Bobsled update!!!!

Bobsled Update!!

     Ok gang here is the update for my Bobsled experience! We were finally able to get on the ice as drivers, to do the Park City bobsled run! I have to tell you it was better and more intense than any roller coaster ride I have ever been on!! Nerves and anxiousness were pulsing through my body as I was loaded into the bobsled as a driver! The instructors gave us the brief outline of the track and then we did  track walk, (slide for me) to see how to enter and exit the corners. We were tethered to a rope and slowly lowered in our wheelchairs through out the run to see the track. They told us about how the sled drives and that it is more of a feel as to what the sled is doing to make your small adjustments. What I mean by small adjustments is there are two guide ropes in the sled attached to the runners that steer the sled. You have two D rings you hold onto to steer. We went from the Junior start as we have not had the experience to go from the top of the track yet. To adjust you simply tug one the D ring with small movements and it turns the sled into the corners. From the top of the track you pull 5 G's that basically suck you down into the sled. We didn't feel the full 5 G's because we went from the junior start but you really felt the pressure when we hit the turns. Well after our schooling and final instructions we were put into the sleds for competition. The whole reason for us doing this was to help get the Adaptive Bobsled event into the 2018 Paralympics!! Just to be invited to participate was such an honor, and I owe a big thank you for Matt Bailey for letting me know about this incredible opportunity!!
   Once strapped into the sled we were then pushed onto the track with butterflies abound in our stomach's!! After all eight runs were complete I'm very happy to say that not only did I survive but I had the fastest time for competition and came in first!!!! I was more focused on not wrecking, hitting my marks, and just arriving alive with the sled upright, than thinking about winning the competition. Then once the run was over I finally stopped focusing on the track to look up to see the score board read number 8 sled 46.3, 60.2 miles per hour 1ST place!!! Then reality set in that I had not only arrived alive but I had actually won the competition!!!
    To be a member of the USABSA adaptive bobsled team has been such a thrill and I'm not sure where it will take me, but I hope I at least have had a contribution to making it a Paralympic sport! A special thanks goes out to Dave Nicholls and Twila Victory for doing all you have done to make this an official Paralympic event!!!