Trail Ride 2006 is an event that is put together to raise money for spinal cord injury research.(click here for more information)
Trail Ride 2006 started on 8/26/06 at Beck Lake forest preserve in Glenview IL. On day one of the Trail Ride the weather was nothing near perfect. Cloudy skies and scattered showers threatened to post pone the event.
Extreme Chairing advertised and tried finding people in power chairs that were up for the 40 mile adventure but seemed to find only one person that was up for the challenge. That one person was John J2 Mryczko who showed up suited and packed for the long ride.

Click here for larger video size  

J2 set out on the Des Plaines River trail at 12:00pm. He ran into the usual opsticals of rocks and fallen branches but nothing out of the ordinary. Forty five minutes and 4.5 miles into the trail ride J2's power chair started to act up. He was between the starting point and check point number one when he started to have problems. The problem was that one of the motors on the power chair was not pulling to its full potential, which made the chair pull aggressively to one side. Not ready to give up, J2 waited 20 minutes to let the motor cool down. As he waited impatiently, he said “My chairs old, it’s going to be eight years since I've had it this January, and she's been through a lot.” After letting his chair rest he decided to get back on the trail. 
Everything seemed to be running fine again. Finally 45 minutes later J2 arrived at check point number one.

Continuing on up the trail towards check point number two, J2 ran into the scattered showers he was dreading.With no real choice and no competition behind him he decided to let the showers pass while waiting under the Deerfield road overpass. After another 20 minute delay, he was on his way again only to be once again met by the rain 10 minutes later. After thinking it over and not seeing any end to the days scattered showers, the Trail Ride was stopped at Riverside blvd and would continue the following day.

On day two the Trail Ride continued at Riverside blvd at 1:00pm. Pumped up and determined, John J2 Mryczko showed up once again to complete the 40 mile trail ride. He set out on his way and was ready to go as far as his battered power chair would take him. Day two was going without problems until 2 hours and 45 minutes and 15.5 miles into the trail at check point number four. J2’s batteries on his power chair completely drained out. Without extra battery packs and no power supply for the chair, day two was over and the Trail Ride would again be continued another day. Disappointed, J2 said “I don’t know what happened. I really thought I would make it to the Grand Ave finish.”
With day two finished and 23 miles of the Trail Ride completed, J2 was not calling it quits. He was to continue and complete the trail from check point number four on Monday September 4th, but due to rain was unable to. However, the ride was rescheduled again for September 10th, but was once again rained out. The third time was a charm. The Trail Ride continued from check point number 4 at Independence Grove forest preserve on September 16th. There was a little more than 15 miles to complete and the weather was perfect. With his gear on and ready to go, J2 shouted “I could not have asked for better weather, and this scenery is beautiful.” With clear roads ahead J2 was averaging 1 mile for every seven minutes on the trail.

His chair, not as fast as he would like was still flying past joggers and keeping up to some bicyclists. All in all the day turned out very good with no major problems. This final day of the Trail Ride was complete in three hours and spanned a total of 15.5 miles for the day. At a total of 9 hours, 3 days, and 39.5 miles of riding, Trail Ride 2006 was finally completed.

Thanks to the supportive companies and individuals who donated and sponsored Trail Ride 2006. We were able to raise a total of $691.00! It is a bit off the goal of getting $1000.00 +, but we beat last years total. We can only try harder next year to raise more money and find more individuals to join John J2 Mryczko for next years Trail Ride. Thanks again to our sponsors and volunteers.

On October 10th 2006, 60% of all the money raised up to September 30th will be donated to CRPF to be used for spinal cord injury treatment research.

Extreme Chairing challenges and asks others who are interested in participating in next years events to please look into ExtremeChairing in Spring of 2007 for updates & new events.
 
                         
E.T. Designs