[AMP-L] Face of America 2006 ride report

[esther L]

My husband, Scott, and I rode our tandem in the 2006 Face of America 
Ride April 29-30.

It was a powerful experience to ride past battlefields in Gettysburg 
Saturday morning. The fields with their split rail fences look so 
peaceful, except that they're dotted with monuments to the deceased.

The weather was beautiful, but the pollen was fierce. It was quite 
sunny, but not hot.  There were 10-15 people on handcycles on the ride - 
some recently injured military folks, and some people who've done events 
with World Team Sports before (Vietnam era vets and others). There were 
some B/K amputees riding mountain and road bicycles, and lots of 
able-bodied folks (some active duty military). There were approx 130 
participants - around 30 with disabilities. It seemed like there were at 
least 30 volunteers. Some of the amputees were wearing the LimbStrong 
bracelets from ACA.

Several people spoke at the kickoff dinner Friday night, and they showed 
some clips from documentaries of past WTS events. I saw footage of Greg 
Lemond, Steve Ackerman, and Sarah Reinhart.

There were rolling hills during the first half of the route Saturday, 
and more hills in the last 15 miles before Frederick, Md - total of 2700 
ft of climbing. Saturday added up to 55 miles. Sunday there was a sudden 
need to re-route - part of our planned route was closed for a marathon. 
WTS volunteers did a great job re-routing us to mile 18 of the original 
route. Sunday's route from Frederick to DC was very hilly - 3936 ft of 
climbing. The 2 days totaled 6636 feet of climbing. We climbed the same 
600ft of altitude over and over again :-)

We stayed overnight in the National Guard Armory in Frederick, Md. There 
were cots available for nearly everyone. There was a band playing for us 
at the armory - you could hear them just fine outdoors while eating. 
They were a bit overwhelming inside the building. It was great to have a 
warm shower after riding - unlike some campgrounds, the armory did not 
ever run out of hot water!  I grabbed a copy of the March 2006 issue of 
the U.S. Army magazine, which had a cover story about military medical 
care for new amputees. There was a lot of information about Brooke Army 
Medical Center in Texas and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

It takes experience and upper body muscle to get a handcycle up steep or 
long hills. The older handcyclists had no trouble, but beginners 
benefited from pushes uphill. A cyclist with good balance can push a 
handcycle, and some of the support volunteers jogged or walked behind a 
hancycle to give some pushes uphill. Tandems grind uphill slowly (get 
down to 5-6 mph) and whoosh downhill fast. Our max speed on a downhill 
was 38 mph. Scott was having to brake sometimes because the 
pollen-filled wind made his eyes fill with tears, even with eyeglasses 
to block some wind. The good thing about getting up speed downhill is 
having the momentum carry you at least halfway up the next hill!

I had my first saddle sores (probably caused by wearing brand new bike 
shorts with a too-thick pad). I rode 35 of the 50 miles on Sunday (got a 
ride in SAG van for part of the route). Saddle sores make it very 
uncomfortable to plant your behind on the saddle and work hard to pedal 
up the hills.

I was the only female amputee on the ride - also the only amputee with a 
cosmetic cover. I learned that I am NOT the only amputee with a sweat 
problem inside gel liners - other amputees needed to pull of their 
prosthesis and dry off their skin, then put the liner and prosthesis 
back on, at rest stops. I think I was the only woman with a disability 
on the ride.

For the recently disabled military folks using handcycles, this was 
their first long ride using a handcycle. Pretty brave to do this for a 
2-day 110 mile ride without doing a bunch of training in advance!

There are a few organizations that work with people with disabilities 
and sports. The Wounded Warrior Project and Disabled Sports USA 
(www.dsusa.org), and World Team Sports. There are probably others that I 
don't know about!

Some of the people who did the Face of America Ride will do the Soldier 
Ride May 6 - June 18, from NY to Dallas, TX. The ride will be in 
Washington, DC on May 14. The ride will arrive in Edenton, NC on May 17, 
in New Bern on May 18, and at Camp Lejeune on May 20. www.soldierride.com

On Sunday we staged at Geico hq in DC for lunch, and to ride to the 
finish as a group. WTS got volunteers from Galludet University to help 
at this lunch stop. For the last 4-5 miles of the route we had DC police 
escort, and Chris Carigg read a proclamation from Mayor Anthony Williams 
at the finish party.

The volunteers were awesome. They handled the incident Saturday 
afternoon, where someone took down some FOA route arrows and pointed 
them in the opposite direction, and removed around 6 other arrows. 
Several motorcycle riders helped with blocking traffic at intersections, 
and with staying at turns to point us to go the right way. Handcycles 
take a little bit more time to get through an intersection, and drivers 
aren't looking for a vehicle that's that low to the ground. The rest 
stops were great! plenty of sun screen, fluids, and snacks. The 
organizers had 1 wheelchair accessible porta-potty in each group of 
porta-potties.

Memorable people from the ride:

Rod, B/K amputee due to motorcycle accident, from Maryland. civilian, 
age mid-30s. Very athletic - skis, runs, officiates at bike races, 
bicycles, and does other stuff.

Rory McCarthy, 51, electrical engineer from Maine. He has muscular 
atrophy and uses a handcycle. He has participated in bike rides with WTS 
before (Vietnam Challenge, ride across the U.S., ride from ground zero 
to pentagon).

U.S. Army Specialist Latseen Benson and wife Jessica Benson. Latseen is 
a bilateral amputee from Iraq conflict. He used a handcycle in the 
event. Jessica is able-bodied and rode on a heavy mountain bike. see 
http://cooday8.tripod.com/troops.htm

Tiffany - able bodied, works as an intern at Walter Reed with amputees. 
She accompanied some amputees on the trip. This was her first long bike 
trip. I think she's enrolled in a physical therapy program.

Jim Benson - founder of WTS. able-bodied. Retired President and Chief 
Executive Officer of John Hancock Life Insurance Company. fast cyclist, 
friends with Greg Lemond and Duane Wagner.

Neal, became bilateral A/K in December. Is walking on 2 C-legs now, 
which is amazingly soon after amputation. I haven't seen the episode, 
but he appeared in an episode of Rebuilt: the Human Body Shop. He used a 
handcycle on his first long-distance ride on this trip.

Nathan, a recent unilateral A/K from war. He and Neal are both at Walter 
Reed going through rehab.

There were 2 military guys whose names I didn't get. Guy1 is a bilateral 
A/K using a handcycle. Guy2 is his able-bodied buddy, also using a 
handcycle to hang with his buddy.

Guy3, whose name I can't remember. He came back unwounded from a year in 
Iraq, and was in a motorcycle accident. He's stationed at Fort Bragg (in 
NC), is in rehab at Walter Reed, and is thinking of going to prothetist 
school.

Steve Ackerman - spinal cord injury (1990-ish). He uses a handcycle, and 
has been on every WTS ride, including the Vietnam Challenge in 1998.

Mike - above elbow amputee. He wore a microphone and will be featured in 
the NECN documentary of the ride.

Eric Miller, able-bodied cyclist from Colorado. He rode in the 2002 Tour 
of Hope, a cancer fundraising ride across the U.S. He's an RN and 
paramedic. He is really tough - he used a road bike on Saturday and a 
handcycle on Sunday.

Scott N - able bodied. He and his wife Dorothy were another tandem 
couple on the ride.

Jason - he and his Dad rode a tandem on Saturday. Jason is blind, around 
9 years old. He wasn't able to ride Sunday.

Scott C - my able-bodied husband. He is a strong cyclist, and he does 
half of the work on the tandem. He even steered us on a short stretch of 
gravel road!


terminology:
A/K - above knee amputee
B/K - below knee amputee
bilateral - 2 sides of body  (like both legs amputated)
WTS: World Team Sports  www.worldteamsports.org
Chris Carrigg is Executive Director of WTS

-------------------------
Esther and Scott, in North Carolina

-- 

-- 
-- Esther L.,  esther-L at mailsnare.net or esther-L at alumni.virginia.edu
Speaking only for myself.


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