looking for inspiration... Ibrahim Wafula is an interesting man that is inspirational... Ibrahim is a one legged Kenya Cyclist!
Ibrahim on the Gwadzilla Page
last year around this time I ran into Ibrahim Wafula in downtown DC
it had been years since I had seen him
yet I recognized him immediately
I approached him and we spoke
it was fun to catch up
but I did not give it much thought
then later that week a friend of mine said that he was trying to get a one legged Kenya a bike
oh... that is Ibrahim
knowing a number of people
I reached out to DCMTB a mountain bike team in DC
sure enough...
one of my team mates had a bicycle to donate to Ibrahim
I got this bicycle... did a quick tune up...
reached out to that friend that was trying to get Ibrahim a bike
passed off the bike to him
then made contact with another friend who had hosted Ibrahim some years prior
in this I learned
Ibrahim had a bike
Ibrahim was not just looking for a bike
he was looking for a race level mountain bike
hmmmm...
I thought I had the connections to make this happen
I reached out to a Trek shop in Anacostia
reached out to MikeT of Cobalt Bikes
tried to sell the story
but... the story was not mine to sell
yet I tried
I met with Ibrahim several times
needed to get a better understanding of his goal
the Leadville 100 was his objective
he felt this was a race that could get him some exposure
it seemed like a plan
so I continued to try and get him a bike
the original bike that was donated was given to a person in need of a bike to start doing food deliveries
so... that went well
but how could we get this one legged man a race level bike to have or even on loan of this race
the owner of Cobalt Bikes was going to race Leadville that summer
so... it seemed like creating a partnership between these two could have some exposure potential for the both of them
but then...
a few things happened
my sons came home from college
which stole both my energy and my time
and then
in another meeting with Ibrahim I learned that he was not interested in completing the full Leadville 100
but rather
he thought a person with half the legs should only have to do half the distance
personally... I did not think this story had the same impact
in fact... I felt that a competed 50 Mile Mountain Bike Race would be a greater accomplishment than half a hundred mile race
my efforts dissolved
I met with Ibrahim and admitted that my contacts were not evolving
neither the Trek Store nor the local bicycle company were willing to take the hand off
Leadville was approaching fast
it seemed like an impractical plan
and
as said
much of my energy was directed to my college age sons being home from school
also...
it became hard for me to sell the goal of racing half a race
sure... I wanted to help
but the help did not happen as quickly a I had hoped
sure... I was able to get a used daily rider for FREE for Ibrahim
but...
I was not able to get a several thousand dollar race worthy bike for him
it just did not happen as easily as I had thought
which cause me to abandon my effort to assist
no worries...
I am just one of many people trying to help Ibrahim
I could not find a recent link to Ibrahim's wear about
I think he is in California working in a para athlete program
Vail Daily has an article about Ibrahim racing Leadville a decade ago
Washington Post Article about Eric Channing Brewer and the Tweed Ride
