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The Handlebars
However, when Clayton was eight, the family received some
devastating news. After complaining of neck pain, Clayton was
diagnosed with Os odontoideum, a condition that’s thought to
vertebrae in the neck is detached from the rest of the bone.
Clayton had to undergo surgery to fuse the bones together,
which meant he had to take a total of 10 months off from racing.
“Every single day he would get off the bus, run over to
the car and ask, ‘Am I allowed to race
His pants were too high, his bike frame was too small.”
Still, Clayton wasn’t at all discouraged, she said. In fact, that
year he ended up placing third in Florida in the nine-year-old
expert division.