The NATIONAL ABILITY CENTER [NAC] is a huge facility, founded in 1985 in Park City, Utah. NAC is dedicated to adaptive sports for any and all disabilities.
Adaptive sports teaches the athlete how to Adapt a disability to any workout, anywhere. The lodge is at 6000 feet with single rooms and bunk style accommodations. There is a large dining hall with catered meals and lots of energy fuel and snacks available 24/7, with the coffee non-stop and always fresh.
Paraplegic mountain bikers, flying downhill , pedaling with one arm, while steering with the other, while bouncing all over the place. A quadriplegic who communicates with his left foot and a loving father who does the distance with his son shotgun style. Able and not so able bodied riders on upright, tandem, and recumbent bikes.
This August, I was blessed to be invited to NAC’s military adaptive program as a guest for the Summit Challenge, which is a major fund raiser for NAC. When I accepted the invite, I wondered how a Florida boy would do with the distance and elevation. In all, there were over 800 riders for the Summit Challenge at Park City, Utah.
Each adaptive athlete has a guide assigned to them. Mine was Matt and he was phenomenal, always watching my 6 over the course.
Routes ranging from 10 miles to 100 miles made up the Summit Challenge. I chose the 50 miler with a 3000 ft elevation gain and 2 separate 6 mile stretches with 4 degree continuous grade. I was given a new recumbent bike to use. The facility housing all types of bikes and repair capabilities was tremendous.
Thursday and Friday, we had “warmup rides”. Thursday was 22.7 miler with a 40% grade for 1 mile. As luck would have it, I went into Atrial Fib 0400, went to the ER, and finally joined the group at the half way mark around noon. I feel really good about what I did. Oh yea, it was mostly downhill to get back, reaching speeds of almost 50 mph for my first ride a recumbent.
Friday, the shakedown course was 10 miles but the grade, will be closer to 50% for about the same distance.
I really benefited from Jeff’s( Maverick Crossfit) breathing techniques and the mental preparation when it comes to grinding through a tough ordeal. The recumbent bike is all leg and one hell of a work out. There is not the benefit of gravity as on a upright bike. I was the oldest vet there and the 2nd oldest of all athletes. All in all, I’m pretty happy with what I’ve accomplished.
The Summit Challenge attracted hundreds of spectators at start of the race as well as all along the course. It was tougher than I had envisioned. The 5 hours it took me to go 44 miles was more than I thought it would take. Starting at 6000ft and gaining 3600 ft was indeed a grind. I was pleasantly surprised at the heart rate and breathing recovery, As I said before, Jeff’s coaching made each mile and every foot tolerable. The greatest benefit is the challenge provided me many long conversations with God.
Team Ham, with the help of family and friends; Penny, Spencer, Jeff, Cindy, Lisa, Dave, Bud, Scarlett, Jeff, Julia, Jack, raised almost $800 for NAC. THANK YOU!
After 44 miles and 5 hours, the finish line never looked so good…
Ham
