Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, July 01, 2010

Ringgold county gave a warm welcome to the Sea to Shining Sea wounded veterans who stopped through Mount Ayr Monday night on their 63-day, 4,000 mile bicycle ride across the United States.

Some of the bicycles are a little different than what people might be used to -- although having RAGBRAI come through town gives people a view of about every type of bicycle imaginable.

The mission of the ride is to honor the courage of service men and women, the strength of the American spirit and to challenge perceptions of how the public views athletes.

Area residents did their best to honor the veterans on the ride.

The riders beat their estimated time of arrival by a few minutes, so the people looking for them to arrive between 4 and 5 p.m. almost missed them coming down Highway 2 and 169. But the riders couldn't miss the welcome banners, signs and flags -- and the people who came out to cheer them on.

The Mount Ayr American Legion, in coordination with businesses and other veterans groups, planned the welcome. They put up some of the flags in the rose Hill Cemetery as part of the welcome.

They put the riders up for the night at the Mount Ayr Inn and planned a supper and chance to honor the riders Monday night.

   

   

  A short parade of tractors and one of the Clearfield Lions Club shuttles from the Iowa State Fair were used to take the visitors from the motel the short distance to the American Legion building.

There the visitors were met by a crowd that soon swelled to standing room only. Well over 300 people were on hand to share the beef and noodle supper with the riders.

"Thanks for your service and sacrifice. A grateful town in southern Iowa welcomes you tonight."

That was the welcome mayor Don Solliday had for the T.E.A.M. Sport riders on the Sea to Shining Sea ride as they ate supper with a standing room only crowd at the Mount Ayr American Legion Monday night.

The wounded veteran riders, some with artifical limbs, some in wheel chairs, others with injuries that don't show at first glance, were given a warm welcome in many ways during their stop on their cross country bicycle ride.

All of them have stories of meeting challenges and overcoming them to tell, but I had the opportunity to learn more about two of them in interviews with Stuart Contant and Eric Frazier.

"I thought Iowa was flat," he commented, "but they told us Nebraska was flat and we came through a lot of hills there too."

Contant was a helicopter pilot, having joined the Army in 1984. He became a warrant officer in 1992. He had flown the UH-Huey, the OH-58 Kiowa and the AH-64 Apache and in addition to flying served as an aviation safety officer and instructor.

In Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom in April 2002, he barely survived a horrific crash that injured his head and spinal cord.

After years of painful treatment, he took medical retirement in September 2009 after 20 years and seven months of active service.

He received an email about the T.E.A.M. Sports trip across the country and decided he wanted to take the challenge.

"I like to ride a bicycle to be able to see more of the sites, but I'd only ridden along beaches or streets in cities," Contant said. "Going up to 90 miles a day across country was a new experience for me."

The first part of the trip was very challenging and painful getting into the kind of shape to make such a long trip but by now each day is not quite as hard, though it is still painful for him.

"Things like the welcome we've received here in Mount Ayr make it worth the effort," Contant said. "The patriotism we have found along the way, especially in the midwest, is fantastic."

The riders have traveled rain or shine and even had a little snow mixed in the mountains, he said. "We draw the line at riding in lightning storms or tornadoes, though."

"You really get to see the country on a ride like this," he noted, saying that seeing the country up close is a special part of making the trip.

Contant had good things to say for veterans groups who have welcomed them along the way and especially for State Farm Insurance, which sponsors the trip. The State Farm employees have been great along the way, supporting the ride and providing things the riders need.

"Without their support with staff and money, we just wouldn't have been able to make a trip like this," he said.

After more than two months on the road making the trip, it will be back to being a family man for Contant. His wife Jacque and his young daughters, Vivian and Violet, are waiting back in Florida for him.

"I'll be back to doing my normal routine with the family, but I hope I can stay in something like the shape I am now after making this trip," Contant said.

It wasn't a war injury that made Frazier a paraplegic. He had enlisted in the Marine Corps soon after 9/11 and soon deployed, returning from his tour of duty healthy and able-bodied in 2005.

An athlete and wrestler, the Pittsburg, PA native was stationed in New Orleans when he was shot in an incident with his father, leaving him a T12 paraplegic.

Frazier credits several people in helping him realize that his life as an athlete was anything but over.

His high school wrestling coach was one. "He took me into his home and knew that type of personality I had and how to push and motivate me," he said. "He did a terrific job and is a big reason why I am able to do what I can today."

The other was a buddy who sent him a crate and an envelope one day. Inside the crate was a Hand-Cycle and an invitation to participate in his first long distance cycling event as a member of World T.E.A.M. Sports -- riding 175 miles from Gettysburg, PA to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

"That ride changed my life," Frazier said. "I've been riding ever since and it's opened doors to other ways I can perform athletically and help motivate other people."

Monday afternoon Frazier was the rider on the wheeled "sled" who was using poles to move him along the miles from Shenandoah to Mount Ayr. It is a testament to what an athlete Fraizer is.

Eric soon joined Team Semper Fi, a sports program funded by the Injured Marine Sepmer Fi Fund. The idea is for the team came from other wounded Marines and sailors who refused to let their challenges prevent them from competing in athletic events. Together their drive and unwavering spirit is an inspiration to all who meet them.

"I find that by participating in events like this I have the opportunity to motivate all kinds of people -- not just those with disabilities," Frazier said. "Everyone needs a little motivation in some way."

Part of Frazier's message is the benefits for sports rehabilitation medicine, which has allowed him to get by without medication for pain.

"During my rehabilitation I was on 31 different kinds of drugs at one point," Frazier said. "I didn't recognize who I was and I was irritable and would snap at people. My mind was in sort of a fog.

"One day I determined that I was going to get along without them," he said. He flushed the drugs down the toilet, went through some major withdrawal and decided to use physical challenges to overcome the pain.

"I found that the endorphins that come with exercise made me feel much better and were better for my body," he said.

Handcycling is now just a sidelight for Frazier, who has competed in marathons, triathlons and wheel chair basketball across the country. In fact, he said, he would gladly give his handcycle up to someone who would be motivated by the gift to make a difference in their life.

His passion now is the biathlon, a sport which combines cross country skiing and sharp shooting. After learning to ski, Frazier qualified to compete in the U.S. Cross Country Ski nationals in two World Cup games in France and Germany. He narrowly missed a spot on the U.S. Paralympic team. He is committed to making the U.S. National Biathlon team within the coming year and has his sights set on the Paralympics gold at the games in Sochi, Russia, in 2014.

Frazier and his wife, Shenette, a Gunnery Sergeant in the Marine Corps, have a daughter, Amiya. The family currently lives in Jacksonville, NC, and Frazier often goes to Camp Lejenue to locate Marines who may need a hand after suffering an injury.

It will be good to get back to his family after the ride is completed, he said, but for now, trying to help motivate people overcoming challenges in their lives by taking part in the ride is [what] he focuses on.

"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbably and then when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable," Frazier said.

Photographs courtesy of Mount Ayr Record-News

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2012