Latest / Adventure Sports Podcast / Ep. 1183: Overcoming Adversity and Rebuilding a Life with Ian Mackay

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Ep. 1183: Overcoming Adversity and Rebuilding a Life with Ian Mackay · Adventure Sports Podcast

• 0:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're listening to the Adventure Sports podcast.
• 0:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: We talk with adventurers from around the globe to bring you the inspiration and motivation you need to get started in the outdoors or to keep you moving if you're already there.
• 0:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now here's your host, Kurt Lindville.
• 0:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: Hello, hello, happy Monday.
• 0:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: Today's show is amazing.
• 0:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: The guest is Ian McCuy, and I call him Ian McCuy.
• 0:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: His name is spelled Macy K-A-Y, but it is McCuy, not McCuy.
• 0:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: My dad's R-E-N, but Ian really helps us to understand the healing power of connecting with nature, the incredible importance of community, and how to live a life a fulfilling powerful life.
• 0:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: by overcoming adversity in is one of those truly beautiful human beings who stands out as an example to the rest of us about how to live a powerfully good life no matter what in thank you so much for sharing with us and also thank you for the invitation to be a part of what you have going on so
• 1:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: Hello friends, welcome to the Adventure Sports podcast.
• 1:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: Today, I have Ian McKay with us, and Ian was paralyzed from the neck down as a young man.
• 1:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: He has been leading the charge to help people get back out into the outdoors even with the disabilities that they can be facing.
• 1:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: and Ian is facing some challenging ones and he's here to recount his story.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: He has a book that was co-written with Karen Polinski and the name of the book is Ian's ride.
• 1:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: A long distance journey to joy.
• 1:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: This is going to be a great episode.
• 2:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: Ian, welcome to the program.
• 2:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, thanks, Curtis.
• 2:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Really glad to be here.
• 2:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: So Ian, where are you first of all right now?
• 2:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: Where are we talking?
• 2:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I'm in Port Angeles, Washington, so that's up on the Olympic Peninsula pretty much as far.
• 2:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: A Northwest as you can get in the continental U.S.
• 2:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: I did drive through there once, a ferry dropped me off from Victoria.
• 2:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, so I went through your town one time years ago.
• 2:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: Years ago, that's a very special place on Earth.
• 2:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: It is a really cool spot, and what's really wonderful about it is, you know, the Olympic mountains provide this great rain shadow, so that we're
• 2:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: The total rainfall similar to Santa Barbara, California here in Washington and said, well, I have some very dry dry days, so that the beauty of Washington.
• 2:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, in the Olympic Peninsula is known for being one of the wetest places in the United States.
• 2:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: And you're saying you actually have good weather anyway.
• 2:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: We do, right?
• 2:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: So you got out in Forks, you got the way West End, Forks from the twilight, the twilight.
• 2:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right.
• 3:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, that's not super wet.
• 3:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, they measure my feet rather than my inches, but you know, just on the east side of this living mountains, you do, you get this nice little rain shadow.
• 3:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's, yeah, we're fortunate to have it.
• 3:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: uh... man i got to say cuz i'm not going to post video and i'm just doing audio right now so our listeners can't see your beautiful dreadlocks man they are awesome yeah twenty two years i've had them now i think they're six feet and four inches long
• 3:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: I got to get a tuck on under my, under my bladder end of running them over in the chair.
• 3:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: Dude.
• 3:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's a silly problem to have.
• 3:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: But hey, he's doing warm up here.
• 3:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, they're, they look so good.
• 3:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: I just think it's, it's really, really fun.
• 3:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: So tell us your story.
• 3:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: I already alluded to it me into a little bit.
• 3:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was 26, Curtis, I was 26 when, when it happened.
• 3:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was going to,
• 3:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's a college at UC Santa Cruz and kind of my background I was studying a lot of biology.
• 4:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: My goal was to kind of teach at the community college level and take people out maybe on field biology trips and you know teach them about nature and natural history and just all the, I don't know, wonders of the outdoors.
• 4:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was a place that really lit me up and I love to be in that space and wanted to take others out there too.
• 4:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, I was going to college at UC Santa Cruz and it was June 4th in 2008 and I was riding my bike home from school.
• 4:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: UC Santa Cruz is up on his hill and there's this awesome bike path that comes down right into the town of Santa Cruz and as you're going down this hill, this bike path you're looking out into the Monterey Bay which is just just beautiful but
• 4:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Every day I go down to see me try to go like a little bit faster each each day and so That day I was going I think 38 miles per hour.
• 5:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: I hit some sand in the path went head first into a tree And yeah, and broke my neck.
• 5:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't really losing conscious.
• 5:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: I remember looking at
• 5:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think the bow is of the tree and, you know, realizing I couldn't move and I couldn't, I could, anything below my shoulders and I couldn't feel really anything below my, my shoulders and so there was a girl walking up the path and I said, hey, you know, call an ambulance and she, she got them help and they arrived and then he took me to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center by
• 5:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: life flight and I spent the next kind of three months there, learning how to live as a paralyzed man.
• 5:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's interesting what they do because what happens often was the spinal cord injury is the initial impact.
• 5:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's at one level, and your ability is determined by that level, but the swelling often can make it keep going up, right?
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: So boy.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: So what was happening for me was this around the C2, C3 vertebrae, and this work out at the crack where the broken vertebrae was.
• 6:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I get there and they say, okay, can you feel this?
• 6:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, they're taking a safety pin and they're actually poking me in the chest.
• 6:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they're starting kind of down with my belly button
• 6:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when I say yes, then they take a sharpie and they make a line right there on my chest.
• 6:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I am, you know, when I wait another hour, they come in and they do it again.
• 6:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they keep doing this and not lying, just keep it thing up.
• 6:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so that means they really have to get into a do surgery and stabilize things.
• 6:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so, they did.
• 6:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: It turned out the swelling brought it up to where I was requiring a ventilator.
• 6:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, Curtis, I mean, you know, you're sitting there, you're 26 years old, you're in college, you're thinking about all these plants, all these, all this future that you imagine, you picture yourself, anything and well, how the hell am I going to do any of that, if I can't move or feel or what can I do if I'm paralyzed from the neck down.
• 7:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, there's all these realizations that are coming in, but you're also just trying to
• 7:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: figure out this new body and this new life and navigating this hospital, these nurses, these therapists, so very fortunate to have both my parents going to drop everything and be there for me and kind of guide me through this devastating time, who knew what the future would hold.
• 7:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, I can no longer live with my roommates at college, as event-dependent high-quad, and so my parents were just moving up to Port Angeles, Washington, and so I am
• 7:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: went with their with them and yeah and so I've been living here since 2008 and yeah this first few years they were they were just depressing you know I mean I'd left this really active life where I was you know right in my bike all the time and I was going out into the woods I was you know mushroom hunting or was you know just doing new projects for for school out in the woods and
• 8:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: I know it's just where I kind of found my joy and my solace and I felt like that had been really taken from me.
• 8:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Instead of studying in front of the television watching a lot of Andy Griffiths show and I knew Lucy, you know, they're great, great television, but you know, it's not a life.
• 8:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so, I think with finally, first, I mean, I'm super fortunate of this great friend and family and this community around me and they, those friends just kept coming up from college and flying up to Port Angeles and, you know, they would
• 8:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: trying to lift me up and eventually I got like a bird feeder that we were able to stick on the window and you know starting to be able to see the birds and learn into birds of this new area and you know it's trying to get me a little more interested maybe I could have some more of the life outdoors and after about a year after I was injured I was able to get off that ventilator which was a which was a really big thing and and eventually I started kind of
• 9:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: going outside a little bit with at least with a caregiver with a family member and getting to explore I live only a third of the mile from the Olympic discovery trail and it's a trail that is part of the great American rail trail that connects the Pacific Ocean with Washington DC and so I started to go out there a little bit but I couldn't really explore because I was always stuck with a caregiver or a family member right and I've
• 9:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Eventually I met another high-quad.
• 9:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: His name was Todd.
• 9:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was Todd's double-felties.
• 9:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was affectionately known as the Quadfather, and he was also living this really independent life.
• 9:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was living on Bainbridge Island and taking a ferry to Seattle every day and working in the tech space, and he was
• 10:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was doing it all on his own and he was happy and he had a home and a relationship all of the cinema and what the hell am I doing just in the middle of the year and kind of wallowing and he was he was really living and he was really really interested at that time about getting a phone getting some way to use mobile technology hands free because it wasn't really available at that time and so he
• 10:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: We found out it was probably 2011 or so, 2010 that iOS 7, Apple's iOS 7 had just released this new feature called Switch Control, which allowed you to interact with a phone, hand free with just some switches, and it turns out that I could kind of use this, and I could start going out, and using a phone reliably in doing these kind of longer rides on this trail,
• 10:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm be able to just to call for help and I, you know, I had trouble breathing.
• 10:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I, I, I did regain the ability to breathe, but I didn't regain the ability to cough.
• 11:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've been rambling on here, Curtis.
• 11:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've been rambling on here, Curtis.
• 11:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've been rambling on here, Curtis.
• 11:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: No, you're doing it.
• 11:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: You're doing it great.
• 11:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm loving this progression.
• 11:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, just let me recap a little bit.
• 11:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: you're getting your life back in small steps, but in ways that must have felt huge to you.
• 11:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, as it was, I mean, yeah, and just being out there and starting to see on the planet, because they know it's less and how they were different, then the Central California, Fauna and Flora, right?
• 11:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it was, it was cool.
• 11:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was, I was certain they kind of experienced things that I had loved before my injury, and I kind of thought that we're lost.
• 11:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: But once I had this phone and was able to start pushing my limit, I was able to see how far this wheelchair battery would let me go.
• 11:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, and so then I'm doing you know, 15, 20, 30 miles a day out on this trail.
• 11:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, seeing him putting 5,000 miles a year on this trail.
• 12:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I decided that one thing I really kind of got involved in right before my injury was bike touring.
• 12:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: really loved writing his bike kind of across states and he I got to be the road crew I drove a Volkswagen Westphalia and you know camper van and I would kind of deliver the beer to the campsite every day and we get to talk but I never got to kind of be on the road with them on a bike and so some I really wanted to do and I said well hey maybe I kind of relive that experience and just do it in my chair.
• 12:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I called up this professor that can introduce me to bike touring, is it, hey, I want to do a bike tour, it's a wheelchair tour and I'm going to design it, we're going to leave some port ends, we're going to take that ferry up to Victoria there you go, yeah, you did and then take another ferry over to Annacordus on the mainland and then they could all of it on the Portland we did that in 2016 and it was 10 days that the beauty of my design of that ride was that every at the end of each day are out finished at a brewery.
• 13:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: where we got to you know kickback can kind of talk about the day, but but so many other wheelchair users kind of were joining me and you know they were fascinated with what I was doing and they kind of wanted to be part of it and then you know media got involved and what I'm doing is out there writing you know my chair with my friends drinking beer at the end of the day and you know just become this bigger thing where
• 13:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, we're kind of demonstrating what's possible and we're being come more of advocates and we're talking, you know, to mayor is all of this sudden along the way.
• 13:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: We've got them in a brewery, but Mayor of Tuckwellen and, you know, various people in the state congress, at the end of the ride, I was invited down to Olympia to the capital and to meet our governor and talk to him about the importance of... Nice.
• 13:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, developing trails that are, you know, connect communities and allow people to enjoy this about direct reaction generally on bikes, but hey, I can use that same infrastructure to have a lot of fun in the chair.
• 14:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, but since then, I've done a lot of great things that've written across Washington, North of South, and it used to last, I've done Northern California.
• 14:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: I rode from Washington, DC to Columbus, Ohio in 2022.
• 14:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: I did Missouri on the KD Trail.
• 14:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: I even got a Guinness World record in 2022 for the furthest systems traveled in 24 hours in a mouth controlled power wheelchair.
• 14:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I did 184 miles in 24 hours in 24 hours.
• 14:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: Wow, that's pretty good range.
• 14:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was absolutely miserable, but yes, it was impressive.
• 14:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, showing what was, what was possible.
• 14:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was a lot of fun.
• 14:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: I love the way your opening doors for people who probably didn't know that it was possible, but you're showing that it is.
• 14:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, yeah, and I think we're often so only limited by our imagination.
• 15:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if you kind of develop a great community around you and you put the effort and energy
• 15:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: then go after it, go do it, why not go live and don't let something like a, you know, simple spinal cord injury being paralyzed with a neck down, you'll sleep and life is short.
• 15:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, what did it feel like recall for us the first day that you went outside and you were actually out in nature and you're seeing the beautiful, you know, the beautiful vegetation and stuff that you have on the Olympic Peninsula, it's like, whoa, what was that like?
• 15:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 15:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: to be completely honest, the first couple of times just going out in the yard, it was bumpy, it wasn't comfortable, it didn't really feel that great, and you know, I didn't understand how I was going to be able to be out there.
• 15:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: But when I finally first went out on the trail in a smooth section where I was able to be immersed in nature and the outdoors, and it was as long a river, it was the more
• 16:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, you're going through there and there's, you know, these mossy trails and there's ferns and there's just, there's just, you know, squirrels running back and back and forth.
• 16:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: You have deer all over the place and, you know, I'm just sitting there and I was literally here the water kind of flowing by and, I don't know, it didn't brought me back and it made me realize that, um,
• 16:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, that world that experience was lost to me.
• 16:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was just, I needed to kind of go out in a different way.
• 16:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: I needed to experience it in a slightly different way, but it was still there.
• 16:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it has been hard in some ways, you know, and studying, you know, when I was doing plant biology and touch your, your out there and your.
• 16:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, you're feeling things, you're feeling your textures of plants, you're smelling, you're crushing a leaf.
• 16:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, and it's of those things aren't quite as available unless I'm going to be, I'm instructing someone to do them for me.
• 17:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I don't know, but I think you can just have to change the way you look at it and how you interact with the world.
• 17:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: well good on you for doing it.
• 17:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know, so I'm so glad that you started getting out and connecting with nature and then you started doing these extended rides and all that kind of stuff.
• 17:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, that's that's exciting enough, but you're also kind of leading the charge by example.
• 17:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: You're showing other people what can be done.
• 17:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and so after that big 2016 ride, we started an on-profit, Ian's ride.
• 17:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: We've done some really cool stuff.
• 17:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can check it out at einsride.com, but we now offer G's, what, six, seven rides a year for the community.
• 17:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: We've done it with full support, and so we have people able-bodied folks on bikes out there ready to push chairs, if we're in a battery, or just run out of energy, and we have
• 17:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm shuttles and ramp vans ready to pick wheelchairs up, you know, wherever they may they may need that support and our flagship one is called Sea to Sound and it's a three-day adventure along the entire length of the Olympic Discovery Trail about 75 miles, about 20-25 miles a day and yeah, it's really special to kind of, well,
• 18:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: I always say I do it kind of selfishly because I'm always out there alone.
• 18:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Otherwise, it's nice to everyone in my community out, but I don't even see people kind of light up and realize what they can do and that they can still experience these things.
• 18:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's events like these that when they're fully supported, they're eager to push their limits and see what happened, if they weren't out of battery, they weren't out of battery.
• 18:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, get you to it.
• 18:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: get you to a car, at least know what you can do, and that's a port often, you can't say, okay, I don't want to run out of battery, and I might only go a third of what I can do just because I'm nervous, I don't wanna be stuck here.
• 19:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's totally understandable, but it's a really cool thing.
• 19:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: We do eight stations, every five miles, and at those points, we do have bailout points for chair users, we bring a bunch of the community on bikes out there, because I think it's just important
• 19:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: to involve, you know, the general community with the disabled folks and, you know, kind of normalizes it all and, you know, it's really helpful to have them either help push a chair up a hill or to, I don't know, pick up a cell phone when it drops on the ground.
• 19:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just to help them.
• 19:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: It makes me feel good, right?
• 19:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think we all want to feel needed and it's nice when we can't help and allow someone to have an experience, it'll be memorable and life changing in some ways.
• 19:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: A really neat thing we do is I invite dignitaries with what I call them out to spend five miles in a power wheelchair.
• 19:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just going to have that experience until I've had congressmen from Washington State and all the mayors and the county commissioners.
• 20:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: We also this past year had the COO of in the care, flew out from Ohio and in the care
• 20:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And for them to kind of see how their product is allowing people to go to live a full adventurous life and how they need to be able to provide equipment.
• 20:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: So people can enjoy this and not be limited by their equipment.
• 20:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that's been powerful and to have a little bit of influence in the world of manufacturing power wheelchairs and ensuring that they are, you know,
• 20:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: making wheelchairs for lifestyles and not insurance companies, and it's just being thoughtful about how their equipment is what can be a limit to our ability to adventure.
• 20:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, that was one of the questions I was going to ask.
• 20:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: Is do you need a specialized chair to do these trail rides?
• 21:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the mine is standard.
• 21:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Do you insurance will cover it right
• 21:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, one thing I've done is develop a battery at the, you know, last minute, standard battery of hospitals probably got 12 miles and I can probably get 90 and 90 miles of the big lithium battery and, you know, and luckily talking to these companies, you know, this, in the next iteration of chairs, they are going to be offering these lithium batteries, they're, I'm going to aluminum frames rather than steel frames to kind of offer more range of the weight, you know, the weight decreases and
• 21:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, just great that they're now, you know, considering these things and kind of designing equipment that enables us rather than what about the suspension on the chair.
• 21:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: Do they have to do something to make it a little bit better in the bumps?
• 21:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 21:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I think some things you just got to suck it up could have said.
• 21:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, I've only seen so decent.
• 21:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've never seen any great great suspension on the power wheel chairs, but, you know, I...
• 22:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's good for the body when you can't go out running around this good to be bounced around out there on the dirt trails.
• 22:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know, I met a man at Outdoor Retailer actually and he was on a chair.
• 22:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'll try to describe it and maybe you can tell us what it is or more about it.
• 22:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: But it set taller.
• 22:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: And so when I was walking, we were talking face to face because a chair was tall.
• 22:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: And it had some sort of a gyroscope that kept it upright.
• 22:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I was asking him about it and he said he really liked it because it gave him a little bit more versatility And it could also go up and down steps and I asked him about that and he goes, oh, it'll do it But I'm terrified because I do not like that part.
• 22:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: So Yeah, I don't know what that was.
• 22:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, so Now, what is that called?
• 22:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's called the Ibot.
• 22:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's like I think I have one of the first iterations But they're kind of neat the stair climbing chairs
• 22:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm with the guy though, I'm not sure.
• 23:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've, I've, uh, gravity's, gravity's had its work on me once, once enough, and I'm not sure I need to, need to mess with that anymore.
• 23:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: But the elevate thing you're talking about is being kind of eye level, almost all chairs now have that, and it's, uh, it's a handy thing, just for dignity and other thing, just sitting in a bar, all right.
• 23:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's nice to be able to elevate up so that you're, yeah, normal, normal height, and there's
• 23:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: So many other instances were just nice to be able to change your height.
• 23:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'd have to do gotten big cherries on my tree and be able to elevate right up to the level and you know.
• 23:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: Nice.
• 23:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, how high can you get?
• 23:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so I can get not quite to six foot but I can get five ten or so.
• 23:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: Right on.
• 23:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's awesome.
• 23:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: So Ian, what do I drive much of that height?
• 23:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: I can't get up there.
• 23:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: Nice.
• 23:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: When you first started going on your solo trail rides, how scary was it?
• 23:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and so you are here.
• 24:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're kind of relying on this device, you're relying on this piece of equipment, this technology, and you put a lot of faith in it.
• 24:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it was really scary.
• 24:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Fortunately, you know, I mentioned that friend, the Quadfather Todd, he, after we found this new feature on iPhones that a lot of us to use switch control, we made a video kind of showing what it allowed us to do and how it opened up the world to us.
• 24:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we kind of shared that with the world Apple actually saw that and Apple invited us down and to Cupertino where we kind of got to consult with them and really discuss what was working great and what wasn't working so.
• 24:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: So great, and that kind of developed this relationship, and I've been consulting, well, the non-profit is been consulting with Apple for 10 years now.
• 24:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so being able to have the ear to the company that's kind of providing you this is independent and it has been pretty crucial for me, because if I do have any problems that come up in their consistent, I can quickly reach out to them and say, okay, guys, we have to take care of this.
• 25:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is a danger for me, and they're very receptive in me.
• 25:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's been a really cool relationship and so yeah, it's been nerve-wracking in the beginning I think getting out but I think having having the ears at that company has been has been really really important And it's been able to kind of fine tune and you know improve that experience for me But everyone else that uses that same technologies and they can have that same independence and
• 25:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I think, you know, I mentioned I got off that ventilator after the first year and I did, you know, regain the ability to breathe, but I can't cough.
• 25:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, right?
• 25:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so if I kind of get some congestion going, um, you know, I'm in trouble.
• 25:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so then I have to call for help and we have a machine called a, a cough assist.
• 25:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just pumps them on.
• 25:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: I have a trache of a hole, tubes in my hands through my neck.
• 25:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I sleep on an ventilator, but I,
• 25:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just use that machine to kind of replicate a cough and then I'm able to kind of cough up whatever is bugging me and I'm back here Go, they know I'm gonna have it out there a lot, right?
• 26:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: So 5,000 miles a year is kind of what I've averaged last few years and 14 miles a day and doing that a Northern Latitude like this isn't isn't easy.
• 26:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's a lot of rain
• 26:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: and there are very few people with disabilities or otherwise able bodied who get that mileage in on any sport any year.
• 26:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's impressive.
• 26:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I'm a streaker too, so I go out every day right ahead.
• 26:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: So about six months now, six months ago, I did have a
• 26:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: a stroke and kind of a big massive seizure and um and that put me in an ICU for 12 days but before that stroke I had nine years and nine months of not missing a day outside getting a nine years and nine months yeah getting at least a mile now I haven't missed a day since I wasn't there got back about but yeah it was a bummer not to make that 10 year mark
• 27:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, it's a bummer to have a stroke to he end.
• 27:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: That is, it is, yeah, and I'll tell you guys, losing your body is difficult, and you know, it's hard to recover from, but you know, losing your brain, and fortunately much of it's all kind of came back, but that's a whole, another follow-ax, I mean, it, you know, I, I didn't, I have a book out, you know, that world record, um,
• 27:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: I have a documentary, kind of talking about that.
• 27:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know any of this, you know, I didn't know me, right, when I was first coming out of this.
• 27:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Difficult, difficult, difficult thing to go through.
• 27:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, I think we all go through our challenges and it's just kind of how we here, come out of them and you'll add it to it, I think it's so.
• 27:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: oh man you just you set it right there attitude is so important.
• 27:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: I don't in any way want to make what you've gone through seem small.
• 28:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: No way.
• 28:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: But I would like to point out that everybody has challenges in life.
• 28:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: Maybe they're not as extreme as yours, but their attitude is what gets impastic, right?
• 28:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: Walking you tell us about that.
• 28:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: What did you learn about?
• 28:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: How to have the
• 28:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think, you know, you, uh, you get stuck on your back for so long, right?
• 28:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it was probably six months after that injury today.
• 28:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't, um, do much of anything and you sort of thinking, okay, either, either I wallow in this and, um, you know, really be angry with everyone around me, or I start thinking, okay, how do I have a life ahead of what do I need to do to do that?
• 28:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think one big, big thing is, is having a community, having people around you and, um,
• 28:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I've been in a position where I need everything, right?
• 28:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: I need someone to help itch my nose or I need someone to feed me or to wash my face, whatever.
• 29:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And in the beginning, it was difficult, right, having to ask for help.
• 29:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that we're all, we pride ourselves and are under independence, we pride ourselves on what we
• 29:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: what we do, and when all of a sudden that's been taken away from us, our identity is questioned, and I think at that point, again, this could be something severe, like a spinal cord injury, but it also could be a divorce, right, or a loss of someone in a family, and all those things can really, really knock you, knock you back, but I think you have to
• 29:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't make it real when I always hoped for and I think involving this around you and just trying to say positive and have others, you know, have others keep you accountable, make sure you're stating your goals and you're saying, right here's what I'm going to do and don't let me slack off.
• 30:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but I think none of us are stronger together and to
• 30:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the more we can involve those around us, our loved ones, our friends, our community, I think the more successful we'll be.
• 30:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: Mm-hmm.
• 30:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
• 30:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: I kind of maybe dodged that question and moved on to the community aspect.
• 30:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, that's part of it, right?
• 30:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: It is.
• 30:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's at least what lets me happen.
• 30:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's what keeps my attitude positive.
• 30:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, people are doing so much for me all the time.
• 30:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: If I can give back at all,
• 30:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's awesome.
• 30:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: It sure makes me feel good and makes me want to continue that positive positive attitude going forward.
• 30:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know, I don't want to try to speak for anybody, but I have studied the stages of grief.
• 30:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: And when you suffer a loss, you go through them all.
• 30:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: You just have to be so patient with your, you know, but for anyone that's in the midst of that, you do come out the other side, you know?
• 30:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I think I think, you know, there's always cliches, you know, you're in the prize or whatever.
• 30:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Visualize what the heck you want your life to look like and try to make that that happen But I think sitting around wine and bitching and complaining is gonna get you anywhere At least it shouldn't get me anywhere those first few years and and it was kind of meeting someone right It was meeting someone else that Who was successful and who was living a really really happy and and good life and you know despite the challenges has been thrown his way that made me realize that
• 31:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: there was so much more I could be doing right ah that's that's so encouraging tell us more about the ride if people want to people want to take part in that so see you sound it always happens the it's pretty much the last weekend in August but it's always the weekend before Labor Day and like I said it's three days it's a Friday Saturday Sunday and um for able body folks we really um love love for you to sign up and participate it mean be
• 31:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: go to eintride.com and sign up for a newsletter so you can see when this is happening and yeah come, come join us.
• 31:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean it's a pretty incredible community.
• 32:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have both with the disabled folks and just the the the the population of folks here on the Olympic Peninsula they come and join us in further.
• 32:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean we have volunteers that are
• 32:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: that are coming from Chicago, that are coming from Vegas, that we've won from Florida, or each year we have a logo because we have, you know, race metal, or finisher metals, and, you know, all sorts of fun swag.
• 32:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: But we have our logo designed by someone with a disability last year, it was a mouth painter.
• 32:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, someone that designed our logo with art with their mouth, and that's great.
• 32:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and anyway, I don't know.
• 32:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: We just want to make it fun.
• 32:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: We even last year we had a silly new addition.
• 32:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: We brought called a wheelchair rodeo where we had the Ed folks and chairs.
• 32:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: We started out with the silly precision parking.
• 32:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so it was like a race to see who could go down there going to park and get back with such a dumb thing that I've really competitive with it.
• 33:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, OK, all right.
• 33:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: Let's do this.
• 33:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Exactly.
• 33:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, then we had like, we even did a race.
• 33:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: A barrel racing was one of those fun.
• 33:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, I mean, I think the nature, I mean, seeing the just the natural beauty of the leaping pencil is something, but it really is the people that people that come out are something.
• 33:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, it's
• 33:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you're looking to explore this beautiful area and do with some fun people and you don't mind writing it six, seven miles per hour for a few days and we'd love to have you come join us.
• 33:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: That sounds awesome actually.
• 33:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: What a great thing to do.
• 33:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: So you called that a puffer tube that you used?
• 33:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, great.
• 33:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: So.
• 33:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: I drive with what called a sip and puffs, a sip and puffs drive with my power wheel chair and so it's basically just a straw tube that goes up to my lips and how it works is if you puff into it kind of hard, I mean, it just kind of gets things, just the electronics engaged if you puff a second time you start moving forward.
• 34:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: to turn left to right, it's actually a light puff for a light sips, so it's actually a amount of pressure air pressure.
• 34:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: OK. Yeah.
• 34:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Draw that effects in direction.
• 34:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, really the best thing about it since I can, I can catch my nose with that.
• 34:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just really handy.
• 34:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: So I've got to ask, I've got to ask the question with the, with the rodeo bit.
• 34:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: Right, precision parking and everyone's got to be laughing, hooting and hollering.
• 34:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: So how do you control your chair if you're, if you're laughing and all that?
• 34:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Very carefully.
• 34:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you're trying to, hey, trust me.
• 34:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's a competitive moment there, right?
• 34:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're just going to laughing at that point.
• 34:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, yeah, it, uh, you do your best and it's hip and stuff might not be the best for some of those events, but, uh, hey, it's fun to participate.
• 34:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, that's fantastic.
• 34:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: I love it.
• 34:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: I just love it that you're not letting this massive life challenge stop you from experiencing life in a big, big way.
• 35:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I think all of this, um, you know, this goes through challenges and we all, I think, um,
• 35:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: come through I've just done it in a public and visible way I think and I think we all have amazing stories to tell they just might be amazing in different ways.
• 35:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: I just go out and go long distances in my chair and I'm fortunate to be involved with a major tech company and be able to control with them and one of the best the biggest things I do is you know are an
• 35:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: But the third is community right now, keep talking about it over and over.
• 35:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I'm hosting one to two support groups a week.
• 35:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we're talking with people all over the country.
• 35:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I don't think I would be where I am today without talking with others and being able to have share those resources and learn from shared experiences and challenges.
• 36:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: And in ways to get past some of these things.
• 36:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're just knowing what equipment is available.
• 36:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because you only know what you know.
• 36:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: have tried these things out.
• 36:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's no other way, no type with them.
• 36:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, the support group stuff, and you know, let me also, the difficult aspects of it, right?
• 36:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, saying, okay, you know, how our relationships so often people have to get divorced once they have a spinal injury or something because they really need to get on state benefits and the pooled
• 36:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: assets of a married couple and that's all that's rough and they may stay together but just having to get divorced just so that you know they can be qualified for that's crazy for benefits is frustrating and you know in so many other things you know your dignity can be lost you know you may not have the time alone they do you want to stay here independence has been affected you know there's some mind stuff and some emotions that they can only kick your
• 37:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'm about 18 years out now, and, but man, talking to some of those folks, springs me right back into that hospital, and there's vulnerabilities, and, you know, that loss of a future.
• 37:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, not knowing what that's going to hold.
• 37:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: Sure.
• 37:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: Sure.
• 37:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: Let's talk about your book a little bit here.
• 37:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: Karen Polinski.
• 37:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: Was your writer?
• 37:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like a writer?
• 37:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like a writer?
• 37:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 37:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 37:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not so much a ghost now.
• 37:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: She's at front and center.
• 37:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right.
• 37:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: She was awesome, Curtis.
• 37:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: But go ahead.
• 37:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: What was that?
• 37:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, I just, I guess, tell us what the book is about.
• 37:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: So people will know if they're like, oh, I want to hear more about this.
• 37:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: What is it?
• 37:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: For sure.
• 37:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, this, uh,
• 37:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: This book is as much about the story I've told you, right?
• 37:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it tells about the journey from that bike accident to the world record.
• 37:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: And all the vulnerabilities and rough times that were in between there and we, there's so many great successes in my story in there.
• 38:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're wonderful, but you can't really appreciate those without having to really go through those difficult times for us.
• 38:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we really kind of dive into that.
• 38:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just how something like a spinal cord injury can affect relationships and a family, right?
• 38:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: And dynamics there when people are having to spend so much time maybe on your care and not focusing on other relationships in their life.
• 38:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, it talks about all of that, but I think it explores the importance of having people around you and the importance of being able to ask for help.
• 38:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think it really shows that nature is the best medicine.
• 38:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love it.
• 38:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so the whole story with Karen Blinsky was about five or six years to go, my grandmother really loved her.
• 38:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, and she is a hard driver, my grandma, and she came over.
• 39:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And she said that she wanted to have a meeting with my mom and I.
• 39:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: And my mom, when I was in the hospital, she started a caring bridge.
• 39:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's just kind of like a little blog for people often in a hospital.
• 39:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: and kind of told the story every day of kind of how things were going in the hospital.
• 39:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we had this written account of that and so my grandma wanted to include that and everything I had done since and put it into a book and she had found a ghost writer and he can't see no the grandma and so I didn't I did not know how much work it would be and
• 39:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Also, you have this complete stranger.
• 39:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're having to really do this kind of deep dive into really intimate moments of your life.
• 39:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, it was challenging.
• 39:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was quite an experience.
• 39:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: But the hardest part was just editing.
• 39:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: She's a little more creative, fufu.
• 39:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: She's a, you know, I'm a little more analytical, really, really wanted to be very, very honest and straightforward to the story.
• 40:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Whatever, we met in the middle there to make it good.
• 40:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's trying to make a nice narrative.
• 40:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I know I kind of enjoyed this.
• 40:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: There's some pictures in the middle.
• 40:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
• 40:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I'm looking at one of the pictures right now of you laying in the grass.
• 40:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: And your dreadlocks just spread out like the rays of the sun around.
• 40:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: I did, I kind of cracked me up.
• 40:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that was on the 20th anniversary of having the dreads that I did bad.
• 40:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I was fun.
• 40:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: I did that with my fiance and my mom.
• 40:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: I guess that was another thing is, you know, I had that stroke.
• 40:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I was in the ICU right when I was supposed to be.
• 40:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: We had a delay or wedding because I was in the hospital.
• 40:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, dude.
• 40:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: man, what advice do you have for people who just, they need to be able to, to make something out of their lives, no matter what.
• 40:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: 100% let's see.
• 40:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, first, I mean, I think it's important to define that thing that drives you to you love and hold on to a tight chase it and see how far, far it'll go.
• 41:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that's an important one.
• 41:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I also think it's important not to do it alone.
• 41:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's so
• 41:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: They also have ambitions and you know meet up with them connect with them and we're stronger together Do they do it with someone else, but then also Cut outside right in the nature is the dust minus the do my opinion and there's something about it They can I don't know rejuvenate us and I find myself refreshed and You know people to really contemplate what I want in life out there.
• 41:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: It just That's where I where my where where everything were fresh is for
• 41:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's, I'm seeing in the book here and you already talked about it, but going at least a mile every day and how many days you did that in a row, years, you did that.
• 41:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: So the reason that's crazy, the reason I'm bringing it up is that I'm sure the days that you just didn't want to.
• 42:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right?
• 42:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 42:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Again, Northern Latitudes.
• 42:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: They have just snow having to have a carryover or throwing them or really just shovel me out.
• 42:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: just to let me get to a van so that I can get out to maybe a plowed road and you actually get mild and that's a difficult COVID, right?
• 42:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean going out when you're just so sick, just so sick, you just feel miserable and you just want to sit inside and it just looks so cold out there but he's got to go and you always feel better, I think, like I'm back and
• 42:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, the question I guess is that you had committed to doing it and always doing it, that kept you from not doing it.
• 42:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: I know that sounds overly simple, but it's real.
• 42:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: What is it about the goal, or, or, you know what I mean?
• 42:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah, why, why do we do these things, and yeah, and how, hey, I think, you know, you set your mind to something, and you have to be like a street girl, and you just don't want it to end, you know?
• 42:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was probably like day 7 in the ICU before I realized that I even lost my, lost my streak.
• 43:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, it's more about just setting your mind to something.
• 43:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that, you know, it's just that mindset that, you know, keeps you going.
• 43:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: And once you start, that's the most important thing is right, start.
• 43:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then just don't let it stop.
• 43:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: Keep doing it.
• 43:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And build from that.
• 43:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: You'll see what else could.
• 43:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: I talked to a runner who was she was doing a great job, very successful runner, but one thing that she did is she had kind of like her go back at the front door, everything she needed was in one place, the shoes that you know, and it was like, I don't decide whether I'm going or not, I know I'm going, I'm just going.
• 43:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I don't have, I don't have the hassle of trying to find things and, oh, I guess I'll just have to do it later.
• 43:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know, it was just like, no, you don't decide whether the weather is good or not.
• 43:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're going and it went the hard things really so a high level quadriplegic can't Regulate their temperature right so I can't sweat or shiver, you know if I'm hot or if I'm
• 44:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: some cold and so clothing is really important.
• 44:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, in that morning when you're deciding what to wear and you're having to really layer up but then recognizing maybe you have a long drive later that day or you have a talk inside and well.
• 44:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if you're like burning up, but whatever you have to kind of deal with it because you can't go outside if you don't have to.
• 44:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, that is.
• 44:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm fortunate of a sponsorship kind of a relationship with architects and sort of,
• 44:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, no doubt, man.
• 44:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: You're an inspiration, obviously.
• 44:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm sure people tell you that all the time, but it's true, Ian.
• 44:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I'm thankful.
• 44:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm thankful that there are people like you in this world who show the rest of us what's possible.
• 44:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think so many of us will be putting a situation will be amazing.
• 44:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll get accomplished.
• 44:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, I'm just happy to be in a situation.
• 45:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I'm getting to meet so many other people.
• 45:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: It really impressed me and inspire me.
• 45:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's what it's all about, right?
• 45:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is that pushing each other and seeing all that's possible?
• 45:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
• 45:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: Hey, well, you tell us a story.
• 45:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: I know that you have a lot of stories from all of these rides that you did for years and years and years.
• 45:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: Tell us a story to stories.
• 45:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: The first story would be something surprising that happened that impacted you in a big way.
• 45:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: Right.
• 45:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: And then the second story is a time that something went really wrong.
• 45:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: And impacted me.
• 45:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm back to another way.
• 45:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 45:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: All right.
• 45:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I think
• 45:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that 2022 ride, so I was taking from Washington, DC up to Cumberland, Maryland is the CNO trail, it's an old tow path, right?
• 45:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so it was built by mules that would be pulling barges along the Potomac river, and here I am, you know, in power wheelchair, you know, on this dirt trail that was forged by mules in centuries ago.
• 46:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, what I didn't realize was,
• 46:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: There were sections of that trail where there was probably like a 20 mile either direction before there was a bailout, a bailout point.
• 46:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: A long way.
• 46:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: In a power wheelchair, when anything can go wrong, I'm 600 pounds.
• 46:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I got my two guys with me as my crew.
• 46:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: But pushing me out of something like that is, it would take you day or two.
• 46:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, I think I learned first, you know,
• 46:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: the reward I got from that was huge rest, still a dream of that right.
• 46:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was a beautiful right ever.
• 46:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: But the risk we were taking and was was serious.
• 46:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I think I think it showed the importance of taking rest.
• 46:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Never word never would have happened if I wouldn't have been willing to go out there and do it.
• 46:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean even you know you're taking that chance and it could go wrong.
• 46:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Even a tree down we're bringing your straws out there with us just to get us through.
• 47:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: But
• 47:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think that was just a big one.
• 47:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think recognizing that I could do a lot more than I thought I could and kind of believe in yourself.
• 47:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: I had to believe in my equipment as well there.
• 47:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think that was really important because it didn't really realize, go for it.
• 47:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Why not?
• 47:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: See what I'll think at least surprise it was possible.
• 47:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then we moved forward two years to my 2024 ride and I was riding on the Katy Trail
• 47:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Apparently they, along this path, there was a culvert, right?
• 47:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so they had dug a hole and a trench along the trail across the trail and they put a pipe in and they'd backfilled it, but they hadn't backfilled it and compacted it down very well.
• 47:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it rained a lot the night before, and it was going full speed, and my friend actually
• 47:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I just thought it was like, okay, I'm going to go fast over this section to get stuck.
• 48:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Instead, I hit this and I just flipped the chair and ended up on my side.
• 48:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think I learned from that as well.
• 48:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Listen to my people.
• 48:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've flipped the chair a few times and whenever I've done that, I think I've learned the importance of having quality equipment and also an ambassador and consultant within the care of the chair that makes my chair and being able to have some influence there on design and quality is going to be important.
• 48:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think having good equipment, listen to your people and you know,
• 48:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: and realizing what's really, yeah, we can do a lot more than we think.
• 48:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: I can't imagine he hit in that, that, that, ravine, what we did in your head.
• 48:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, man.
• 48:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, this funny was, luckily, my guy was right there standing right there, because he's like pointing out his adrenaline up to it.
• 49:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, I went straight out, and I wouldn't went right onto my face,
• 49:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right when I got to like that tipping point just pushed me over so I landed on my on my side but there's a picture where I'm just I'm just cracking up and I'm just laughing at it.
• 49:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know you know there's plenty of downsides to not be able to move or feel bleeding like that.
• 49:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's some good sides not to be able to feel bleeding back too.
• 49:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: I had I had I had I got probably eight years earlier I was riding home
• 49:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: and I was going down the hill and my chair wouldn't tilt and ended up flipping it and I was alone and my thones kind of were up against the dirt and didn't have any reception I couldn't call for help and so I was sitting there for about an hour until a couple.
• 49:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: I got a man and a woman came along and they were able to go back and get someone else to write me and to get me back up on my wheels.
• 50:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the woman to know, do you want me to illustrate not your foot, and I couldn't see my foot.
• 50:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh my gosh, sure.
• 50:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: And she did.
• 50:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And there is a way that I can feel.
• 50:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's called, well, what it is, it's the blood pressure.
• 50:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, your blood pressure is kind of kind of change.
• 50:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so when you have really bad pain, you can get something called autonomic dysreflexia.
• 50:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's just this spike in blood pressure.
• 50:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: And for me, that feels like this headache.
• 50:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so she moved that foot.
• 50:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: I got him this headache and I got, oh, that might be wrong.
• 50:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: It turned out he didn't break my leg.
• 50:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, no.
• 50:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I spent a week before I went into the hospital.
• 50:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, what are they going to say?
• 50:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Didn't they just told me to stay off?
• 50:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: They wouldn't know.
• 50:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not a problem.
• 50:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: and you've got a great attitude about it, that's crazy.
• 50:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: So if people want to be a part of your sea to sound right or they want to be part of your nonprofit, they want to read your book, I mean, how did it get in touch?
• 51:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: All right, so, you know, eansride.com.
• 51:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we always have whatever's going on next there.
• 51:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to our newsletter is a great thing.
• 51:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can go to the bottom of that page.
• 51:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: and sign up but another thing you could maybe join us depending on where you are in the country is you know every two years I do these these long rides these cross-state rides in this next one I'm going to be doing in twenty twenty six
• 51:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: It'll be in probably late September, early October and it's going to be the eerie canal trail.
• 51:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'll be riding across New York from Albany to Buffalo, it's about 350 miles or so.
• 51:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it should be a lot of fun.
• 51:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Follow us, see what we're up to and come join us out there on the eerie canal trail.
• 51:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's awesome.
• 51:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: Do you know this song about the area you can now from all the need to buff the lift?
• 51:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh yes, so yes, I'm not going to sing it, but I'm not going to sing it, but I'm going to cut this.
• 52:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: That will be, will be singing that along.
• 52:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's fantastic.
• 52:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: And so you said September.
• 52:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, if I'd be late September going into the world's post, spend a couple of weeks, 10 days to be exact.
• 52:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: Fantastic.
• 52:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: Right on.
• 52:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, Ian, thank you for sharing your story with us, and thank you for your time today.
• 52:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know, like I said, you're an inspiration, but I love what you said two or three times here that, you know, nature is the best medicine.
• 52:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: I love it.
• 52:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: I love the example and I love that, you know, the fact that you've found a way to make that work for.
• 52:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, hashtag get outside, I think that's where we all are better people.
• 52:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: Uh, absolutely.
• 52:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, thank you very much.
• 52:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: Everyone out there.
• 52:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you for listening in today and get Ian's book, participate, get involved.
• 52:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: I just think it's fantastic.
• 52:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: Ian's right is the name of the book, and until the next show, do get out there and have some fun.
• 52:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks Curtis.
• 52:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, you bet, man.