“You Don’t Know Us”

Blog post for Rails-to-Trails social media

Todd and I are no strangers to long distance, self-propelled travel and challenges. To lead small children and llamas across the Rocky Mountains along the Continental Divide for 3,100 miles was at the top of our epic list. Cloth diapers, river fords, cross-country map and compass navigation, grizzly bear and mountain lion dangers, electrical storms on 12,000 ft high open ridges with little kids. That hard was nothing compared to this present day hard…navigating life with a severe spinal cord injury. On Black Friday 2021, my husband Todd, took one faulty step on a tin roof and after his feet tangled in the ladder rungs, fell only 6 feet but landed on his neck and broke it at C3-5. They said he would never walk again. But I said, “You don’t know us.” 

Todd and I are Triple Crown Backpackers- hiking the entire Appalachian, Pacific Crest and Continental Divide Trails, as well as mountain biking the Great Divide Mountain Bike Trail (Jasper to Mexico), etc, this is who we are and have been for the past 6 decades and injury or not, we want to be those people again. Never mind the paralysis, nerve burning pain, bladder and bowel issues, and on and on….we need an adventure in our lives. I have always shared through my writing and my speaking, how inspiring and healthful time spent in the natural world is for everyone- families with children, struggling veterans, and now the disabled. Todd is walking again, after crazy intense rehab for over three years and now cycles an adaptive e-assist recumbent trike. So we are off, to begin to cycle the Great American Rail Trail (GART)…to build awareness for the need of accessible trails and how important it is to get the disabled out in nature moving.   

We will begin our long ride on the GART in the eastern part of America and cycle the Great Allegheny Passage and the C&O Canal first. Since we live in eastern PA, we can return home after each stretch and reground to see what works and what doesn’t work, and better set ourselves up for success. Failure is such an easy state of mind to revert to with such an unpredictable, hard life as SCI, so we will do our best to keep moving and striving to be positive. 

We have a team to help us, as no one can do this hard life alone, let alone a major bike ride. My girlfriend, Beth Ellen Pennell, who dates back to my days as a thru-hiker on the Appalachian trail. Beth is our right-hand girl and will do anything we ask and need. Rod Mann, our bike mechanic and shuttler, is amazing- patient and kind and able to deal with such a motley crew with so many needs. And Leslie and Walt Krater, more AT friends who will help me with our RV and so much more. Our veteran Danny Stein, who is more like a family member, will accompany us too. Dan was an Army Ranger and suffers with a serious TBI, PTSD and compromised body challenges. Danny rides a recumbent trike too.   

As we prepare to leave, as a full time caregiver and leader of an epic adventure, these are the crazy things I must manage. A SCI cannot regulate body temperature as the signals get cross wired as it tries to go through the point of injury. Todd cannot get hot, cold, wet, or overly fatigued. We have to avoid rain whenever possible for it all results in crazy stiffness and tone (dystonia) and then he gets even more paralyzed. He must drink a ton to flush out his neurogenic bladder and prevent UTIs (urinary track infections), which he had 12 and two sent him into the hospital with sepsis and a ranging infection. (Hard to monitor what he is drinking on a bike trip). His body and skin cannot be compromised or he will get pressure ulcers that could send him into the hospital and if bad enough, in bed for a year! Sleeping on a new mattress or pad can make it happen in one night. He must eat enough roughage or his bowels will back up and then digital stimulation, manual evacuation, suppositories, you name it, must get it moving again and this could be while sitting on 5 gallon bucket with a plastic toilet seat on top. No white flour and lots of salad and beans in his diet.  

Then there is the planning of a major bike ride, making overnight accommodations, planning meals, mileage, scheduling and also, one of the most important, connecting with the media. We are out here to build awareness, so the newspapers along the way can report about our trip and the very important role in getting our message out there. We want folks to see Todd’s adaptive trike and hear our story about how cycling has given Todd his life back. Walking is great but takes so much focus and is so hard as Todd only has 20% feeling in his feet and legs. But on his trike, on a rail and canal trail, he is free again and feels normal. He can look around safely and enjoy nature and see the sky and feel the wind and the sun and MOVE which is not something a spinal cord injured ever takes for granted again. 

This spring, we will cycle PA, MD, W VA and Ohio. We will come home for the summer to grow our organic food and welcome our second grandchild into the world. Then come September, we will return too the trail and cycle Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and maybe Nebraska. In the spring of 2026, we will finish and reach the Olympic Peninsula. 

When we led our children across the Rocky Mountains the entire 3,100 mile journey took five summers. They grew up in the wilderness and the natural world and it changed who they would become as adults, for the better. Todd and I will take our time crossing the GART, so we can do it safely, and have fun doing it. We are hoping that the GART changes us too- that it gives us peace, great hope, and some joy. We will share our message with as many as we can- that the trails can give you your life back again, after it feels as if so much has been taken away.

You can follow us at www.cindyrosstraveler.com and sign up for my blog, as well as contribute to the cause at http://www.cindyrosstraveler.com/road-to-recovery.