Bobsled Update!!

Bobsled Update!!

    Well gang as most of you know I have returned from my Bobsled adventure somewhat amazed and surprised!! It was an awesome adventure and I met so many new great friends!! I have to say I had one goal in mind for this week and that was not to crash and try to do the best I could. Well not only did I do that but I came home victorious!!!! Yes I not only survived this week but I took first place in the USABSA Adaptive Bobsled Race in Park City!! I had nine other competitors all of which did very well as no one wrecked!! I have to tell you it is the most exhilarating and intense rush I have ever experienced!! I owe A BIG THANKS, to Dave Nicholls, Twila Victory, and Matt Bailey for giving me the opportunity to help get notice that the disabled can race in bobsleds and be very competitive. Not to brag, well yes I think it is, but me and the most incredible brakeman Gina Beredino Kothe were the only team that topped 60 miles and hour for their run with a run of 60.2 miles an hour!!! We had four or five of our competitors that continued on to Calgary Canada and I wish them all the luck in the world as they represent our country in the bobsled competition up there!! To my new friends I hope we can keep the Adaptive Bobsled team we have become together and make it an official Paralympic event!! Thanks for your camaraderie and friendship!

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!!!   

United States Adaptive Bobsled Team member!!!!!

 

Excited to be able to try!!

 

 

                  It all started with a call from a buddy Matt Bailey! Matt got a call to come up to Park City to try out for the United States Adaptive Bobsled Team. Matt knew I lived in Utah and spoke with the directors and they were looking for volunteers to do some bobsledding  with the hopes of getting it to be an official Paralympic sport! Matt called me immediately and asked me if I wanted to try out? I said Matt.......you know I'm 49 years young don't you? And he said, "yep and that's why I knew you would do it cause your almost as crazy as me and I'm 54!!" (I'm not close to being as crazy as Pinky the wildman Bailey!) He's also planning to do the Skeleton this coming week as well!! We go to school on Monday the 20th and then we slide Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and Friday, then race for medals on Saturday!!!!! Just to have a chance to possibly put this sport into the Paralympics and being a member of the pioneer team is such an honor!!! Speeds of around 70 miles an hour in a rocket going down an icy track does seem scary but I'm up for the challenge!! Since being in the chair I have gotten to do some really fun things and this will be at the top of the list! Dave Nicholls is the man that made that phone call to Matt and Dave himself is a quadriplegic who has piloted one of these bobsleds down the track! Dave is eager to get the the U.S. Adaptive Paralympic Bobsled Team into the 2018 Paralympics and with his drive and determination it will happen! I'm just proud and honored to be asked to help with this incredible endeavor and hope I'm able to fulfill his dream of getting the Adaptive Bobsled Team into the 2018 Paralympics! Wish me luck gang!!!