A Spokin' Life

Oh yeah! I’m back and ready to bring the blog back up to speed. I’ve had a bit of a leave if absence for some time now along with a few technical difficulties but those days are over and I’m back for vengeance. So prepare you eyes to be bombarded with pictures, videos, and possibly a word here and there to glue it all together.

To say that a lot has happened in the last few weeks would be an utter understatement. I flew to VA, rented a car with a ghetto hand control setup, hung w friends, had an incredible Rollout, got a cold, drove to KY, played in the national quad rugby tournament, flew home and finally slept in to name a few.

Topher and I riding two days before the Roll-Out

Easy Ryder Style

Storm rolling in

As some of you know, mother nature tested us at this years Roll-Out. It’s not very often that the weather predicts a 100% chance of rain but on April 22, they did just that. They were right. It must have rained for 30 hours straight. But the show must go on… As a good friend and neighbor put it, “They didn’t cancel Woodstock because of rain,” So neither did we.

Here it comes…

Out of almost 70 preregistered participants for the 64mile ride, there was only this crew of Badasses. 52 degrees and rain wasn’t ideal conditions but it’s a sure tell way to separate the boys from the men.

The Crew

Of course I can talk all of this shit because my buddy Topher and I rode 15 miles in the pouring rain with a wheel directly between our legs blasting our face with street grime the whole time. Haha

These four braved and froze on the 40mile loop!

A little rain never hurt anybody

the home stretch

The turn out for the run still held quite strong. The course went through a farm, past delicious smelling manure piles and out and back on a nice country road. As everyone returned to the barn w steam radiating from all directions, there was only one way to turn- towards the beer truck.

Heading out

Can’t forget about the fuzzy muddy buddy walk!

Of course, as in years past, we were lucky to have delicious home made BBQ with baked beans, cole slaw, and a variety of other tasty treats. Thanks everyone who made this possible.

A little fish eye

Full house/barn

There was a delicious cupcake assortment to choose from

All in all a great success

Our rugby team had Nationals the following weekend in Louisville, KY. Louisville, KY is really a neat city. There’s all sorts of music, shops, and of course bourbon to indulge in. The team stayed at the Galt House hotel which has over 2500 rooms. It was nice to have the hotel just pushing distance from the convention center where everything was held. We ended up taking 3rd in division 2 which is quite an accomplishment considering how we started the year.

Getting ready to play

The arena (1 of 3 courts)

Adam about to score

Big guy going over

What better way to finish a blog than pictures of Ol Smeller all over…

Reflecting life

Fox mill dawg

Bell in Charlottesville 

See ya down the road

Keep on Keepin’ on

Going through my computer looking at all my pictures from the last month or so there’s no question that I’ve been busy. I have about six half written blog posts and enough pictures to fill up an entire photo album. Yet everything is being pushed back yet again in order for me to be ready to head back to VA on Sunday.

The first and most important order of business in the 2012 KW Roll-Out. It’s coming up in just 9 days and I can hardly wait! I’m super excited to have it out at the beautiful Coventry Farm this year and to actually participate in the bike ride. I’ve been training rigorously for rugby (which we qualified for nationals 2 weeks ago in Philadelphia) and hand cycling whenever I get the chance.  I feel good, strong, and stoked to be back on the roads of Hanover, even if it’s on a tricycle instead of bicycle…

For anyone who wants to know more or register for the event, check out the website KWRollout.com. Please spread the word and I hope to see everyone there!
We finally figured out the shirts for this years event. Although they might not follow the theme from previous years events, I still think it looks pretty cool.

I was asked by a friend to come photograph her burlesque performance last week. It sounded like a good idea at the time, so I happily accepted.

After getting to the venue and pulling my camera out, I realized I was the only one taking pictures of all the ladies dancing provocatively in front of me. It was deathly quiet and all you could here was ‘click-click’ of my shutter.  Then it dawned on me…. Everyone in the place must think I’m taking the pics for my own collection! They’re thinking, “This poor guy in the wheelchair is taking pictures of these ladies so he can look at them later. He probably never gets out.”

Little do they know! haha

Anyway, here are a few of my favorites

And check out my last post…. for some reason it didn’t email everyone when I posted it.

Keep on Keepin’ on

Once the sight out of the plane window went from this:

To this:

I knew we weren’t in CO anymore….

It was Bella and my first visit to Las Vegas. We went with the rugby team for a 3 day tournament, but stayed an extra day to make things interesting…

Bella loves the strip!

But sometimes got confused with who she came with.

I won $4OO the first night!

Then lost $600 the next

Don’t worry, not with her……

We ended up taking 2nd at our tournament.

And occasionally I even made a play.

Then we came back to Boulder to play in the massive snow

All 23″ or so!

That’s all for now

Keep on Keepin’ on

And mark your calendars for April 22, 2012 for the KWRoll-Out III!

“Well I guess this is as far as it goes,” I think to myself. Normally I’de push it a little further but being that this is my first solo winter camping trip out of cell signal, I decide not to push my luck.

It’s a little different now, camping in a wheelchair and all, where I would normally hop out and check the snow depth before driving through, I simply can’t. I found this particular spot just off the highway because my initial spot seemed a bit too “untouched” for Herb to make fresh tracks. Directly off the road the trail goes downhill which means if I get stuck, I’ll have to climb back up the snow covered hill to the main road. Not gonna happen.

This spot I found is fine though. Sure, its not in the most scenic location. Sure, there are quite a few bullet casings and a rusty old trailer parked beside me, and sure, Bella did bring me a nice jaw bone with a full set of teeth still intact that resemble some sort of obvious carnivorous animal. Not quite paradise but I’m here alone with no distractions, no television, just nature, a good book, and Bella.

As the sun begins to set, the mountain winds have already begun howling through the trees around. The light wind blown snow gets picked up into a cyclone before moving a few feet down the valley and getting dispersed yet again. I call Bella in before all the snow gets blown my way. For now, I leave “Herb” running with the heat on as the thought of how cold it’s going to be tonight chills my inner core.

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a 0 degree down sleeping bag. Being a quadriplegic, I no longer sweat or shiver below my place of injury so temperature regulation is one of my upmost concerns. I had been dying to go camping but was a little concerned with the temperatures out here in CO. Tonight I will give my new bag a test run but from what I can tell so far between this down bag and my 115 degree fluff ball known as Bella, I’ll be better than alright.

I awoke this morning to a fresh inch or two dusting on the windows of the van and as toasty as ever. The bag/dog combo worked perfectly. I think it could have been quite a bit cooler and I still would have been just fine. I’m guessing it was in the teens somewhere.

As I climb back into the drivers seat and start my descent back towards Boulder I think of how fortunate I am to still do the activities I love. So many in my position or with other disabilities give up on outdoor activities at the time of injury. It goes to show yet again with a little extra planning, it can all still be done.

Even as I go around and tell the guys on my rugby team about my trip, they look at me like I’m crazy. It’s ironic because I feel the same way about them–but they’re the crazy ones for NOT doing it.

A neat piece done for me by my friends at Rich Clarkson and Associates 

(2011 AVA 2 Platinum Awards won – Documentary & Pro Bono)

Keep on Keepin’ on

As usual, my trip home for Christmas was a whirlwind visit. It’s always good to see family and friends, even if it’s only for a hot minute.

I was shocked by the weather while I was home and Bella talked me into showing her the train station and RMC’s campus.

Christmas is always wonderful, but especially so this year thanks to our new family member, Addi Williams.

Nobodies happy here….

Can you tell there related?

Or spoiled?

We had to see Grammy, so road trip we did… All the way to grandmothers house (4 hours there- 7 home!)

So…. Backtracking a bit before the new years, I decided that I looked far to friendly to be a rugby player. Something needed to change. First, I went for the most obvious thing, a haircut. Secondly, I did something that took far more dedication than cutting a few measly strands of hair. I went face first into some asphalt biting a hole straight through my lip and chipping my front tooth straight in half. 8 stitches on top of my lip and 12 on the back side. Now I am ready to intimidate some motha f******! After I suck down 5 Advil that is…

I might have been out drinking with buddies. And might have fallen off an off-camber sidewalk. And my reflexes might have been a little bit slower than usual… So, yea…

But that was last year! I wasn’t about to let that slow me own in bringing in 2012 with a bang!

Clay came back to CO with me and we headed west to Aspen to party with good buddies and possibly ski a bit.

Do to the outrageous cover charge to get into most clubs or bars on NYE, we found ourselves at a friend of a friends house party. It actually turned out to be alright!

Drank a little bit through the shot ski

And had to take a picture of her! Wearing leopard print with flannel!!! Really!?

All in all, it was a good new years.

There hasn’t hardly been any snow out here yet this year. In fact, it’s been unbelievably warm and delightful. Bell and I drove up one of the canyons while Clay avoided rocks trying to snowboard down a few runs.

As you can see, the sun was soul warmingly brilliant.

2012 should be a big year. I have big plans and a lot to do before the world ends on 12-21-2012

Keep on keepin’ on