Day 24: Ft. Collins to Boulder

Today we rode 45 miles or so from Ft. Collins to Boulder. Ft. Collins is the beginning of the so called the front range megalopolis. For this reason I expected a rather annoying city ride, but it was actually really nice. We were all really shocked to see the extreme amount of cyclists all around boulder. Apparently cycling is the boulder thing to do.

We cycled through the University of Boulder campus and staged up at their football stadium. The team got really excited when the red bull girls walked by, and we were able to get free red bull. We rolled over to the frat house and showered. Ryan, Dom, Josh, and I walked to Jimmy Johns for lunch.

After showering/lunch we went to the Presbyterian Church in boulder where we would be spending the next two nights. There was a washer and dryer where we were staying so I quickly threw all of my laundry into the machine. We soon left for our friendship visit at the east boulder recreation center.

We had a friendship visit with Boulder’s quad rugby team, the Denver harlequins. Quad rugby, or murderball, is played by people who are quadriplegics, and at first each player introduced themselves and told us how they got their neck injuries. It was a real eye opener to hear how some of the guys became injured. One guy was riding a mechanical bull and broke his neck. That could happen to anyone.

Everyone on the journey of hope was given the chance to get into one of the specially designed wheelchairs and give the sport a try. It was pretty awesome to run a wheel chair into people and try to score. After everyone was given a chance to play, the best five guys on the team—I was one of them—played a real game against the Denver harlequins. It was pretty cool, but they kicked our butts.

This was also the first time I’ve ever met any Olympians. Two of the guys we played with are on the USA quad rugby team and will be going to Beijing in September for the Paralympics. In most countries, the Paralympics are a real big deal, but the U.S. is one of the only countries that doesn’t even broadcast it. There is definitely a need for people to understand the abilities of people with disabilities.

Another eye opening experience for me at this friendship visit was the fact that when I finished playing I could just unstrap myself from the wheelchair and get up and walk around. This really his home the idea of empathy, and really understanding what living with a disability is like. It’s great to be able to experience what it is like to have a disability, and understand people’s abilities, but the people living with these disabilities can’t just turn them off after an event.

For dinner, most of the team went to the pi kapp house at CU and had a BBQ. It was a lot of fun, and a good way to relax.