awry after launching off a dirt ramp and trying to make a clean landing.

Injury is a risk for any rider, especially someone such as Pastrana, who has had 25 concussions and 23 surgeries on his wrists and knees during his career.

“This trick won’t define his life if he doesn’t do it,” Jacobs said. “His legacy is set.”

deantae.prince@latimes.com