This is why I love riding Ragbrai. Meeting people like this.
Imagine grinding your way up a steep hill on your bike. Now think about doing that only under the power of your arms.
Today I met Ed Burroughs, a 25-year-old guy from Marshalltown. He is the nephew of our overnight host in Des Moines last night, and joined up with Team Cockroach for Ragbrai.
Ed lost use of his legs on April 6, 2004 in a car accident on the way his high school - West Marshall - and has been wheelchair-bound since.
"There was no drugs, no alcohol. I just fell asleep on the way to school," he said.
He had been a wrestler, a skateboarder and an otherwise physically active kid. He stopped doing that for while, and was developing some bad habits.
Fast forward a couple years, and he started wheeling around all over the place - quickly burning through tires on his his wheelchair. About six years ago, the guy who worked on his chair offered to set him up with a bike.
"I loaded it up and he said, 'let's tone that down a bit,"' he said of the initial design.
So he did and about two months later got the bike. In the first three days he rode for 36 hours.
He and his uncle - Jim - the guy who hosted the Cockroaches last night - started riding Ragbrai together every year.
Last year he went self-contained, carrying 100 pounds on his hand cranked recumbent bike - an Invacare Top End XLT. This is his first with the Cockroaches.
When he needs food, he can roll up to a stand or offer a Gatorade to someone to go grab it for him.
The hills are rough, he said, but it's worth it.
"I get to do it. That's all that matters."
"Sometimes I think I'd like to ride one day on a normal bike, but then I think, 'No, I'd be to slow."
He said he dreams about biking around the country some day and journaling it.
"I'm going Hunter S. Thompson times Lance Armstrong divided by Christopher Reeves," he said.
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