Hell yeah man, awesome Friday afternoon read.
Keep on keeping on with the updates!
:yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock:
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Wow. Fricking amazing. Way to go man, that is some serious riding. Great video!
Way to be! Thanks for the update.
Thanks for all the updates, this thread is awesome in so many ways! Congrats on the progress so far.
This has to be the most inspirational thing I have seen this year. Well done! I am very happy for you!
So awesome to get to ride in park city with gnarwhale last week. He's got some room to grow on the walking side of things but looks damn comfortable shredding a bike! Felt just like me after my injury... fuck this slow ass walking shit, get me a Yeti! ;)
Yeah buddy! That's fucking awesome!
bump to the top for a self kick in the ass because none of us ever had any excuses.
Six days ago he rode the 101mi White Rim trail in 14 hours, three years from being medevaced. Rad!!!
Yeah. So fucking rad.
This is so cool. Very stoked for J
Can we get some pics commemorating this accomplishment?
Haha, thanks Tye, Elf and TBS. I was feeling pretty good about that. I'm flattered my recovery is still of interest :)
For years I was on this site a lot, like nearly every day. Just today I realized it'd been months since I've logged on and there's something pretty melancholy about it. If it was Dec 20, 2013 instead of 2017 I would be tweaking about the current lack of snow in the West. Instead I'm like "Meh, at least the local bike trails are still rideable for quick afternoon laps."
For a handful of years skiing was my source of income, my social scene, exercise, a way to feel euphoric presence in the moment, a way to process life's shit in my head, validation from peers, a way to just have fun and feel like a kid, my creative outlet, a way to scare myself silly, a way to measure personal growth... it checked a lot of boxes for me and this forum was a primary enabler of how it transformed my identity.
As huuuuge as my recovery has been, I dont think I'll ever have the athleticism or mobility I enjoyed before and it seems unlikely that skiing will ever hold the same importance im my life. That's okay, but I do hope that I can continue to find ways to fill the vacuum that skiing and this community occupied; 3 years post-accident and it still feels like there's some big pieces I'd like to sort out.
If nothing else, bikes are still really fun. And maybe it will get around to snowing, sooner or later, this year
Quote:
https://i.imgur.com/aWdgjkUl.jpg
Whoop! Yesterday I pedaled the 101mi White Rim 4x4 trail in just over 14hrs. 3 years ago yesterday I was a week out from being paralyzed and on an excruciating 20hr flight back to the States. This commute was about a million times more fun.
I suppose committing to this ride was an act of gratitude + defiance + finding my edges. Gratitude for my recovery, defiance of the odds against ever being able to do something like this after spine injury, and the giddy/anxious feeling of taking on a mission that you don't know if you can finish.
I pedaled solo, carrying all my water, food, and emergency gear. I'm glad I wasn't counting on mooching a water refill from a jeep because not a single truck or other cyclist was on the route. It felt so alive to have that wide, wild landscape to myself!
I started riding counter clockwise from the bottom of Schaffer to get the longest climb out of the way first. After dropping down Mineral Bottom to the Green River about 30 miles in, the road turned to deep moon dust the consistency of talcum powder. It mostly disappeared after Hardscrabble Hill but it's been such a dry fall that jeeps have churned up the road into loose drifts anyplace it gets really steep. Id planned to ride the loop the other direction and was thankful for @drewtookapicture 's advice to not save those difficult dust pits for the very end. I would've ended up face down in them if I had
I was crawling into the pain cave the last 15 miles. Everything ached, my legs were noodles, and I started having trouble keeping my right foot on the pedal. When I'd try to stand my legs would give out. But my head was in a good spot, motivated and clear. This ride is so much more sustained effort than anything I've done since my accident that I wasn't totally sure how my body would hold up. I carried a bivy and warm clothes just in case, but they never got unpacked. When people talk about doing something "off the couch" I think this is what they mean.
Now, time for birthday cake
I guess your home, the sticky is gone. congratulations
Keep on inspiring!!!
FKNA - Inspiration. Way to go!
Good stuff! Shredding! Between following you and PaulB it’s both inspired and put my daily maintenance in perspective. I figure it could be worse and it can improve and it’ll be fun along the way. Amazing accomplishment man. Happy trails
Made a little video to try and articulate self-talk psychology and TGR posted it on their blog. Cant figure out the bb code to embed from TGR or FB, so here's links to TGR's post and to FB with my perspective
What an update! DOOOOOOOOD
Holy shit
"With a cabinet full of mushrooms"
Certainly interesting
FKNA