Mountain biking down the back side of Haleakala Crater in Maui.
Quotes from Vancouver Sun Paper, after racing in 2009 Vancouver Sun Run 10k
“I decided to go back to strapping my feet into a mountain bike — full suspension, downhill bike,” says Smith, who was paralyzed in a 1991 rock climbing accident. “Got to the top of the hill at [an altitude of] 10,000 feet. Got clipped in, strapped in, and they gave me a push. We were going from 10,000 feet to 3,000 feet on a straight downhill dirt trail with switchbacks. I was having a blast.
“Halfway down, got a little too confident and cocky — I had whipped by everybody going ‘YEAAHHH! I got it’ — and next turn, I crashed and go over the handlebars. I go ‘Guys, I might have hurt myself.’”
He fractured two bones in his right elbow, though he didn’t know that at the time.
“I said ‘Look, we’re not getting medivac-ed out of here.’ They put a stick and a spare rubber tire around my elbow just to support it. I got back on the bike, rode the rest of the way down, taken to hospital and put in a sling cast. Then we go to a pub the next day and this guy comes up to me and goes ‘You’re the dude! You’re the dude!’ I’m like ‘What are you talking about.’ He’s like ‘I heard all about you, the crazy paralyzed guy who went mountainbiking down Haleakala Crater, broke his arm, got back on the bike and kept riding. You’re awesome!’
“So, if you’re going to hurt yourself, you might as well create a legacy, eh.”
Unfortunately for Smith, the fractures didn’t set properly — “the first doctor told me things would be fine” — and it wasn’t until he saw Vancouver Canuck doctors Bill Regan and Mike Wilkinson that he got proper care. “Those guys took care of me.” Even so, he couldn’t get in for surgery until August 2008.
