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Notre Dame had two consecutive home games these past two weekends so I bought tickets home a long time ago.  This was the ND vs USC game at night and then I got to see ND vs Navy.  They lost the first one and then won the second game.

I surprised my folks on the trip home but trouble was that my sister and her husband were expecting their first so when she went into labor my parents went to see the first grandchild.  I surprised my dad and then my mom just found out.  Thanks Whitney, I guess a grandchild trumps a surprise visit any day of the week.  My mom got back on Wednesday night and then my other brother Cason and his wife came in on Thursday.  We were all visiting and then out of the blue super late at night Whitney and Jared and their newborn Everett Roe Leeper decided to show up.  It was crazy.  Here is the little guy.

And here he is with his favorite uncle.  He just does not know it yet!

It was cool seeing the whole family again.

Five Years

Five years today.  My life has never been the same as of five years ago but thanks to the support from my family and friends from all over I have not looked back.  Yesterday I had a great day riding and if my IRISH can pull off a win today the weekend will be beyond great.  It has been a great 5 years with so many crazy opportunities.  I look forward to the days ahead.  Thank you everyone for your support and encouragement through the years.  It does not go unnoticed.

Yesterday I went to Park City Mountain Resort with Tera.  We rode the lift up Payday lift and then climbed up to the Bonanza lift.  It was about a 2 mile climb with about 2,000 or 3,000 vertical feet.  You never realize that those runs are that steep when you are on a ski and bombing down the runs but I have a new appreciation riding it up hill on wheels.

Here I am in front of Bonanza lift.  It was a beautiful day and the ride down was a lot more fun than the ride up.

Here is a picture of one of the spots on the down hill.

This was when Tera and I went out and rode the mountain bikes with George and Patti.  Tera rode her regular bike yesterday with lots of stops and her telling me I was almost there.  It was a long climb up.

50 mile ride

A couple weeks ago I got to try out my new bike.  I bought this bike from my buddy back in Indiana.  It is set up way more for racing and is geared up less of a wind sail like my handcyle I have been riding for a while.  This was the finish.  It was a long 50 mile ride with very minimal training but I smashed my goal time and had a great time.

Here I am on course with some of the riders.

 This was one of the highlights of the day.  I was able to continue my great Utah farmer tan.

I was able to register for the Boston Marathon this week too.  That was a pretty cool goal to finally accomplish.  Well fall is coming and soon the old winter so very soon the snow will be here.  I can't wait.

I am out!!!!!!

I got a new place!!!!  I should have done this the day I moved here and gotten out of the place I was living but hind sight is 20/20 right.  This place is a one room studio.  It is quite the place and totally on my own.  All for ten bucks more a month.  Who could ask for more???

This is looking from my front door to the back side of the studio.  Everything is built in so I did not have to move much stuff.  As you can see my bed is not a perfect fit but it works!

 Here is my kitchen area.  There are tons of shelves and stuff off to the right.

 This is the view from the patio to the front door.  I have a closet on the left and then the bathroom is the last door on the left.  This place is so cool.

 Jonathon, his girlfriend Kate and Patti and I went to a rodeo.  Jonathon and Kate are from England so they really got into the dress up for cowboy night.  It was a good time for sure.

 Two wheelies at the fair.  Our story for the night was he rode a bull and fell off and the bull stepped on him.  I was the clown who came to his rescue and got the same treatment from the stupid bull.  Not too many people bought the story but it was a noble effort.

 George took me fly fishing last week.  It was pretty fun.  He was all geared up and rather good.

 I was not geared up and was rather bad.  None of us caught a fish but they nibbled and it was fun trying.  It is way better than regular fishing by far.

Yellowstone!!!

 We had a blast this past week when Mom, Dad and Tanner came out and visited Park City and then we went out west to the Tetons and Yellowstone.  This is one of our lunch breaks.  I have never eaten out so much with my family but it was awesome hanging out at every opportunity.

 Tanner wanted to walk with the elk.  They were just hanging out in the town in Yellowstone.

 Dad wanted to have a picture of himself in Montana.  He even hugged the bear on the left.

 This is Tanner and I at one of the many stops we made in the parks.  This was at a resort / hotel / eating place.  I went in and was not that impressed but people were there so I am sure they are making money some how.

 This is one of the closest bison we came in contact with.  Mom said, "Keep it in Drive"  I did not listen and put it in park and took some pictures.  It was pretty funny.

 Old Faithful.  Let me be the first to tell you that this is pretty cool but not life changing.  The worst part was the Asian man directly on my right who would not get out of my personal bubble while he was taking pictures.  I was just a little annoyed.

 Mom, Dad and Tanner climbed this rock face.

 It was awesome to see them climb and then all of them on top.  I tried but did not get that far up. Ha Ha yeah right!

 Entering the Grand Tetons.

 Our Yellowstone picture.


One of the many, many elk.

This was an awesome trip.  One of the best times was the whitewater rafting.  Tanner took some pics on that trip but not really great ones with the GoPro.  We got some cool video though.  It was awesome spending time with my family.  Next time the rest of the family needs to come join.  You always know family is something special but when you get to spend time with them and hang out when its been a while it means even more.

Thanks guys for coming out.

Ben

Mountain Biking

This is the best cross train for road racing.

Stupid Bee and Shooting

This is how I woke up a few weeks ago.  It would have been cooler if there was a good story but there is not a really good story.  I was mountain biking and a bee got caught in between my sunglasses and my eye and went to town on me.  The next morning, this is how I looked.  It would have been better if the other guy looked worse than me and this was all I took in a fist fight but nope, it was just a stupid bee.

Me and two buddies went shooting too the other day.  It was pretty cool.  We shot some clay and then some other targets in this dumpy part of town.  It was pretty fun.

Utah Valley Marathon

Boston Qualifier - 1.55.56

Last marathon = Goal reached for Boston

This last week I had the opportunity to work with a soldier transition unit.  We played sled hockey, biked and did some high ropes as facilitators and then they had military briefings as well.  It was a busy great week working with these guys and learning about different things they have done overseas and some of the injuries they have sustained.  We took a tour of Olympic Park where they do the ski jumping in the winter.  This is where they start.  I am going to go watch some of their summer training events.  It looks pretty awesome from up top.

We took another tour of the Ski and Snowboarding Olympic Training Center.  This is their gym.  It was huge and they had pictures of all the athletes they train and there were even a few athletes working out when we were there.

They had a full size basketball court and then off the end of one of the baskets they had this foam pit and trampoline where the athletes can practice jumps and different things in the air.  Some of the soldiers even had a try at the trampoline and jumping into the pit.  These soldiers are standing right by some of the ramps that they use to skate down and practice different things as well.  It was pretty cool.

The week went well and then I had a marathon on Saturday morning.  It was an early start at 5:55am.  I woke up early and pushed off.  I was the only racing wheelchair and there was about seven handcycles.  I drove most of the course before the race but mile two gave me a hick-up on race day.  There was a course marker and we were going downhill.  I thought it was a mile marker and that I was going to be going straight.  Well the mile marker sign turned out to be a right turn sign and boy oh boy was it a tight right turn.  I tried my best to keep on the road but I got a bit loose and rolled  the chair into the woods.  It took about five minutes to get all back in the chair and I kept going.  At about mile 22 I had a flat and just decided to do that last bit on a flat.  I ended up doing th race in 1.55.56 and that qualifies me for Boston so I will be trying to go to that in April.  Here is my road rash from the crash but I guess it was worth it.

Finally some good weather for training and racing

Here is my racing chair in the hotel all geared up for my first race in Boulder, CO over Memorial Day weekend.  It was a 10k with about 12 wheelchair athletes in the mix.  It was a really good weekend and I had a pretty good race coming in fourth and starting the race season a bit later than usual.  It has warmed up a bit here in Park City and my training and races should pick up in the days ahead.

 This was the finish area at the University of Colorado Boulder football field.  Here is a guy that jumped out of a plane delivering the flag for the closing ceremonies of the race.  The elite men and women runners started the race at about 11.  This was after my shower, breakfast and a short nap before I got out to watch the finish of the race.  The place was pretty packed.  It was a cool finish to the days racing festivities.

 Here is a view of some of Boulder.  This was a picture I took after killing some time at a mall near my hotel.  Pretty cool views from the road and town in general.

I went and drove a marathon course the other day and this was one of the mountain run off zones from the snow melt.  They are popping up everywhere around.  I am going to do this course on Saturday and hopefully record on of my better times.  I will pass this at about mile 20 or so.  Hopefully I still have enough gas in the tank to push the last 6.2 at a fast pace.

UH - OH

This weekend was pretty sweet.  I had the opportunity to go skiing again.  I did not go.  I pushed in my racing chair on the 1st of May for an upcoming race and got to go to a speedway in Salt Lake City and watch a Porshe Race Series.  It was pretty cool.

This is the car that we watched.  Sloan is the racers name and he is giving some of his winnings to the National Ability Center.  It was cool to meet him and check out his car.

This was the view of the start / finish line and the place where we watched the race.  Sloan finished second in his category. 

This was just a random shot of a sweet car out on the garage area.  I think I am gonna try to outfit it with some hand controls so I can take it for a spin.

I met this guy named Aaron at the track.  He had a spinal cord injury as well from racing motorcycles and is now in a chair.  We got to talking and he told me to come down to his shop near the race way.  I went not knowing what would be next.  

Yep there I am on the motorcycle.  I was not gonna ride something that big for the first time out but it got me thinking.  You can see the wheel of my wheelchair to the right of the bike.  I was able to hop on and off unassisted and felt how the clutch / brake / and shifters would be.  It was pretty sweet to be obvious.  Aaron races this bike a couple times a year.  It was really neat meeting him and checking out his motorcycle!

This is how it is set up in the back near the rear wheel for when I would have to put my feet down to balance myself.  I would just hit a button and these bars with wheels on the bottom would come down to balance the bike.  The place where you would shift and keep your feet on the bike have some strap downs so your legs and feet stay inside the bike.  It was awesome.  Who knows how long it will be but I would love to ride again for sure.

End of Season

Last week was the official last day of the season at Park City Mountain Resort.  Everybody gets a little dressed up for the occasion and it can be a bit crazy on the mountain.  The theme for the National Ability Center was Tight and Bright.  I found a one piece snow suit.  I was plenty bright and it was a fun day on the mountain.

I had a total of 96 days on the snow this season.  I skied 5 different resorts and I can't wait to keep getting better.  In 96 days, my skills with new equipment and repetition of skiing helped so much.  It also helped that I lived 3 minutes from the resort and there was always someone better than me to critique my skills and help me get better.  It was an amazing season with both my mom and brother able to come out and ski as well as a college buddy from out east.  Good times for sure.

Mom Week

My mom was able to come out during her spring break last week.  We had a great time together and it was great showing her around Park City.  She was able to be out here for six days and she was able to ski five of those days.

Last Sunday we were expecting snow so we went out pretty early and enjoyed some fresh powder on the mountain.  It was a great day.  Monday turned out to be even better with more fresh snow.  It was pretty windy but we had a great first two days on the snow.  Tuesday was a day I had to do some stuff in the office so she checked out some of the cool stuff to do in Park City.  She spent most of the day downtown.  That evening I was able to show her a cool restaurant downtown.

Wednesday she was able to ski with me as I taught some lessons.  Here is one of my favorite students along with Laura.  We both got to work with this student this session.  It was pretty cool showing my mom what we do during lessons and how we work with different people.

 

I was able to take Thursday off and we went skiing once again!  The morning was a bit icy and she was able to witness a hefty fall.  She even got it on camera.  It is definitely not a highlight but you can watch me take a good spill.  My shoulder was hating me for the next few days for sure.

Friday was even better.  She got to ski in the morning and then she went back to get her stuff ready to head home that evening.  It was an awesome week.  She spoiled me by cooking some good food and just hanging out.  Thanks mom for coming out and spending the week with me.  I had a blast and just for the record I ordered all the awesome weather we both enjoyed!  It was an amazing week!

This was in the Park Record last week

Students at the Oakley School witness a different way to ski

Douglas Greenwood, of the Record Staff

Posted: 03/29/2011 04:11:08 PM MDT

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"I developed this course that is all about fun and skiing," said Oakley School Experiential Teacher Bethany Elson. Each time the students head up to the slopes, they ski with someone in the community who has been highly impacted by skiing, she said. 

About 10 of Elson's students spent Saturday, March 19, on the slopes at Canyons with Ben Hulin of the National Ability Center (NAC) and Andy Campbell, the winner of the Canyons Ultimate Mountain Challenge. Both men ride sit-skis, which consist of a single ski attached to a chair in which they sit because of accidents that left their legs paralyzed.

Hulin, who rides in a sit-ski as a result of a 2006 motorcycle accident, teaches ski lessons in conjunction with the National Ability Center. He is also in charge of community outreach at the NAC. 

Campbell found himself in a wheelchair after a 60-foot fall when a rock-climbing anchor broke in 2004. Both men began sit-skiing shortly after their accidents. They met this season and have skied together many times, according to Campbell.  "For me being in a wheelchair the mountains just take on a whole new level of significance," Campbell said.

Elson's students took to Hulin and Campbell quickly as they both offered to answer any questions regarding their injuries, how they were introduced to the sport or how their lives have been impacted, Hulin said.  "Since I work at the ability center, I could shed some light on people volunteering their time, working with our program and how people of all different types of abilities take part in our program," Hulin said. He began working with the NAC in September through a one-year contract with Americorps, which he described as "the domestic Peace Corps." 

A number of students responded to the messages Hulin and Campbell shared with them about overcoming difficulties, according to Elson. One message is printed right on Campbell's chair: "Die Living," which Campbell said draws a lot of attention from those who see him.

"There is very little that can actually stop you and get in the way of what you hope to achieve," Campbell said.

Elson said her students gained an appreciation for the diverse ways people can rise above their limitations to find what they love to do. The college-preparatory boarding school is located in Oakley and offers a unique curriculum to a wide variety of high-school age students.