In mid-July, Tim Eby had to have half of his left pinky finger amputated following a crash at Hockenheim. His hope of being back in shape for the season opener of the IDM Superbike 1000 did not come true. Now he has his sights set on the IDM races at the Sachsenring on September 7–8, 2020. And he’s wondering how he’ll play the guitar from now on.
Modern medicine makes many things possible. Only half of his little finger remains, but doctors were able to graft skin from his arm onto his ring finger—which was also injured—to reconstruct it. At first, the 26-year-old from the EGS-Alpha-Van Zon-BMW team wasn’t allowed to move it, but now the skin needs to be stretched. Eby has even been riding motocross again since this week to stay in the running for the IDM. “At the Sachsenring, I want to ride the Superbike almost as fast as before,” he has set out to do.
The fact that he was forced to sit out the season opener in Assen did not sit well with the S 1000 RR rider from Blumberg, a state-recognized resort town. Nevertheless, he had traveled to Assen as a team member to support his teammates. That was very important to him. “Sure, my heart as a racer was breaking because I couldn’t get on the bike, but it was better than being at home.”
Now that his fingers are slowly healing, Eby is also thinking about another passion of his. He has discovered the joy of playing the guitar. The problem is this: the chords are played with the left hand, while the strings are plucked with the right. Eby may now have to switch sides and think as if he were left-handed. Apparently, playing the instrument this way—with the hands reversed—works just as well. The best examples: Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain.