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Inspiring Loss
I saw this story in the Front Range MTBR forum and I was inspired.
Truly an amazing tale of overcoming hardship to the fullest extent. Sadly, he passed away a few days ago. The fact that useless members of society like Libby, continue to suck our pockets dry and this humble man who lifted himself out of a life of recklessness leaves us at 46. -HEAD- Rex Patrick conquered addiction, disability and found a new life on his bike?-BYLN- Jason Blevins Denver Post Staff Writer??-TEXT- Rex Patrick grinds up a rocky singletrack, nimbly maneuvering his bike along the steep rutted trail without hesitating. Patrick has mad skills on a mountain bike. But his pedaling prowess is underscored by what the 45-year-old from Littleton does not have: a left leg. "That whole stand up and pedal or put a foot down thing is foreign to me," he says. "It's not an option." Patrick's dexterity on two wheels is inspiring. Ride behind him and you'll see the panting pedalers he passes dig deeper, inspired by the frenetic bob of the one-pedal marvel. "I motivate people, I guess," says the Littleton rider whose biking skills earned him two medals in Atlanta's 1996 Paralympics. "When I pass someone, I can see them saying to themselves, 'If this guy is going like that, what am I complaining about?' That is a good feeling." Patrick's inspirational aura covers much more than mountain singletrack, and it moves well beyond emboldening the disabled. His story - one he tells reticently - starts with a drinking problem at age 11. Jail at 12. Intravenous drugs at 16. A drunken car crash in Nebraska at 17, which cost him his leg but did little to jolt the son of a drug addict and alcoholic off his careening ride toward an early grave. In fact, after losing his leg "it got really bad," he says, oblivious to the irony of getting much worse than a one-legged 17-year-old alcoholic and drug-addicted high school dropout. Turns out losing his leg was only a step on a long staircase spiraling to a dark nadir that rarely allows survivors. By his late teens, he found the most deadly drug out there and he was hooked. A methamphetamine addict, homeless and living on the streets, Patrick went through drug treatment for the 12th time in his early 20s. A counselor at the treatment center told him there was nothing left to do. He was going to die. "Most of the people I knew back then had already died," he says. "I guessed it was my destiny." On a last chance effort to shake the life-erasing grip of meth, he moved to Denver, far from his family and friends in Oklahoma and Nebraska. He was sleeping in the Samaritan Shelter or on the streets. He was 100 pounds overweight and smoking more than a pack of cigarettes a day. He was on the edge, fighting his addiction and barely surviving. Then a pal took him skiing. He was 26. On the snow, he found a reason to fight harder. He dropped the weight and the smokes. He started racing and teaching disabled skiing. A coach told him he had tremendous potential as a skier, but he needed to find a way to stay strong in the offseason. "A buddy had an old Huffy, he tied my foot to the pedal and I fell in love," he says. "I started riding everywhere." Cycling is saving grace On two wheels, Patrick's disability disappeared. Bike makers like Schwinn gave him equipment and sponsorship money. He started racing in 1991, beating even the two-legged pedalers when he quickly dominated the small world of disabled bike racing. He logged more than 250 miles a week on a bike. He won the National Disabled Cycling Championship in 1992 and represented the United States in the Barcelona Paralympic Games that year. Four years later, he won two medals at the Atlanta Games, setting a national record in the 4-kilometer track time trial that stands today. In 1997, he set another national record for the 200-meter flying start track time trial. In 1998, he ended his racing career when he learned he had hepatitis C, a disease lingering from his drug-injecting days as a 16-year-old. Now, in addition to a job building custom homes, he works at a home for struggling kids who are fighting their demons. "I understand how they think," he says. Today, Patrick has logged 19 years - almost 7,000 days - sober. He married in April and is a father to a 7-year-old girl. He pedals year-round, five days a week, dropping the hammer on the dozens of rocky bike trails in the Front Range foothills. He likes to time himself racing up lengthy, challenging singletrack at Mount Falcon: 31 minutes, but he's aiming for a sub-30-minute time this winter. Since he never really rode before losing his leg at the hip, he knows only one-legged cycling. He likes it that way. And is he ever good. "It blows me away what this guy can do with one leg," says Dr. Andy Pruitt, founder and director of the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine and a world champion cyclist who has served as a cycling mentor for Patrick. "He's a survivor of so much. His recovery from addiction to a successful contributing member of society is a story in and of itself. "What this guy has been able to overcome is nothing short of amazing." Doing what seems impossible Patrick pedals like the pros say you should: in a circle. He pulls up and pushes down, whereas most pedalers don't really pull. When the trail gets too steep, which is not often, he dismounts and hops with the precision and power of a mountain goat. Hopping is exhausting, though. He prefers to stay in the saddle. Sometimes he'll grab a trailside bush to remain upright while letting his depleted lungs regain their juice, grunting "Go!" and "Come on!" as he pushes onward and upward. Watching him regain forward momentum on a steep slope seems to defy physics. (Imagine starting up a rocky incline from midslope without that seemingly essential second pedal stroke to maintain momentum. Try it. It seems impossible.) His leg, thick as a grown man's waist, never tires. He flies downhill through rocky terrain that forces even expert riders off their bikes, and he never stands out of the saddle, a position virtually required for downhill riding. His massive arms - chiseled from 28 years on crutches - pump up and down with every pedal stroke, adding what equates to a push-up to every rotation. Denver rider Jimmy Greiner started pedaling with Patrick last month. On their first ride, Patrick left Greiner in his dust. The next day, at Mount Falcon, Greiner was determined to keep up. "My poor sea-level lungs were just starving, and I had to pull over for a breath of air," says the recent New Orleans transplant. "And here comes the one-legged wonder blasting past me, telling me I just got to push through and keep on pushing. "I realized that probably is what he's been doing most of his life. I had no choice to but to step up and chase him." Patrick wasn't born one of those athletically inclined machines who master everything they try, he says. To be an expert rider, he works twice as hard as the expert two-pedal pushers. The reward is twice as rich, he says. He points to his bike - a new full-suspension Specialized Epic - as the source of the best high he knows. "You know that feeling you have right now," he says after a 3-hour, 20-mile ride. "There is nothing like it. Nothing." Staff writer Jason Blevins can be reached at 303-820-1374 or . -CUTL- PHOTO: Mateo Leyba Denver Post photos Littleton mountain biker Rex Patrick removed the left pedal on his bike and would have removed the left crank completely, but its design on this particular bike prevented it. "I thought about cutting it, but it's a really expensive crank," he said. PHOTO: Mateo Leyba Denver Post photos Rex Patrick of Littleton, who lost his leg in automobile accident at 17, rides through the rocks of Parmalee Trail at Mount Falcon Park in Morrison. Patrick started racing in 1991 and won two medals at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta. http://www.mateoleyba.com/rex/rex_001.jpg http://www.mateoleyba.com/rex/rex_002.jpg http://www.mateoleyba.com/rex/rex_003.jpg -- o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o www.schnauzers.ws |
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#2
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Inspiring Loss
On Apr 6, 12:33 am, Ride-A-Lot wrote:
I saw this story in the Front Range MTBR forum and I was inspired. Truly an amazing tale of overcoming hardship to the fullest extent. http://www.messmedia.org/messville/dexter.html CC |
#3
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Inspiring Loss
Corvus Corvax wrote:
On Apr 6, 12:33 am, Ride-A-Lot wrote: I saw this story in the Front Range MTBR forum and I was inspired. Truly an amazing tale of overcoming hardship to the fullest extent. http://www.messmedia.org/messville/dexter.html I threw my back out (again) yesterday. Ain't gonna stop me from riding after reading THAT. |
#4
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Inspiring Loss
Ride-A-Lot wrote:
I saw this story in the Front Range MTBR forum and I was inspired. Truly an amazing tale of overcoming hardship to the fullest extent. Sadly, he passed away a few days ago. The fact that useless members of society like Libby, continue to suck our pockets dry and this humble man who lifted himself out of a life of recklessness leaves us at 46. Before he found skiing, he *was* probably "sucking our pockets dry", and you'd have treated him just like libby. You'd rather see him in the gutter, rather than on any state-sponsored welfare program (without which, he probably would have died). It's ironic, because the more you criticize Libby and Bob, the worse it makes you look when you stoop to their level. You are alternately kicking a mentally ill, homeless troll, and resorting to the same method of public humiliation that Bob employed against you. Show an ounce of restraint and maturity and either take the **** offline or get over it. Nobody's any better for it, and you're getting the worst of it. |
#5
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Inspiring Loss
On Apr 6, 12:33 am, Ride-A-Lot wrote:
I saw this story in the Front Range MTBR forum and I was inspired. Truly an amazing tale of overcoming hardship to the fullest extent. Sadly, he passed away a few days ago. The fact that useless members of society like Libby, continue to suck our pockets dry and this humble man who lifted himself out of a life of recklessness leaves us at 46. -HEAD- Rex Patrick conquered addiction, disability and found a new life on his bike?-BYLN- Jason Blevins Denver Post Staff Writer??-TEXT- Rex Patrick grinds up a rocky singletrack, nimbly maneuvering his bike along the steep rutted trail without hesitating. Patrick has mad skills on a mountain bike. But his pedaling prowess is underscored by what the 45-year-old from Littleton does not have: a left leg. "That whole stand up and pedal or put a foot down thing is foreign to me," he says. "It's not an option." Patrick's dexterity on two wheels is inspiring. Ride behind him and you'll see the panting pedalers he passes dig deeper, inspired by the frenetic bob of the one-pedal marvel. "I motivate people, I guess," says the Littleton rider whose biking skills earned him two medals in Atlanta's 1996 Paralympics. "When I pass someone, I can see them saying to themselves, 'If this guy is going like that, what am I complaining about?' That is a good feeling." Patrick's inspirational aura covers much more than mountain singletrack, and it moves well beyond emboldening the disabled. His story - one he tells reticently - starts with a drinking problem at age 11. Jail at 12. Intravenous drugs at 16. A drunken car crash in Nebraska at 17, which cost him his leg but did little to jolt the son of a drug addict and alcoholic off his careening ride toward an early grave. In fact, after losing his leg "it got really bad," he says, oblivious to the irony of getting much worse than a one-legged 17-year-old alcoholic and drug-addicted high school dropout. Turns out losing his leg was only a step on a long staircase spiraling to a dark nadir that rarely allows survivors. By his late teens, he found the most deadly drug out there and he was hooked. A methamphetamine addict, homeless and living on the streets, Patrick went through drug treatment for the 12th time in his early 20s. A counselor at the treatment center told him there was nothing left to do. He was going to die. "Most of the people I knew back then had already died," he says. "I guessed it was my destiny." On a last chance effort to shake the life-erasing grip of meth, he moved to Denver, far from his family and friends in Oklahoma and Nebraska. He was sleeping in the Samaritan Shelter or on the streets. He was 100 pounds overweight and smoking more than a pack of cigarettes a day. He was on the edge, fighting his addiction and barely surviving. Then a pal took him skiing. He was 26. On the snow, he found a reason to fight harder. He dropped the weight and the smokes. He started racing and teaching disabled skiing. A coach told him he had tremendous potential as a skier, but he needed to find a way to stay strong in the offseason. "A buddy had an old Huffy, he tied my foot to the pedal and I fell in love," he says. "I started riding everywhere." Cycling is saving grace On two wheels, Patrick's disability disappeared. Bike makers like Schwinn gave him equipment and sponsorship money. He started racing in 1991, beating even the two-legged pedalers when he quickly dominated the small world of disabled bike racing. He logged more than 250 miles a week on a bike. He won the National Disabled Cycling Championship in 1992 and represented the United States in the Barcelona Paralympic Games that year. Four years later, he won two medals at the Atlanta Games, setting a national record in the 4-kilometer track time trial that stands today. In 1997, he set another national record for the 200-meter flying start track time trial. In 1998, he ended his racing career when he learned he had hepatitis C, a disease lingering from his drug-injecting days as a 16-year-old. Now, in addition to a job building custom homes, he works at a home for struggling kids who are fighting their demons. "I understand how they think," he says. Today, Patrick has logged 19 years - almost 7,000 days - sober. He married in April and is a father to a 7-year-old girl. He pedals year-round, five days a week, dropping the hammer on the dozens of rocky bike trails in the Front Range foothills. He likes to time himself racing up lengthy, challenging singletrack at Mount Falcon: 31 minutes, but he's aiming for a sub-30-minute time this winter. Since he never really rode before losing his leg at the hip, he knows only one-legged cycling. He likes it that way. And is he ever good. "It blows me away what this guy can do with one leg," says Dr. Andy Pruitt, founder and director of the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine and a world champion cyclist who has served as a cycling mentor for Patrick. "He's a survivor of so much. His recovery from addiction to a successful contributing member of society is a story in and of itself. "What this guy has been able to overcome is nothing short of amazing." Doing what seems impossible Patrick pedals like the pros say you should: in a circle. He pulls up and pushes down, whereas most pedalers don't really pull. When the trail gets too steep, which is not often, he dismounts and hops with the precision and power of a mountain goat. Hopping is exhausting, though. He prefers to stay in the saddle. Sometimes he'll grab a trailside bush to remain upright while letting his depleted lungs regain their juice, grunting "Go!" and "Come on!" as he pushes onward and upward. Watching him regain forward momentum on a steep slope seems to defy physics. (Imagine starting up a rocky incline from midslope without that seemingly essential second pedal stroke to maintain momentum. Try it. It seems impossible.) His leg, thick as a grown man's waist, never tires. He flies downhill through rocky terrain that forces even expert riders off their bikes, and he never stands out of the saddle, a position virtually required for downhill riding. His massive arms - chiseled from 28 years on crutches - pump up and down with every pedal stroke, adding what equates to a push-up to every rotation. Denver rider Jimmy Greiner started pedaling with Patrick last month. On their first ride, Patrick left Greiner in his dust. The next day, at Mount Falcon, Greiner was determined to keep up. "My poor sea-level lungs were just starving, and I had to pull over for a breath of air," says the recent New Orleans transplant. "And here comes the one-legged wonder blasting past me, telling me I just got to push through and keep on pushing. "I realized that probably is what he's been doing most of his life. I had no choice to but to step up and chase him." Patrick wasn't born one of those athletically inclined machines who master everything they try, he says. To be an expert rider, he works twice as hard as the expert two-pedal pushers. The reward is twice as rich, he says. He points to his bike - a new full-suspension Specialized Epic - as the source of the best high he knows. "You know that feeling you have right now," he says after a 3-hour, 20-mile ride. "There is nothing like it. Nothing." Staff writer Jason Blevins can be reached at 303-820-1374 or . -CUTL- PHOTO: Mateo Leyba Denver Post photos Littleton mountain biker Rex Patrick removed the left pedal on his bike and would have removed the left crank completely, but its design on this particular bike prevented it. "I thought about cutting it, but it's a really expensive crank," he said. PHOTO: Mateo Leyba Denver Post photos Rex Patrick of Littleton, who lost his leg in automobile accident at 17, rides through the rocks of Parmalee Trail at Mount Falcon Park in Morrison. Patrick started racing in 1991 and won two medals at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta. http://www.mateoleyba.com/rex/rex_00...ex/rex_003.jpg -- o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-owww.schnauzers.ws Awesome post. I'm jonesing for a good ride now. |
#6
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Inspiring Loss
cc wrote:
Ride-A-Lot wrote: I saw this story in the Front Range MTBR forum and I was inspired. Truly an amazing tale of overcoming hardship to the fullest extent. Sadly, he passed away a few days ago. The fact that useless members of society like Libby, continue to suck our pockets dry and this humble man who lifted himself out of a life of recklessness leaves us at 46. Before he found skiing, he *was* probably "sucking our pockets dry", and you'd have treated him just like libby. You'd rather see him in the gutter, rather than on any state-sponsored welfare program (without which, he probably would have died). It's ironic, because the more you criticize Libby and Bob, the worse it makes you look when you stoop to their level. You are alternately kicking a mentally ill, homeless troll, and resorting to the same method of public humiliation that Bob employed against you. Show an ounce of restraint and maturity and either take the **** offline or get over it. Nobody's any better for it, and you're getting the worst of it. Wrong again. I have offered on numerous occasions (google it) to pay for Libby's meds and get him back on track. I suggest you do a little more research next time before you open your supremely liberal mouth. There, Have some public humiliation. Sheesh! -- o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o www.schnauzers.ws |
#8
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Inspiring Loss
Ride-A-Lot wrote:
cc wrote: Ride-A-Lot wrote: I saw this story in the Front Range MTBR forum and I was inspired. Truly an amazing tale of overcoming hardship to the fullest extent. Sadly, he passed away a few days ago. The fact that useless members of society like Libby, continue to suck our pockets dry and this humble man who lifted himself out of a life of recklessness leaves us at 46. Before he found skiing, he *was* probably "sucking our pockets dry", and you'd have treated him just like libby. You'd rather see him in the gutter, rather than on any state-sponsored welfare program (without which, he probably would have died). It's ironic, because the more you criticize Libby and Bob, the worse it makes you look when you stoop to their level. You are alternately kicking a mentally ill, homeless troll, and resorting to the same method of public humiliation that Bob employed against you. Show an ounce of restraint and maturity and either take the **** offline or get over it. Nobody's any better for it, and you're getting the worst of it. Wrong again. I have offered on numerous occasions (google it) to pay for Libby's meds and get him back on track. Yes, because it was clear you meant it. Forgive me if it's hard to take someone who alternates making fun of someone for mental disability with "offering help" seriously. You've got to be kidding. I suggest you do a little more research next time before you open your supremely liberal mouth. There, Have some public humiliation. Never at your hand. I've no need to do research; I've been here. A cursory search will reveal you're simply being dishonest. I find it supremely ironic that you should try telling me what to do before opening my mouth. You are the king of this NG as far as thoughtless, misguided, or idiotic posts that are a result of a cruel combination of stupidity and the inability to think before speaking. Sheesh! The post was for your sake. Just think before you speak. Seriously. |
#9
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Inspiring Loss
cc wrote:
I suggest you do a little more research next time before you open your supremely liberal mouth. There, Have some public humiliation. Never at your hand. I've no need to do research; I've been here. A cursory search will reveal you're simply being dishonest. When it comes to you, I'll never be dishonest. So, the honest truth is you're an ass. I find it supremely ironic that you should try telling me what to do before opening my mouth. You are the king of this NG as far as thoughtless, misguided, or idiotic posts that are a result of a cruel combination of stupidity and the inability to think before speaking. Sheesh! The post was for your sake. Just think before you speak. Seriously. Thank you Doctor Schlocen Schtupe. Hee hee. He said seriously. -- o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o www.schnauzers.ws |
#10
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Inspiring Loss
On Apr 6, 2:46 pm, Ride-A-Lot wrote:
Hee hee. He said seriously. That's because he is a 'net coward, just like liberace and boob rotgut. JD |
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