Ep. 1183: Overcoming Adversity and Rebuilding a Life with Ian Mackay

You're listening to the Adventure Sports Podcast. 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. Now here's your host, Kurt Lindville.

Hello, hello, hello, happy Monday. Today's show is amazing. The guest is Ian McKay and

I call him Ian McKay. His name is spelled M-A-C-K-A-Y, but it is Mackay, not McKay. My

bad, sorry Ian. 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 by overcoming adversity. Ian 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. Ian, 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 awesome, everybody listen in. This

is going to be remarkable. Hello friends, welcome to the adventure sports podcast. Today

I have Ian McKay with us and Ian was paralyzed from the neck down as a young man. He has been

leaving the charge to help people get back out into the outdoors even with the disabilities

that they can be facing and Ian is facing some challenging ones and he's here to recount

his story. He has a book that was co-written with Karen Polinsky and the name of the book

is Ian's ride, a long distance journey to joy. This is going to be a great episode. Ian, welcome

to the program. Hey, thanks Curtis, really glad to be here. So Ian, where are you first of all

right now? Where are we talking? Yeah, so I'm in Port Angeles, Washington, so that's up on the

Olympic Peninsula pretty much as far northwest as you can get in the Continental U.S. I did drive

through there once. A ferry dropped me off from Victoria. Yeah, so I went through your town one

time years ago, years ago. That's a very special place on earth. It is a really cool spot. What's

really wonderful about it is the Olympic mountains provide this great rain shadow so that we're,

the total rainfall similar to Santa Barbara, California here in Washington. Wow.

Have some very dry, dry days, so that the beauty of watching them. Well, in the Olympic

Peninsula is known for being one of the wettest places in the United States and you're saying you

actually have good weather anyway. We do, right? So you got out in forks, you got the way west end,

forks from the twilight, the twilight name, but yeah, that's super wet. I mean, they measure

my feet rather than my inches, but you know, just on the east side of this Olympic mountains,

you do get this nice little rain shadow and it's, yeah, we're fortunate to have it.

Man, I got to say because I'm not going to post video, Ian, I'm just doing audio right now.

So our listeners can't see your beautiful dreadlocks, man. They are awesome.

Yeah, 22 years I've had them now. I think there's six feet and four inches long. I got to

tuck them under my, under my butter, I ended up running them over in the chair.

Dude, it's a silly problem to have, but hey, can you still warm up here?

Well, they're, they look so good. I just think it's, it's really, really fun. So tell us your

story. I already alluded to it in the intro a little bit. I was 26, Curtis. I was 26 when

it happened. I was going to college at UC Santa Cruz and kind of my background, I was studying a

lot of biology. My, my goal was to maybe teach at community college level and take people out,

maybe on field biology trips and teach them about nature and natural history and just all the,

I don't know, wonders of the outdoors. 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. Anyway, I was going to, going to college at

UC Santa Cruz and it was, it was what June 4th in 2008 and I was riding my bike home from,

from school. 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, this hill, this bike path,

you're looking out into the Monterey Bay which is just, just beautiful but every day I go down

this hill, you try to go like a little bit faster each, each day and so that day I was going,

I think 38 miles per hour. I hit some sand in the path, went headfirst into a tree and yeah,

I broke my neck. I don't know, I'm really losing conscious. I remember looking up, I think the

bows of the tree and you know, realizing I couldn't move and I couldn't anything below my,

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 some help. They

arrived and then he took me to, I'm Santa Clara Valley Medical Center by Life Light and I spent

the next kind of three months there learning how to live as a paralyzed man. It's interesting

what they do because what happens often with the spinal cord injury is the initial impact,

you know, it's at one level and your ability is determined by that level but the swelling often

can make it keep going up, right? So what was happening for me was this around the C2, C3 vertebrae

is where kind of the crack, where the broken vertebrae was and so I get there and they say, okay,

can you feel this and you know, and they're taking a safety pin and they're actually poking me

in the chest and they're starting kind of down with my belly button and poking and keep going

up and up and when I say yes, then they take a sharpie and they make a line right there on my chest

and I, you know, when I wait another hour, they come in and they do it again and they keep doing

this and that's why I just keep a thing up and so that means they really have to get in there and

do surgery and, uh, and stabilize things and so, um, so they did, it turned out the swelling

brought it up to where I was requiring a ventilator with first year of my injury, I was on a

ventilator and yeah, Curtis, I mean, you know, you're sitting there, you're 26 years old,

you know, you're in college, you're, you're thinking about all these plans, all these, all this

future that you imagine, you picture yourself, then you're thinking, 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 and

you know, there's all these realizations that are coming in but you're also just trying to

figure out this new body and this new life, the navigating this hospital, these nurses,

these therapists, I was very fortunate to have both my parents kind of drop everything and,

and be there for me and, you know, and kind of guide me through this, this devastating time,

well, who knew what the future would hold? Anyway, I can no longer live with my roommates at college,

you know, as a vet and dependent high quad and so my parents were just moving up to Port Angeles,

Washington, so I went there with them and yeah, and so I've been living here since 2008 and

yeah, those 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, riding my bike all the time and I was going out into the

woods, I was, you know, mushroom hunting or I was, you know, just doing new projects for, for school

out on the woods and I was just where I kind of found my joy and my solace and I felt like

that had been really taken from me. Instead I was sitting in front of the television watching a

lot of Andy Griffith's show and I was Lucy, you know, they're great, great television but, you know,

it's not a life and so I think with finally, first, I mean, I'm super fortunate that there's great

friends and family and community around me and they, those friends just kept coming up from college

and flying up to Port Angeles and, you know, they would try to lift me up and eventually I got

like a bird feeder that we were able to stick on the window and you're starting to be able to see

the birds and learning the bird to this new area and, you know, it started to get me a little more

interesting, maybe I could have somewhat of a 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,

eventually I started kind of going outside a little bit with, at least with a caregiver,

with a family member and getting to explore, I lived only a third of a mile from the Olympic

Discovery Trail and it's a trail that is part of the Great American Rail Trail that connects,

you know, the Pacific Ocean with Washington, D.C. And so I started to go out there a little bit

but I couldn't really explore because I was kind of always stuck with a caregiver, a family member,

I didn't have much independence and eventually I met another high quad. His name was Todd,

Ray's Todd Stubbelfeld, he's affectionately known as the Quadfather and he, you know, he was also

like living this really independent life, he was living on Bainbridge Island and taking a ferry

to Seattle every day and working in a, in the tech space and he was, he was doing it all on his

own and he was happy and he had a home, he had a relationship and all of a sudden I'm like,

what the hell am I doing? Just sitting there and kind of wallowing and he was, he was really living

and he was really really interested at that time about getting, getting a phone, getting

some way to use mobile technology, hands free because it just wasn't really available at that time

and so he, 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 allows you to kind of interact with the phone,

hands free with just some switches and it turns out that I could kind of use this and I could

start going out, you know, and using a phone reliably and doing these kind of longer rides on this

trail alone and be able to just call for help when I, you know, I trouble breathing, I did regain

the ability to breathe but I didn't regain the ability to cough. I've been rambling on here,

Curtis, I've been rambling, you're doing great. I'm loving this progression, I mean just let me

recap a little bit. Yeah, you're getting your life back in small steps but in ways that must have

felt huge to you. Yeah, and just being out there and starting to see on the plant,

the Pacific Northwest and how they were different than, you know, the Central California,

Thana and Flora, you know, I mean, it was, it was cool, I was. I was certainly kind of

experienced things that I had loved before my injury and I kind of thought that were lost.

But once I had this phone and I was able to start pushing my limit, I was able to see how far

this wheelchair battery would let me go. You know, and so then I'm doing, you know, 15, 20, 30

miles a day out on this trail and, you know, seeing them putting 5,000 miles a year on this trail and

I decided that one thing I really kind of got involved in right before my injury was bike touring.

And one of my professors really loved riding his bike kind of across states and he, I got to be

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 something I really wanted to do and I said, well, hey, maybe I kind of relive

that experience and just do it in my chair. And so I called up this professor that kind of introduced

me to bike touring and he said, hey, I want to do a bike tour, but it's a wheelchair tour and I'm

going to design it. We're leaving Port Enders. We're going to take that ferry up to Victoria.

There you go. Yep. And then take another ferry over to Anacortis on the mainland and then make

it all the way down to 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, our route finished at a brewery where we got

to, you know, kick back and kind of talk about the day. 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 was other riding my chair

with my friends and drinking beer at the end of the day. And you know, it just became this bigger thing

where, you know, we're kind of demonstrating what's possible and we're being come more advocates

and we're talking, you know, to mayors all of the sudden along the way. We met them at a brewery

with mayor of Tuck Willan and you know, various people in the, in the state congress. At the end

of the ride, I was invited down to, um, to Olympia to the, the capital, I got to meet our governor

and talk to him about the importance of, you know, developing trails that are, you know, connect

communities and allow people to enjoy this amount of recreation generally on bikes, but hey,

I can use that same infrastructure to have a lot of fun in the chair. No, but since then, I've

done a lot of great things that have written across, um, Washington, North and South and the

East to West have done, um, Northern California. I rode from Washington, D.C. to Columbus, Ohio

in 2022. Oh, wow. In 24, I did, um, I did Missouri on the Katie Trail. I even got a Guinness World

record in 2022, um, for the furthest distance traveled in 24 hours in a mouth controlled power wheelchair.

And I did 184 miles in 24, 24 hours. Well, that's pretty good range. It was absolutely miserable,

but yeah, it was, uh, it was, it was impressive, you know, showing what was, what was possible.

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. Well, yeah, and I think, I think we're often so only limited by

our imagination. And, um, you know, if you, uh, kind of develop a great community around you and

you put the effort and energy and time into, um, completing a goal, then go after it. You know,

go do it. Why, why not? Go live. And don't let something like a, you know, simple spinal cord

injury being paralyzed from the neck down, you know, slowly does life is short. Well, what did it

feel like recall for us the first day that you went outside and, 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? Yeah. Well, I mean,

to be completely honest, the first couple of times just going out in the yard, it was,

it was bumpy. It wasn't comfortable. It didn't really really feel that great. And, you know,

I didn't understand how I was going to be able to be out there. But when I finally first went out

kind of on, on the trail in a smooth section where I was able to kind of be immersed in,

in nature and in the outdoors. And it was, it was along a river. It was the Morse Creek

trails that it was called. And anyway, you're, you're going through there and there's, you know,

these mossy trails and there's ferns and there's, there's, there's just, um, there's just these,

you know, squirrels running back and back and forth. You have deer all over the place. And, um,

you know, I'm sitting there and I was able to hear the water kind of flowing by. And I don't

know, it did. It brought me back and it made me realize that, um, I don't know, that world,

that experience wasn't lost to me. It was just, uh, I needed to kind of go at it in a different

way. I needed to experience it in a slightly different way, but it was still there. And it

has been hard in some ways, you know, and studying, um, you know, when I, when I was doing plant biology

and such, you know, you're, you're out there and you're, you know, you're, you're feeling

things, you're feeling the textures of plants, you're, you're smelling, you're trusting to leave.

You know, and it's, those things aren't quite as available unless I'm going to be, um,

instructing someone to do them for me. And, you know, but I think again, you just have to change the,

the way you look at it and how you interact with them with the world.

Well, good on you for doing it, you know? Hey, 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. I mean, that's, that's exciting enough, but you're also kind of leading the

charge by example. You're showing other people what can be done. Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, after

that big 2016 ride, we, um, started a nonprofit, um, Ian's ride. We've done some really cool stuff.

You can check it out at eonsride.com. But, um, we now offer, geez, what, six, seven rides a year,

you know, for the community. And we've run them with full support. And so we have people, um,

able-bodied folks on bikes out there ready to, um, push chairs if they, you know, we're in a

battery or just run another energy and we have, um, shuttles and ramp vans ready to pick wheel

chairs up, you know, wherever, um, they made, they mean you'd that, that support. And, um, our,

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. We do about 20, 25 miles a day. And, um,

yeah, it's, it's really special to kind of, well, I always say I do it kind of selfishly,

because I'm always out there alone. Otherwise, it's nice to bring my community out. But, um,

I don't know, to see people kind of light up and realize what they can do, and that they can still

experience these things. And, um, you know, and it's events like these that, when they're fully

supported, they're, they're eager to, uh, push their limits and see what happened. If they run

out of battery, they run out of battery. You know, get you to, uh, get you to a car, at least know

what you can do. And now that support often you, you can't, you know, say, okay, let's, I don't want

to run out of battery. And I might only go a third of what I can do just because, uh, I'm nervous.

I don't want to be stuck here. It's totally understandable. But, um, yeah, it's, it's a really cool thing.

We, we do aid stations every five miles. And at those points, you know, we do have like bailout

points for, um, for chair users. We bring a bunch of the community on bikes out there, because I

think it's just important to, um, to involve, you know, the general community with the disabled

folks and, I don't know, kind of normalizes it all. And, uh, and, you know, it's really helpful to

have them either help push a chair up a hill or to, uh, I don't know, pick up a cell phone

when it drops on the ground. Just to help out. And, uh, it makes me feel good, right? I think we

all want to feel needed and it's nice when, uh, you know, we can't help. And I'll ask them

would have an experience. It'll be memorable and life changing in some, in some ways. A really

neat thing we do is I, I invite dignitaries with what I call them out to, um, spend five miles

in a power wheelchair, um, just to kind of have that experience. And so they're, you know,

I've had congressman from, uh, from Washington state, all the mayors and the county commissioners.

Um, we also, this past year had, uh, the COO of invacare. We flew out from, uh, from Ohio.

Invacare is one of the, um, main manufacturers of, of power wheelchairs. And, you know,

for them to kind of see how their product is allowing people to go live a full, adventurous life.

How they need to be able to provide equipment so people can enjoy this and not be limited by,

you know, by their equipment. I think that's been powerful and to have a little bit of influence

in the, um, I don't know, in the world of manufacturing power wheelchairs and ensuring that they

are, you know, making wheelchairs for lifestyles and not insurance companies and that do, you know,

just being, being thoughtful about how their equipment is what can be a limit to our ability to

well, that was one of the questions I was going to ask is do you need a specialized chair

to do these trail rides? Yeah. I mean, mine is standard insurance. We'll cover it right out of the,

or at the hospital or something. I mean, the one thing I've done is developed a battery that, uh,

that, you know, allows me to standard battery out of the hospital is probably about 12 miles.

And I can probably get 90 and 90. Nice. 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, you know, just great that

they're now, you know, considering these things and kind of designing equipment that, uh, enables us

rather. What about the suspension on the chair? Do they have to do something to make it a little

bit better in the bumps? Yeah. Well, um, I think some things, you just got to suck it up.

I've only seen so decent. I've never seen the great, great suspension on the power wheel chairs,

but, you know, I, yeah, it's good for the body when you can't, when you can't go out running around,

it's good to be bounced around out there on the dirt trails. You know, I met a man at outdoor

retailer, actually, and he was on a chair. I'll try to describe it. Maybe you can tell us what

it is or more about it, but it set taller. And so when, when I was walking, we were talking face-to-face

because the chair was tall and it had some sort of a gyroscope that kept it upright and,

and I was asking him about it and he said he really liked it because, um, 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. So,

yeah, I don't know what that was. Yeah, yeah, so, um, what is that called? It's called the, uh,

it's called the i-bot. What is it called? It's like, I think I have one of the first iterations,

but yeah, they're kind of neat, the stair climbing chairs. I'm with the guy, though, I'm not sure.

I've, uh, gravity's, gravity's had its work on me once, once enough, and I'm not sure I need to,

I need to mess with that anymore, um, but the elevate thing you're talking about is being kind of

eye-level. Almost all chairs now have that and that's, uh, that's a handy thing just for dignity

and other things, just sitting in a bar, right? I mean, it's nice to be able to elevate up so that

you're, yeah, the normal, normal height and there's so many other instances which is nice to be

able to, to change your, change your height. I love to go out and pick cherries on my tree and be able

to elevate right up to the level and, uh, nice. Well, how high can you get? Yeah, so I can get

not quite to six foot, but I can get five 10 or so. Right on. That's awesome. So Ian, when you,

going ahead, wouldn't I drive, wouldn't I drive much of that height? I can't get up there. Nice.

When you first started going on your solo trail rides, um, how scary was it? Yeah, and so you are,

you're kind of relying on this device. You're relying on this, on this, um, you know, piece of

equipment, this technology and, uh, you're putting a lot of faith in it. Um, so it was, it was really

scary. Fortunately, um, you know, I mentioned that friend, the quad father taught he, um, after,

after we, um, found this new feature on iPhones that allowed 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. And,

and we kind of shared that with the world. Apple actually saw that and Apple invited us down

and, uh, to Cupertino where we, um, kind of got to consult with them and really discuss what was

working great and what wasn't working. So, so great. And that kind of developed this relationship.

And I've been consulting, well, the nonprofit has been consulting with Apple for 10 years now.

Nice. And, um, and so being able to have the ear to the company that's kind of providing you,

this, this independent has been pretty crucial for me, because if I do have any problems that come

up, um, you know, and they're consistent, I can quickly, or I can just reach out to them and say,

okay, guys, we got to take care of this. And, you know, this is, uh, you know, a danger for, for me.

And, you know, they're, they're very receptive. And they, um, 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 ear to that company has been, has been really, really important. And, um,

it's been able to kind of fine tune and, you know, improve that experience for me. But everyone

else that uses that same technology is that they can have that same independence. And, uh, but I

think, you know, I mentioned I got off that ventilator after that first year. And I did, you know,

regain the ability to breathe, but I can't cough. So, right. And so if I kind of get some congestion

going, um, you know, I'm in trouble. And so then I have to call for help. And we have a machine

called a, a cough assist, just pumps them on. I have a trink of a whole tube through my,

and through my neck, and I sleep on an ventilator, but I just use that machine to kind of replicate a

cough, and then I'm able to kind of cough up whatever's bugging me. And then back I go, they know,

I mean, I've been out there a lot, right? So 5,000 miles a year is kind of what I've averaged

last few years. And, you know, there's 14 miles a day and doing that, a northern latitude like

this isn't, isn't easy. It's a lot of rain. And there are very few people with disabilities

or otherwise able bodied who get that mileage in on any sport in a year. That's impressive.

Well, I, you know, I'm a striker too. So, uh, I, I go out every day, right? I hadn't. So about,

uh, I don't know, six months now, six months ago, I didn't have 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, uh,

nine years and nine months of not missing a day outside. Nine years and nine months. Yeah,

getting at least a mile. No, I haven't missed a day since I haven't got back. But, um, but yeah,

it was a bummer not to make that 10-year mark. Well, it's a bummer to have a stroke, too, he had.

That is. It is. Yeah. And I'll tell you guys, losing your, your body is difficult. And, you know,

it's hard to recover from, but, you know, losing your brain. Unfortunately, much of it's all kind of

came back. But that's a whole other ball of wax. I mean, it, it, you know, I, I didn't, I have a book

out, um, you know, that world record. Um, I have a documentary kind of talking about about that.

I didn't know I had any of this. You know, I didn't, I didn't know me, right? When I was first

coming out of this difficult, difficult, difficult thing to go through. But, uh, you know, I think we all,

it got through our, the through our challenges. It's just kind of how we here come out of them and

attitude. I think it's so. Oh, man, you just, you said it right there. Attitude is so important.

I don't in any way want to make what you've gone through seem small. No way. But I would like to

point out that everybody has challenges in life. Maybe they're not as extreme as yours. But their

attitude is what gets them past it, right? What can you tell us about that? What did you learn about

how to have the right attitude? I think, you know, you, uh, you, you get stuck on your back for, for

so long, right? I mean, it was probably six months after that injury that I, I didn't, um, do much

of anything. And you start thinking, okay, either, either I wallow in this and, um, really be angry

with everyone around me, or I start thinking, okay, how do I have a life ahead? What do I need to do

that? Like, one big, big thing is, is having a community, having people around you. And, um,

you know, I've, I've been in a position where I'm, um, you know, I need everything, right? I,

I need someone to help, but it's my nose or I need someone to, um, defeat me or to, you know, wash

my, wash my face, whatever. And, um, in the beginning, it was difficult, right, having to ask for help.

I think that we're, we're all, we pride ourselves and our, our independence, we pride ourselves on

what we, what we do and when all of a sudden, that's been taken away from us, you know, our identity

is questioned. Oh, yeah. Um, you know, I think, um, at, at that point, it, again, this could be

something severe, like a spinal cord injury, but it also could be, you know, a divorce, right,

or a loss of someone in a, in a family, I mean, all those things can really, really knock you,

knock you back, but I, I think you have to say, all right, um, I, I have a future and how do I,

how do I make it real? What, what, what I, what I'd always hoped for and, um, I think involving

those around you and, and just trying to say positive and, uh, yeah, and, you know, and have

others, you know, have others, keep you accountable. Make sure you're, you're stating your goals

and you're saying, all right, here's what I'm going to do and don't let me slack off. Yeah, but,

you know, I think none of us, I think we're stronger together and to, um, the more we can involve

those around us, our loved ones, our friends, just our community, um, I think the more successful

we'll be in general. Yeah, I don't know. I've kind of maybe dodged that question and moved on to

the, the community aspect. Well, that's part of it, right? It is. I mean, that's the least what

lifts me up. That's what keeps my attitude positive is, um, you know, people are doing so much for me

all the time. No, if I can give back at all, then, it's awesome. It sure makes me feel good and makes

me want to continue that positive positive attitude going forward. You know, I don't want to try to

speak for anybody, but I have studied the stages of grief. And when you suffer a loss, you go through

them all. You just have to be so patient with yourself, you know, but I, for anyone that's in the

midst of that, you do come out the other side, you know? Yeah, and I think, I think, you know,

there's always cliches, you know, you're high on the prize or, or whatever. I mean, visualize what

the heck you want your life to look like and try to make that happen. But I think sitting around

wine and bitching and complaining isn't going to get you anywhere. At least it certainly didn't get

me anywhere those first few years. And it was kind of meeting someone, right? It was meeting someone

else that, um, who was successful and who was living a really, really happy and good life. And,

you know, despite the challenges that have been thrown his way, they made me realize that

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, if people want to take part in that.

So, see you sound. It always happens. The, um, it's pretty much the last weekend in August,

but it's always the weekend before labored. And I guess there's three days. It's a Friday,

Saturday, Sunday. And, um, for able-bodied folks, we really, um, love, love for you to sign up

and participate. I mean, be, uh, go to eonsride.com, you know, sign up for our newsletter so you can

see when this is happening. And, and yeah, come join us. I mean, it's a pretty incredible community.

We have, um, both with the disabled folks and just the, um, the, the, the population of folks here

on the Olympic Peninsula that come and join us in further. I mean, we have volunteers that are,

that are coming from Chicago, that are coming from Vegas that are, uh, we've won from Florida,

are each year we, we have a, um, a logo because we have, you know, race medals or finisher medals.

You know, and all sorts of fun swag. But, uh, we have our logo designed by someone's

a disability last year. It was a mouth painter. You know, someone that designed, uh, our logo with,

with our, with their mouth. That's great. Yeah. And, and anyway, I don't know, we, we just

want to make it fun. We even last year we had a, uh, a silly new edition we brought called, uh,

a wheelchair rodeo where we had the, uh, folks and chairs, you know, we started out with, uh,

the silly was precision parking. And so it was like a race to see who could go down there,

going to park and then get back. It was such a dumb thing that I really got really competitive

with it. Like, okay, all right. Let's do this. Exactly. And, you know, then we have, we have a

barrel racing. You know, barrel racing was one of those, that was fun. But, yeah, I mean, I,

I think the nature, you know, I mean, seeing the, the, just the natural beauty of, of the

leaping peninsula is something, but it really is the people, the people that come out are,

are something. And yeah, if, if you're looking to, uh, to explore this beautiful area and do,

with some, some fun people and, um, you don't mind riding it six, seven miles per hour for a few

days. Yeah. We'd love to have you come join us. Uh, that sounds awesome, actually. What,

what a great thing to do. So you, uh, do you call that a puffer tube that you used? Yeah, great.

Um, so I drive with what called the Sippin Puff, um, you know, Sippin Puff drive with my,

my power wheel chair. And so it's basically just a, a straw tube that goes up to my, to my lips.

And, um, how, how it works is if you, if you puff into it, kind of, kind of hard. I mean,

it just kind of gets things, um, just the electronics engaged. If you puff a second time,

you start moving forward. Um, to turn left or right, it's actually a light puff for a light sip.

So it's actually a mountain of pressure air pressure. Okay. Yeah.

To draw that effect, you know, direction. Yeah. Really the best thing about it is I can,

I can hitch my nose with that. So I got to ask, I got to ask the question with it with the

rodeo bit, right? Precision parking and everyone's got to be laughing, hooting and hollering.

So how do you control your chair if you're, if you're laughing and all that?

Very carefully. Yeah. You're trying to, uh, hey, trust me. There's a competitive moment there,

right? You know, laughing at that point. No, I, yeah. It's, uh, you do your best. And, uh,

sip and puff might not be the best for some of those events, but, uh, hey, it's fun to participate.

You know, well, that's fantastic. I love it. I just love it that you're not letting this

massive life challenge stop you from experiencing life in a big, big way.

Well, I think all of us, um, you know, all of us go through challenges and we all, I think, um,

you know, come through. I've just done it in a public and visible way, I think, and, uh,

I think we all have amazing stories to tell. They just, um, you know, might be amazing in

different ways. I, I just go out and go long distances in my, my chair and I'm fortunate to be

involved with a, you know, major tech company and be able to consult with them. And, you know,

one of the best, the biggest things I do is that, you know, our, our nonprofit is kind of three

tiers. It is that we're accessible outdoors aspect. And it's also the technology. But the third

is community, right? And I keep talking about over and over. But, you know, I'm, I'm hosting, um,

one to two support groups a week. And, you know, we're, we're talking with people all over,

all over the country. And I don't think I would be where I am today without, you know, talk

with others and be able to kind of have share those resources and learn from, from shared experiences

and challenges and, you know, and, and ways to, to get past some of these things or just knowing

what equipment's available. Because, you know, you only know what you know and without talking

with people that have tried these things out. There's no other way to talk with them. So,

so yeah, the support group stuff. And, you know, I mean, all of a sudden, there's just the

difficult aspects of it, right? I mean, saying, okay, you know, how are relationships? So often,

people have to get divorced. Um, once they have a spinal vertebrae or something, because

they really need to get on state benefits and the pooled assets of a married couple like that.

Oh, that's rough. They may stay together, but just having to get divorced just so that,

you know, they can be qualified. That's crazy. Or benefits is frustrating. And, you know,

and so many other things. I mean, your dignity can be lost. And how, you know, you may not have the,

the time alone that you, do you once stayed? Your independence has been affected. And, you know,

there's some little mind stuff and some emotional stuff that they can really kick your butt. And,

you know, I'm, I'm about 18 years out now. And, but man, talking to some of those folks,

bringing right back into that hospital and there's vulnerabilities and, you know, that loss of

a future. Not knowing what the heck that's going to hold. Sure. Sure. Let's talk about your book

a little bit here. Karen Polinsky was your, was your, your writer? Yeah. It's not so much a ghost

now. She's at front and center. She was awesome Curtis. Yeah, but go ahead. What was that?

Well, I just, I guess, tell us what the book is about. So people will know if they're like,

oh, I want to hear more about this. What is it? For sure. So, you know, this,

this book is, is much about the story I've told you, right? I mean, it tells about the journey

from that bike accident to, um, to the world record. And, um, and all the vulnerabilities and,

and rough times that were, were in between there. And we, there's so many great successes in my

story and they're, they're wonderful. But, you know, you can't really appreciate those without having

to really go through those difficult times for us. So, and we really kind of dive into that. And,

just how something like a spinal cord injury can affect, um, um, relationships in a family,

right? And dynamics there when, um, you know, people are having to spend so much time maybe on

your care and not, um, focusing on other relationships in their, in their life. Anyway, it,

it, it talks about all, all of that, but it, you know, it just, I think it explores the importance of,

um, of, uh, you know, having people around, getting the importance of being able to ask for help.

And, um, I think it really shows that nature is the best medicine that I love it. Yeah. Yeah.

So the whole story with, um, with Karen Polinsky was, you know, about five or six years ago,

my grandmother, you know, really loved her. So, and she is a hard driver. My grandma until she,

she came over and she, um, said that she wanted to have a meeting with my mom and I. And my mom,

when I was in the hospital, she started a caring bridge. It's just kind of like a little blog

for people, often in a hospital. And, uh, kind of told the story every day. It's kind of how,

how things were going in the hospital. And so we had this written account of, of that. And,

and so my grandma wanted to include that and everything I'd done since and put it into a book and

she found a ghostwriter and he can't see no to grandma. And so, I didn't, I did not know like how

much work it would be. Um, and also, you have this complete stranger who you're having to really

do this, uh, kind of deep dive into really intimate moments of your of your life. And, uh, yeah,

it was, it was, it was challenging. It was, it was quite an experience, but the hardest part

was just kind of editing. Um, she's a little more, um, creative fufu. She's like, you know, I'm a

little more, you know, analytical really, really want to be very, very, uh, honest and straightforward

of the story. And whatever we met in the middle there to make a good, uh,

trying to make a nice narrative on it. You know, I kind of enjoyed this. There's some pictures

in the middle. Uh, yeah. And I'm looking at one of the pictures right now of you laying

in the grass and your dreadlocks are spread out like the rays of the sun around. I did.

Kind of cracks me up. That was funny. That was on a 20th anniversary of having the dreads that I,

but I did that. Yeah, that was, that was fun. I did that with my fiance and my mom. I guess

that was another thing is, you know, I had that stroke. Um, and I was in the ICU right when I was

supposed to be, uh, we missed, uh, you know, we had to delay our wedding because I was in the hospital.

Oh, dude. Man, what advice do you have for people who just, they need to, they need to be able to,

to make something out of their lives, no matter what 100%. Let's see. Well, um, first,

I mean, I think it's important to, uh, to find that thing that drives you to you love and,

and hold on to a tight chase it and, you know, see how far, far it'll go. I think that's, uh,

that's an important one. But I also think it's important not to do it alone, right? I mean,

there's so many other people that also have ambitions and, you know, meet up with them,

connect with them and we're stronger together to do it with, with someone else. But then also,

God, get outside, right? I mean, nature is the best medicine in my opinion. And there's something

about it that can, um, rejuvenate us. And, uh, I, I find myself refreshed and, uh, you know,

I want to really contemplate what I want in life out there. I just, uh, yeah, that's where I,

where my, where, where everything we're fresh is for. That's, you know, I, 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. So the reason that, that's crazy. The reason I'm bringing it up is

that I'm sure they're days that you just didn't want to. Right. You got, again, northern latitudes.

We have just snow having to have a carryover. I'm feeling I'm really just shoveling me out just

to let me get to a van so that I can get out to maybe a ploughed road and you know, actually get

miles and that's a difficult COVID, right? I mean, going out when you're just so sick. So sick.

You just feel miserable and you just want to sit inside and it just looks so cold out there,

but it's going to go and you always feel better. I think we come back and, uh,

Well, the question I guess is that you had committed to doing it and always doing it

that kept you from not doing it. I know that sounds overly simple, but it's real. What is it about

the goal or, or, you know what I mean? Yeah, why, why, why do we do these things and, uh, yeah,

and how, hey, I think, you know, you set your mind to something and you have something like a

streak going, you still want it to end, you know, and it, it was probably like day seven in the

ICU before I realized that I even lost, lost my, lost my streak. But, um, no, I, I, you know,

it's more about just setting your mind to something and I think that, um, you know, it's just that

mindset that, uh, you know, it keeps you going. I want you to start. That's one of the important

things, right? Start and then just don't let it stop. Keep doing it and build from that. You know,

see what else good. 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. Okay.

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. And I don't have, I don't have the

hassle of trying to find things and, and oh, I guess I'll just have to do it later. You know,

it was just like, no, you don't decide whether the weather is good or not. You're going out. That's

what you're going. And then one of the hard things for me is so, um, a high level quadriplegic

can't, um, regulate their temperature, right? So I can't sweat or shiver, you know, if I'm hot or

if I'm, if I'm cold. And so clothing is really important. 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. Oh wow. And you're like burning up, but whatever

you have to get a deal with it because you can't go outside if you don't.

So yeah, I mean, I'm fortunate to have a sponsorship kind of a relationship with

Arcterics. That's where I feel a lot of good gear. Like you see warm out there. Yeah, no doubt, man.

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long waits at the airport, all that kind of stuff. And then when you finally arrive at your

destination, not only are you worn out, but you also might feel a little bit disconnected. I know

that I do when I hop scotch around the planet on a plane. That's one of the reasons why I love the

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time offer that's outdoorsy.com promo code ASP. You're an inspiration obviously. I'm sure people

tell you that all the time, but it's true Ian. And I'm thankful. I'm thankful that there are people

like you in this world who show the rest of us what's possible. Yeah, I think so many of us will

put in a situation would be amazed. It will get accomplished. And yeah, I'm just happy to be in

this situation, but I get to meet so many other people. It really impressed me and inspire me.

Hey, that's what it's all about, right? Is pushing each other and seeing all it's possible.

Yeah. Hey, will you tell us a story? I know that you have a lot of stories from all of these

rides that you did for years and years and years. Tell us a story, two stories. The first story would

be something surprising that happened that impacted you in a big way, right? And then the second

story is a time that something went really wrong and impacted me. In fact, doing another way.

Yeah. All right. Well, I think I think that 2022 ride. So I was taken from Washington, D.C.

up to Cumberland, Maryland is the C&O trail. It's an old towpath, right? And so it was built by

mules that would be pulling barges along the Potomac River. And here I am in a power wheelchair,

you know, on this dirt trail that was forged by mules in centuries ago. And you know,

what I didn't realize was there was sections of that trail where there was probably like a 20 mile

either direction before there was a bailout point. Okay. In a power wheelchair,

when they think you go wrong and I'm 600 pounds and I got my two guys with me as my crew,

but pushing me out of something like that is it would take a day or two. Anyway, I think I learned

first, you know, the reward I got from that was huge. I still dream of that ride. It was the

most beautiful ride ever, but the risk we were taking and was was serious. But I think it showed

the importance of taking risks. That reward never would have happened if I would have been willing

to go out there and do it. I mean, even you're taking that chance, something could go wrong.

Even a tree down would bring your stalls out there with us just to get us through. But yeah,

I think that was just a big one. I think recognizing that, you know, I could do a lot more than I

had that I thought I could and kind of believe in yourself. I had to believe in my equipment as

well there. Yeah, I think that was really important because it made me realize, go for it. Why not?

Yeah, see what happens. You'll be surprised it was possible. And then we moved forward two years

to my 2024 ride and I was riding on the Katie Trail and apparently they along this path they were,

there was a culvert, right? And so they had dug a hole and a trench along the trail across the trail

and they put a pipe in it and they'd backfilled it. But they hadn't backfilled it and compacted it

down very well and it rained a lot the night before. And I was going full speed and my friend,

actually, it was with me, he'd stopped right after it because he was ahead and he was, you know,

saying something. I just thought he was like, okay, you better go fast over this section,

get stuck. And instead I hit this and I just flipped the chair and then ended up on my,

ended up on my side. And I think I learned from that, it's really listening to my people.

But no, I 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 if I'm told them within the

care that you have to mix my chair and yeah, being able to have some influence there on

design and quality is going to be important. Yeah, I think having good equipment,

listening to your people and realizing what's really, that we can do a lot more than we think.

I can't imagine hitting that that ravine. What was in your head? Oh man,

well, it was funny. Luckily, my guy was right there standing right there because he's like

pointing out his own driving up to it. Anyway, I went straight at it and I wouldn't

went right onto my face. But he, right when I got to that tipping point, just pushed me over,

so I ended on my, on my side. But there's a picture where I'm just, I'm just cracking up,

and I'm just laughing. You know, there's plenty of downsides to not be able to move or feel

believe in me, but there's some good sides, not be able to feel the way you're going to do it.

I had eight years earlier. I was riding home from downtown Port Angeles on a concert and it was dark

and I was going down a hill and my chair wouldn't tilt and ended up flipping it and I was alone

and my phones 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. A guy, 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. And then I had him kind of straighten me out in my chair so I could drive home

and the woman said, oh, do you want me to straighten out your foot? I couldn't see my foot.

And she did. And there is a way that I can feel and it's called what it is. It's the blood pressure.

You know, your blood pressure can kind of kind of change. And so when you have really bad pain,

you can get something called autonomic dysreflexia and it's just this spike in blood pressure.

And for me, that feels like this headache. And so she moved that foot and I got him this headache

as it might be wrong. It turns out I didn't break my leg. Oh, no. I spent a week before I

went into the hospital. But what are they going to say? Do they just tell me to stay off?

And you've got a great attitude about it. That's crazy. So if people want to be a part of your

sea to sound, ride, or they want to be part of your nonprofit, they want to read your book.

I mean, how did it get in touch?

All right. So, you know, eonsride.com. I mean, we always have whatever's going on next there.

I'm again, our newsletter is a great thing. You can go at the bottom of that page and

sign up. But another thing you could maybe join us, depending on where you are in the country, is

every two years. I do these, these long rides, these cross-state rides. In this next one,

I'm going to be doing in 2026. It'll be in probably late September or early October. And it's

going to be the Erie Canal Trail. And I'll be riding across New York from Albany to Buffalo.

It's about 350 miles or so. And yeah, it should be. It should be a lot of fun. So, you know,

follow us. You'll erupt to and come join us out there on the Erie Canal Trail.

That's awesome. Do you know the song about the Erie Canal from Albany to Buffalo?

Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I'm not going to sing it, but...

Come on Curtis.

Now we'll be singing that along.

That's fantastic. And so, you said September?

Yeah, probably late September going into the world's price spent a couple of weeks,

10 days to be exact.

Fantastic. Right on. Well, Ian, thank you for sharing your story with us. And thank you for your

time today. 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. I love it. I love the example and I love that,

you know, the fact that you found a way to make that work for you.

No, hashtag, get outside. I think that's where we all are better people.

Oh, absolutely. Well, thank you very much. Everyone out there, thank you for listening in today.

And get Ian's book, participate, get involved. I just think it's fantastic. Ian's right is the name

of the book. And until the next show, do get out there and have some fun.

Thanks, Curtis. Yeah, you bet, man.