Bicyclist Je Conaway injured during Race Across America

BY JOHN RENFROW JRENFROW@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Je Conaway recently embarked on a 3,000-mile cross-country bicycle race in an e ort to raise money in the ght against human tra cking.

His contribution to an eight-man team in the Race Across America was cut short on Monday. Conaway, 43, crashed near Trinidad on U.S. Hwy. 160 and was rushed to a hospital where he was diagnosed with a head injury, broken collarbone and broken scapula.

e Littleton-area cyclist is in stable condition with his family after being airlifted to a hospital in Colorado Springs for further care.

Conaway’s bicycle computer called 911 as soon as he crashed, which was fortunate considering he was in an area with little-to-no cellular service. It was Conaway’s rst cross-country race.

Conaway’s team, ZOE Internatinoal, rides to raise money and awareness about human tra cking across the globe.

“It’s that cause that really keeps us going,” Conaway told Colorado Community Media last week. “And knowing that it’s not about us, it’s about the bigger picture. We kind of live by a motto that ‘our fuel is their freedom,’ and it really keeps us motivated.” e team is currently holding onto second place, and still expects to nish by Friday, ZOE Team Manager Brad Ortenzi told Colorado Community Media on Tuesday.

As Conaway recovers, he’s said to be cheering on his team, now seven, to complete the race without him.

“Je ’s doing OK,” Ortenzi said., “He’s really banged up, but he’s in great spirits with his family now. He’s still very supportive of us, which is amazing. You go through a range of emotions from heartbroken, sad, concerned … but overall, it has united the team, and Je ’s attitude has done that for us.” e 2023 Race Across America has the team competing against six others. It is one of the most grueling competitions in the world of cycling, an endurance slog across the nation starting in Oceanside, California and ending in Annapolis, Mary- land. e ride began on June 17.

According to race rules, a team must nish with the members it started with. If a team rider drops out, there are no substitutions. On ZOE International’s team, two squads of four were taking turns riding in segments. Conaway’s departure changes that plan.

It was a good thing that Conaway’s bike computer was working. ere are times when the riders are outside the view of the team’s following support vehicle, Ortenzi said. at’s what happened when Conaway crashed.

“What we think happened is, it was pretty windy yesterday,” Ortenzi explained. “A gust of wind, and the speeds we’re going … I don’t know how fast Je was going, but we do hit speeds of over 50 mph. A gust of wind on a bike [at that speed] sometimes gets things unstable. So, that might be a possibility of what took place.”

Ortenzi participated in ZOE International’s 2019 and 2021 Race Across America teams, and said spills happen rather often, but this is the rst serious injury he’s seen.

“In Je ’s case, just the severe speed of what was going on has a lot to do with his injuries,” he said. “And that’s Je , too. He goes after it. He goes after it hard. But with seven riders, we’re going almost as fast as we did with eight. at shows how the riders have upped their game a bit.”

BY ERICA BREUNLIN THE COLORADO SUN

Growing up in a world that often sees di erences as de ciencies, Shannon Brennan long ago learned to question the things that set her apart from others rather than embrace them.

For Brennan, 37, those di erences play out in the way she learns. e two halves of her brain don’t always communicate with each other, she said, so she sometimes struggles to understand speech. Brennan was diagnosed with a genetic condition known as Fragile X syndrome at age 12, and is sometimes anxious and can quickly become overstimulated in large crowds or when bombarded by loud noises.

But last week, when Brennan found herself more than 5,000 miles away from her home in Aurora meeting people who navigate the world with their own set of special needs, she began to look at her di erences, well, di erently.

“I just have challenges, but (my body) ain’t broken,” she said. “It’s ne. It just works in a di erent way. Just because it works di erently than yours doesn’t mean it’s broken or damaged or anything.” ose kinds of treks can be rare for people with disabilities because so much of the world falls short in accommodating their needs, said Kendall Hagar, interim executive director of e Wayfaring Band.

Brennan set o on a 10-day trip with e Wayfaring Band earlier this month, Berlin-bound to volunteer at the 2023 Special Olympics. e Denver-based nonpro t shepherds groups of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, along with their typical peers who want to learn how to be better allies, on excursions across the country and world. e getaways give adults with disabilities an opportunity to branch out of their everyday lives — much of which are often guided by other people like parents and job coaches — to explore new cultures and learn more about themselves.

“Every human being should belong in our world,” said Hagar, who has attention-de cit/hyperactivity disorder. “And we believe that folks with disabilities are not limited in their capacity to enjoy the full human experience and all of the things that that entails.” e nonpro t, which has been whisking adults with disabilities to all kinds of destinations for nearly 11 years, also pushes for those individuals to be treated as the adults they are — rather than children. ey also watched Special Olympics athletes compete in swimming, soccer, cycling and equestrian events and made new friends from all over the world as they volunteered at the Games, welcoming attendees, o ering directions to spectators and energizing crowds.

“We’re actively ghting against that infantilization by doing very adult things,” Hagar said.

On past trips, that has included clinking drinks at biker bars and attending concerts. In Berlin, band members tried schnitzel for the rst time, shared a meter-long tray full of beers, checked out a marketplace, and visited both the Anne Frank Center and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

Brennan, who was visiting Germany for the rst time, initially clammed up while thinking about introducing herself to volunteers and athletes from other countries. But with help from another band member, she overcame her hesitation and struck up conversations with strangers, exchanging ashy commemorative pins with many of them.

At the start of the Games, each team of athletes received pins decorated to re ect their country, with the idea that they would be traded with other teams, carrying on a tradition that dates back to the 1920s. e Wayfaring Band brought their own pins, breaking through language barriers as they approached athletes and gestured at pins to swap.

Justin Pressel, another band member, gathered 13 pins, which he fastened to a lanyard, and in his time in Berlin got to know people from Israel, Japan and North Macedonia, among other places.

Pressel, 32, previously traveled to New Mexico and Seattle with e Wayfaring Band but had never ventured out of the country. His voyage to Berlin with 11 other band mem-