Taking on White Rim Trail: 'We adapt and figure it out and do it'

CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK — At first light on a clear October morning, far out in the badlands of Canyonlands National Park, four intrepid mountain bikers take the plunge down the Mineral Basin switchbacks.

The enormity and solitude of the White Rim Trail, Utah's fabled 100-mile salute to the park's unmatched grandeur, soon engulfs them.

Like so many others, they have come for the thrill of testing their grit and fitness in a landscape unlike anywhere on earth.

Although you could make the case that none who came before them had more pure appreciation for what they were doing than these four.

One is riding without the use of his left leg, which has been amputated. One is riding without her left hand and her lower forearm. One is riding with a left arm and shoulder that just came along for the ride. The fourth rider is paralyzed from the waist down.

They really have no business being here.

And yet they are.

They called themselves the Tread Setters. Their purpose, apart from testing their limits, manufacturing endorphins and having some fun, was to produce a documentary to show just how far human ingenuity, teamwork and willpower will take a person — including those the world labels as disabled.

The film they shot documents that they did what they said they'd do.

Their game plan was ambitious, to say the least. Many people typically take four days to ride the White Rim, lopping off 25 miles a day, which is plenty. The Tread Setters set out to ride the entire 100 in one day.

They didn't all make the full 100. Much like fully able-bodied riders, each of the four encountered unexpected issues and setbacks along the way.

For starters, a massive rain storm that fell the day before caused park officials to contemplate closing the entire trail, ending the quest before it ever began. Only at the last minute did officials decide to keep the trail open as state park bulldozers cleared mud and debris from sections of the route.

'Disability or not, you can do anything'

Two Tread Setters, Steven Wilke and Roger Withers, went the distance despite the obstacles. Wilke, who was born without pectoral muscles on his left side and has had numerous surgeries to render his left arm and hand barely functional, flew through the terrain. All his brakes and gears are configured and operated on the right side of his handlebars (by his own design). His time of eight hours and 23 minutes obliterated the existing White Rim paracycling record by nearly three hours.

Withers, an Australian who had his left leg amputated, used an electric assist mountain bike to help him complete the route. A picture of patience and determination, riding with the power of one leg, he pressed on until he'd completed the circuit in 21 hours and five minutes.

Annijke Wade, a young woman who suffered a spinal cord injury in a mountain bike accident in 2021, rendering her a paraplegic, had to stop 37 miles into her quest. It was not her idea. Her body was ready for more, but maneuvering over and around the constant landslides quickly wore down the battery in her tricycle — two wheels up front, one in the rear — until it died, only to discover the replacement battery in the support truck was dead too.

The fourth rider, Josie Fouts, was the inspiration behind the ride. She had come up with the idea during a visit to the Moab area during the pandemic. One look at the White Rim Trail made her want to come back and ride it, and bring her friends with her. She recruited the National Ability Center — Park City's world-renowned organization dedicated to helping the disabled — to support the expedition.

Born without a left hand, Josie rode with a prosthetic to the 96-mile mark, at which point she got off her bike and declared the ride a "100% success."

"It wasn't about being the first or the fastest," said Josie, "it was about sharing the story and amplifying the message and the awareness that para athletes are the leaders of an inclusive future."

The documentary, directed by Louis Arévalo, himself an adaptive athlete, has been shown at any number of outdoor-themed film festivals over the past year, winning several awards. It's available to the general public free of charge on YouTube (type in Tread Setters) and at the National Ability Center website.

"Disability or not, you can do anything," says Steven Wilke, who has his eyes set on one day earning a spot on the U.S. Paralympic team. "What I want the younger generation of para athletes to know is that if they have a goal, no matter how massive, they can do it. The word is adaptation. We adapt and figure it out and do it."

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