First off, what are you doing now – are you still riding?
It’s my eight-year anniversary of the accident that changed my life and left me paralyzed from the chest down.
Now the only exercises I can do are with my arms. I push a wheelchair on the street in my Manchester neighborhood – it’s a flat street so I can do it easier. It’s been excellent exercise for me. I use a safety flag so I’m visible, and do about 3-6 miles a day – at about two miles an hour.
I also do the handcycle – that’s where you lay down on your back more and rotate your arms. That I do at running speed. I use that to ride the Three Rivers Heritage Trail that runs alongside the North Shore and stadiums. I don’t go as far on the handcycle in case something happens though – I always want another person near me.
My total mileage last year was about 1,000 miles. My original goal for life was to ride over one-million miles, but I’ve adjusted that now to 800,000 miles.
I also do pull-ups and free weights a couple of times a week as well.
You are such an accomplished rider – winning the Race Across America (RAAM) twice. What got you started as a rider?
My older brother and sister both started riding first. My older sister Carol got a 10-speed first growing up when we lived in Squirrel Hill and started racing. My brother followed her and I followed in their footsteps.
My family all did rides together – we did a 200 mile ride in under 24 hours when I was 10 years old.
I started road-racing and realized the longer the race the better I did. I started racing in the RAAM in 1994 – and in 1983 I started the Dirty Dozen – a 55-mile race up the 13 steepest hills in Pittsburgh.
How did you launch the Dirty Dozen?
My brother and I wanted to showcase the hills in the city. We had to look at a topographical map to find the hills – there was no GPS at the time. We found the top 13 and put them all together into a ride. We have a staff of 30 and have around 300 that participate in the ride. The biggest ride was over 450 riders.
What made you such a good rider?
I had good endurance. People who win the Tour de France sprints have good fast-twitch muscles. I didn’t have that as much. I liked the challenge of the longer rides. I had a crew of five to eight people that helped me on the RAAM rides – it was like being on the set of a movie.
Tom Cruise – people say he would go for 48 hours on set with no sleep. I’d ride the first night in the RAAM with no sleep and average about 350 miles a day. I ate about 10,000 calories a day and still lost weight! It was mainly a liquid diet so I could consume the calories more quickly.
Did you try other sports?
In school I tried football and basketball – I didn’t like them so much. I did like table tennis but I enjoyed riding more – I liked to ride to far away places and being outdoors. A lot of football players actually turn to cycling for exercise because there’s less impact.
In regards to the accident -do you know how that occurred?
I have no idea – I got vertigo but I’m not sure why it happened. I hit my head and my helmet cracked in over 20 places and I broke my neck.
What was the recovery process like for you – mentally and physically?
I rehabbed for two months in Chicago. It was a learning process. I had to learn how to use my upper body to move my body around and transfer to beds and chairs and bikes. It was hard to accept that I couldn’t ride a regular bike. If I wanted to ride I had to use a handcycle or not at all. No more 20 miles an hour rides.
Emotionally I think of all the people that are worse off – people who are paralyzed from the neck down instead of the chest down, like me. Those folks have to rely on people for everything. They’ll do anything to change places with me. It’s like they say “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”
What advice would you give to those going through something similar?
Focus on the things you can do and not on the things you can’t. Look to the future. It’s ok to look at the past – I still think about winning the RAAM twice. But you have to think most about what you can do now.