Bend Into Balance: Kipp Wesslen, Resilient, Adaptive Mover & Senior Network Analyst

In this episode of Bend Into Balance, host Adriana Mariño sits down with Kipp Wesslen, an adaptive athlete and instructor with Oregon Adaptive Sports, to explore how movement, access, and community can radically transform health and wellbeing. Living with a rare progressive neurological disease and multiple spinal cord injuries, Kipp shares how discovering adaptive sports later in life reshaped his relationship with his body, his mental health, and his sense of purpose.

From mountain biking and alpine skiing to coaching others on the trail, Kipp reflects on the power of adaptive sports to build confidence, foster connection, and create a more inclusive outdoor culture in Central Oregon. This conversation highlights resilience, joy in movement, and the importance of designing spaces—and communities—where everyone belongs.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Hello, this is Adriana Marino, host and producer of Bend Into Balance. Today I'm very happy to be accompanied by Kip Weslin. Kip is an athlete and instructor with Oregon Adaptive Sports, also known as OAS. OAS is a nonprofit in Oregon since the mid-90s, and it's very close to my heart as my daughter, who's 10 years old, is also an athlete with this nonprofit. She has benefited from the Alpine Nordic programming. And today, Kip is going to tell us a little bit about himself. Kip, thank you. Welcome to the podcast. I'm so happy you're here. Can you tell us, introduce yourself and tell us how you came also to OIS?

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Sure. Thanks for thanks for having me out today. Um let's see, I'm 46 years old. Uh I mostly work going in. I think I was born just in Kelso, but then moved to Oregon. I've lived here majority of my life. Um see I work, work full-time. I've been uh Washington County, which is west side of Portland. Government work doing IT, like server administration stuff. Been there for about 17 years, has a full-time job on the side. I also will rep um some different durable medical equipment manufacturers, so I provide education support to therapists and clinicians. Um, that's sitting and all it all has to do with mobility, like wheelchair, because wheelchair cushions, positioning straps, um stuff to that nature. Uh and in addition to that, the last two summers I've been an adaptive mount by constructor with OES. And occasionally I show up on ads, do occasional acting sub just small time just for commercials or stock photos for primarily adaptive sports, or just this is the daily life of wheelchair user by going to get groceries, doing shores around the house, et cetera, et cetera. So it's always kind of fun to see where I pop up on random, random hats with that.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Um let's see that I also have a degenerative neurological ataxia uh unspecified, which means I've been tested countless times. Doctors can't really figure out what's going on. Continued to climb on top of that. Uh, what finally put me in a wheelchair was my second incomplete spinal cord entry. I had a first one as well. Um so it's about 14 years ago. Ted took me from walking with a cane to being a full-time wheelchair user. And I absolutely love everything and anything to do with established sports.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

Were you as athletic as you were before going into a wheelchair, or have you discovered sports since being in a wheelchair?

SPEAKER_00 3:38

I I wanted to be, I think like everything in my soul, like my hand and body wanted to be exceptionally active and very like sport focused. Um the community I grew up in did not really have any exposure to adaptation sports. Uh so a lot of times I would sit on the bench for the basketball team or couldn't do the hiss or couldn't do self-with with all my friends who were super active. It was very isolating involved, left me feeling very alone. Much of my growing up years. Uh so I did different stuff. I think late 20s, early 30s. I swam a ton, I bike ride, rode, road biked quite a bit, never really did mountain biking. Um, but I didn't discover adaptive sports until my mid-30s. And at that point, it was just life-changing. That became like the only thing I wanted to do.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Tell me more about that. How did that change your life? Discovering adaptive sports. And where were where were you when this happened?

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Okay, it it wasn't an immediate takeoff for me, but I was living in Portland at the time. I was swimming, I was biking, and I actually switched to a recumbent foot pedal tricycle. I was doing for biking just because my balance wasn't super safe for the upright two-wheel bicycle. So I was doing those two things. So then I started thinking, oh, I'm doing this a ton, like I'm really interested in paratrops a lot. So I need to figure out what to do for the running portion. Uh so I got on my and called and eventually got connected with Dapist Portion Northwest, which is nonprofit in Portland area. Uh and connected with them and went to they had a track and field like practice day. They had a few like old, super old racing wheelchairs there. Um I sit in one of them because I mean their their program was designed for kids.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Yeah. Not for someone fully grown in their 30s.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

So I got in that one. It was kind of fun, pushed around the track, but then I got connected um with a lovely, lovely person who lived in Eugene. He's since passed away the last couple of years. But Kevin Hansen, um, head of the World Wheelchair Sports, was his nonprofit. He was a quad power chair user, and he was super passed and passionate about wheelchair racing and track, like track and feel the wheelchair racing as well as road racing, just for running events. Um, so I connected with him, went to the first practice with him. He he found a slightly better wheelchair or racing wheelchair that I sit in. And uh so I pushed around, I got better, pushed around the track to some pointers from him, and uh uh he ended up sending me home with that, even though it that's what I used and started to compete with. But it was a 25-year-old race chair. Okay. Um, so I did that through adoption sports northwest. They connected with me with Challenge's halfly spent patient, who was doing a paratriathlon camp like a few months later down in San Diego. So I went down to that and that's kind of how it all started.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

And you haven't stopped since?

SPEAKER_00 7:37

No, no. It's definitely the sports have changed. Um kind of direction, intensity. Uh uh, I mean, the intensity is still there, it's just changed for a little bit. So it's gone from gone from competing and training like crazy. Um I held down uh for my classification, I held down the championship for wheelchair racing for two years. Oh, wow for track racing.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

Um and I was competing, sorry, competing paratriathlon, went to road hand cycling nationals. Um, and I was just within striking distance of like hitting podium time for worlds for wheelchair racing. But then that year, uh I think there's like three out three athletes from Great Britain got classed down to my classification. Okay. And I was like, uh, gotta get faster. So I was training, but then the COVID pandemic hit.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

And all the races got canceled.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

Social distances, distancing, and all of that. And all of a sudden, I was like, oh, what am I doing? Um, so at that point, like I I kept training, I kept doing so, but it it turned from competition and really driving myself trying to hit markers, turned to fun. Like I turned into a hobbyist, and I started having way more fun with it. At that point, is when I started um I connected with Oregon Sports when I was still living in Portland. Um came over and tried alpine skiing for the first time, which I didn't pick back up until like six, seven years later when I moved here. Um but I also tried uh adaptive mount biking. And adaptive mount mount biking for me specifically, I saw a three-wheeled hand cycle to use my hands and arm power to make it work instead of traditional foot power pedals.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

Um so I did came to a camp with Howie, has tried that, was instantly hooked, uh-huh, uh did some fundraising and ended up purchasing my own, like within the year. And still still pushed the wheelchair, the racing wheelchair, some not as much. It just wasn't as enjoyable.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Uh-huh. Still did roadhood hand cycling quite a bit, uh, but quickly, like adaptive mountain biking took over. It was just different. And so about being able to be outside nature off a busy road and uh finding just endless amounts of challenge and things I can prove was intoxicating.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

I can imagine. And Bend is definitely a place to do a lot of mountain biking. So, how what brought you from to Bend after from Portland?

SPEAKER_00 10:49

Let's see, I went went through a divorce, a pretty big life change back in 2022. Um I ended up having to sell my house as a result of that when I was looking for different options, like different places live in Portland. I was like very, I was just very disinterested and unhappy being in Portland. Um if I wanted to go hood hand cycling or to have to mountain biking, I would have to load up, drive like a minimum of 45 minutes each direction to get any what hurt just okay. Like not traffic, but just okay mount biking.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

Um, so with that, it didn't happen during the week. Like I work full-time. So the only time I got out to do it was weekend, and even then it was challenging at times. Um so I was thinking about that, and I gotten more involved. I'd come over here and done more so with uh Oregon Daphne Sports, pull pedal pedal, uh, cycle organ and some different various cans. Um I really started to think about moving to bed uh just for ease of access uh to get out, be more active, and try try and claim some better work-life balance as well. So I asked my employer, I was fortunately already working probably three quarters uh rebounded from my home office. Yeah. So I asked them, hey, can I go fully remote, move to Ben and keep working? And they approved it. That's amazing. That was just the end of the story. Sold the house, moved, and yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

And how has Ben treated you with OAS? I mean, tell us about your adventure here since you've been here.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

I mean, it's hard going. It continues to unfold, and it's great. Like I I feel like I've done it a ton, but I'm just brushing the surface. What I can do. Um it I from the campsite he had come to before I connected with some of the volunteers and some of the instructors with adaptive mountain biking specifically. And one of the volunteers, you know, told me she said, when you move to Ben, we're gonna ride all the time. So I moved here and we do, like she saw my primary go-to ridey putty.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Uh, we get out at least two, three times a week during the house.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

Um it's the cool thing with that, I was living here in Penn. There's a couple of factors, several. Um, like I can walk a full day, I can be at a trailhead like in 10 minutes on my bike, or if I'm lucky, like depending on workload, I can shuffle my schedule around and take a half day and get up to bachelor and ski. Like it's like 35 minutes without traffic to get up. Yeah. Get up there. Um, so that just means it it there's far less barriers to get out and be active. Like you don't have the excuse, like, oh, it's so much of a so so much drama just to get there, right? Or have time for that. You can just go and it's right there. Um, so removed, remove barriers, like huge barrier for doing that.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Um easy access.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

Yeah, easy access. Another really cool thing is a lot of these sports, adaptive sports activities I was in Portland were very uh solo focused, like independently doing. Um, so I would train, I'd go swim lapse on my own, I'd go practice, I'd get a miles racing wheelchair on my own. I would go road hand cycling on my own for the most part. I had a few buddies we get together and deal with, but it was uh still, it's like okay, I'm active. This makes me feel amazing. But it was missing that social element. So cool thing about Ben is um it's really started showing up probably about a year and a half ago. Uh I show up at a trailhead now. Like 95% of the time, I run into at least one other person now.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

Chatting or end of going riding.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

Um this has to do with both uh two-wheeled bikes as well as adaptive bikes. And when I say adaptive, that covers a whole range. That can be hand cycles, which are arm-powered, that can be three-wheeled, foot-powered, foot pedal bikes, can be fully electric.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Uh hand cycles are three-wheeled. It can be a two-wheeled bike, it can be a visually impaired athlete on a tandem.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 16:04

Uh so it's a whole range, whole entire range. Um and that's one of the cool things, like force you with adaptists with Oregon Adapt Sports is we make one big, huge community. Like it's I record everyone's summit equal playing ground. Like we're all out here enjoying the same things.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

How has this community enhanced your own training, your own athletic performance?

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Um hugely. I I still will go out and do activities myself, mostly if I can't talk anyone else in going with me. Um that's huge. That's like I enjoy that the whole the grind and the workout. And that's not everybody's cup of tea. Um being able to like have a huge community here of there's OES volunteers, OAS instructors, OS athletes, there's other community members that you just run into just because that's what people do here.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Like we're all seeking the activity, uh, bits of help in that. Um, but we I say this, I was talking to someone else about this recently. Um I feel like people are happy here living in Central Oregon. I thought about that. And I think a big part of it has to do with people who live here. I'm speaking from my own experience. I had to intentionally make the choice to move, to live here for these very specific things. I think when you get the choice to do that, huge things happen, like your little partner just stuck somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

Um, you're at a place where you actually choose stuff that you enjoy. Um building networks. So I that translates to super friendly people for the most part, out on the trails or up on the mountain who are just excited. Like being on a mountain bike myself, it's a talking point. Like people get super curious about it, and a lot of people will come over and ask questions, and that's a terrific launch pad. Just start talking about stuff. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 18:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

This has been huge. I the biggest thing about moving here that's progressed. My athletic endeavors has just been access, like being able to ski, being able to mount bike so much more makes a huge difference.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

Have you seen your performance level improved since moving to Bend? Yeah. Tell me more about that.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

Um I mean, for alpine skiing, I really didn't start alpine ski until I moved here. Okay. Um the first winter, huge progression. And I think I got it like 26 days my first winter.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Second winter, I think I had close to 50.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

So being able to do that, it's like I can progress it's a lot of work. Yeah. Don't give me a report. Of course it is. But uh the things that you can accomplish when you have 50 days versus I made it up to the mountain like five times this winter.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

Yeah. This winter has been sad. Let's not.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

Yeah. Well, that's not this one. Okay. But if I weren't living here in Portland, yeah, like I just wouldn't go that much because so both resource and time it tends to make it happen.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

Um, so that's been huge. Uh indeptum biking. Uh yeah, I think I progressed hugely to the point where I got to the point where I was starting to coach more people on than got involved with Horgan Sports, and I kind of instructed instructed another athlete for one of the camps, and instantly was hooked. So I approached Horgan Sports and I said, Hey, I want to do more of this. And they have responded. Like they provide mentorships, they got me through certification to get my mountain biking coach, like instructor certification, and put me to work.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

Yeah, so it's going from just learning stuff myself, and I'm always going to be learning, but getting to the point where it's like, okay, my progression is much more smaller, and I have this wealth of information that I can start instructing others with. And it's been pretty powerful. Uh, being able to instruct another adaptive athlete. As an adaptive athlete, there's just so much stuff that's just instantly clicks with what have been the big takeaways as an instructor with Oregon Adaptive Adaptive Sports. I mean, what I was just talking about is huge. Like having having that level of connection, uh-huh. Almost kind of instant resonating. Sure. Just like information with this other person who is oftentimes trying this adaptive sport or the sport on adaptive equipment for the first time. Um you can watch them going from very hesitant to starting to go confident, and they start smiling really big and having a lot of fun. And it's contagious. Sure. One of my favorite things about adaptive sports as I've gotten involved, especially with the mentoring, coaching, instruction side, is watching how that has translated to confidence and Everyday stuff for people. Myself include that. I go and from, I mean, because society tells us, hey, you're in a wheelchair, or hey, you walk with a cane, or you're visually impaired. You are almost subhuman. Like you can't do anything. So like that that ends up being, I think, a narrative that a lot a lot of us um receive through life. Um from that, like finding something that you could do.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

Yeah. It's powerful.

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Like a slight change. Yeah. And like one of those in my I've been thinking about purpose. Like, what's my why and direction in the last couple of years, like more time like I don't know the answers just yet, but I know it brings me a lot of meaning to be able to be that person for someone else that like I didn't have. It's like for me thinking about like I don't want another kip to come along, uh huh. Like not discover these adapter sports until they're mid-30s. Yeah, like that's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

I want to do my part to spread that and like help show and provide some tools so other people can start their journey as well.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

Yeah, that's beautiful. I've seen how this season, which is my daughter's second season of doing alpine skiing, how she's so much more excited about it. You know, now she they're letting the instructors are letting her ski by herself and she's already asking me when her next class is. I mean, you what you say about empowerment, yeah, self-confidence, self-trust, it goes so hand in hand with athletics.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

Yeah, and it I think as I said, it there like it spreads to every aspect of their life. Yeah, my experience. So it's really cool, really cool to see that.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

What happens when you're not, you know, when we spoke a bit earlier, you told me like when you're not on the mountain, when you're not biking or skiing, you sometimes notice a regression.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

Can you talk to us about that?

SPEAKER_00 24:33

For me, health and wellness activity is non-negotiable. Uh whiskey progressive neurological stuff that I have going on. Yes, I can I can see some gains, like with exercise, I can improve some things to a point, but it's much more apparent. I feel the decline so much stronger if I stop doing activity. So it's not necessarily uh oh, I can go lift weights when go do this activity, do these huge endurance things, I'm going to get crazy ripped, or yeah, or you know, become super good at this stuff. Yeah, that's part of it. But really, like if I don't do that, I like my body just starts having way more challenges with mobility, and I start hurting pain management, and with that, like it's mental health for sure. So you end up just kind of pulling back into yourself because you can't do these things, don't have answers. Um so it's huge. Like it's it. I said once I discovered adaptive sports, like it's all I want to do, like it's tough at times, like focusing on my job because it's like everyone is but I gotta pay for pay for life, yeah. For the adaptive sports equipment, right? So it's like one of those necessities, but it's like I I have absolutely shaped, like reshaped my life to have like adapter sports and activity and help to wellness at the center of my life versus just it's something I do. Yeah. Like it's become me.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

What are your next steps, Kip? What are you striving for next? What's next on your agenda?

SPEAKER_00 26:37

It's always more so my my biggest I've not tried to adapt a sport that I haven't enjoyed. But um this winter with the snow conditions, haven't been it's great heat. Uh-huh. I started Nordic heat and have absolutely fallen in love with it. Not giving them giving up Alpine at all.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Right.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

But it's like, oh, now I have this whole other sport that I really enjoy. So that's huge. I I have big back surgery coming up, like a week and a half. Oh, wow. It's going to take me out for a while. So building that mental resolve till I get through the task when I can't be active. Yeah. So I don't know exactly what things look like after that recovery, but it's gonna be sports, you know, activity. It may look different, and that's the cool thing about adaptive stuff. It's like, okay, so I've got this other issue now. I just have to change how I do things, I can still do things, I just have to change. Um, so I think Nordic skiing is definitely gonna be a big part of my feature.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

Um, I still have miles and miles and miles to go. It's both out with alpine skiing, road biking, um, adaptive mountain biking and swimming was one of my first loves. I still try and get back in swim pools, but definitely, definitely still just doing what I've discovered. Um, I think so continuing to try and take more and more active roles in instructing and mentoring, uh, being part of that community as well.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

Okay. How has the instructing part enhanced your own personal performance as well? I was curious to ask you earlier.

SPEAKER_00 28:36

So I am a huge introvert. So even like this podcast, it kind of scares me a lot, like especially public speaking, it's just not not my wheelhouse. Um so with getting into instructing, uh like I have been taught as well as learned like a lot of really cool new ways to connect with people. And it's not about it's not about just teaching, it's about being able to present a tool here, a tool there. Oh, here's maybe a suggestion, or like asking a question of the gitsy athlete to start thinking about, like, oh well, maybe I can try this. So without like guiding them straight into something like we don't say just do this, like, hey, what would happen if you uh uh tried tread pedaling like this? Well um, hey, let's go, let's go over to this rock, let's play with uh you know finding your tipping point and see see what you can figure out for like keeping yourself from tipping. Of course, we have all the safety in spot or something in place.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

Um but I think it's really helped with my self-confidence with interacting with other people. Um that's been a huge, huge thing. Uh like support-wise, and for my own skills, slowing down has actually helped me improve things.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

Yeah, tell me about that.

SPEAKER_00 30:17

So it turns from like just being this huge, like adrenaline chunky, like just go fast, smash things, like send it. Yeah, um, turns into like a lot of lessons. Like I'm instructing someone who it's maybe their first time or it's their fifth time. I'm not um they're they're very much learned, they don't have all this experience. So I'm uh writing to demonstrate correct ways to do things, which reinforces my mind. Okay, don't be an idiot, don't go out and do this.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Yeah, got it.

SPEAKER_00 30:51

It's really helped me slow down and refine a lot of my techniques, as well as gets me into a place of experimentation. Um, well, where there's failure, but failure's a good thing. Yeah, a lot of times is where you you start to like grow, figure out, and problem solve, work through, work through. Okay, what happened?

SPEAKER_01 31:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:12

And like, what can I do? Oh, if I lean and then just a little bit more this way on this corner, it's way faster. Like, I'm just you you have to slow down to go fast.

SPEAKER_01 31:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

Um so it's really helped with a lot of that.

SPEAKER_01 31:29

Sure. Do you see any future sports that you want to try in the uh I mean not all of them.

SPEAKER_00 31:38

I just don't have to have time. Yeah or resource it. Yeah, I get that. Um it can be kind of fun to try sled hockey. That's a cool thing. Um just watching the Paralympics and having several really good friends on the US team um compete biathlon and like parabhlon looks really cool. Also super hard.

SPEAKER_01 32:04

What's that about for those of us I do not know what that is?

SPEAKER_00 32:06

So same, like I'll I'll just add this to you. I think that uh Olympics and Paralympics should be combined. Like everyone, same clipfield. So I just had to say that.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Okay, very valid.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

But with that, it's like you so a lot of people here may be familiar with bias law and uh uh in terms of like traditional Olympic Olympic level bias law, and like in order to pick cross-country skis, you stop, he's an air rifle, like target shooting. You continue, you miss a target, it adds like an extra lap you have to do. Okay, so it's a two-sport, two-sport sport or two sport event.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

Got it.

SPEAKER_00 32:52

Um, so the same thing exists for parabasoline, it's it's siskis. Okay. They they have standing as well.

SPEAKER_01 33:03

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 33:05

So it's usually para, it's someone without the use of their legs. Um, oftentimes there's several different classifications or levels that they base times off of has to with uh what level of function they have in their core. So it could be like they've got full core function, halfway up, you know, three quarters. So it athletes are classified based on that, but it's uh Nordic skiing with a safety and the that and target shooting. Got it. So it's exactly the same. She's okay. So that seems really cool. Ever since uh like I did paratry a flot, I I'm also a huge indoor sport junkie. So look into that stuff, like yeah, highly tricks me and like peanut holes go push like crazy, just max out, and uh being able to calm down, slow your heart rate, be able to focus for the shooting portion.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

Cool.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

So I think that that may be something I want to try down the road.

SPEAKER_01 34:13

Okay. What's next for this rest of the winter season here in Vend?

SPEAKER_00 34:18

Uh my winter season's almost over, just with a back surgery coming up. Sure. Two more weekends left. Um taking the day off on Friday, going up, we're doing a group lesson with Alpine.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

Cool.

SPEAKER_00 34:32

Uh, then high will Nordic ski Sunday morning, maybe Saturday, my two alpine Saturday with my home bike. It's just like I suddenly have all these options right now, just depending on condition or what I feel like.

SPEAKER_01 34:50

That's amazing. Thanks to OAS, how would you say that it has enhanced your health and wellness here in band, living locally and playing locally, and now instructing locally? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:03

Um I think a big mission about OES is to not just show people how to do things, but um, it's a local nonprofit. They exist of donations, fundraising. Uh they provide education. So it's like, okay, how do you do these things? Like, we're gonna we're going to give you the tools so you can figure out how to do things. They provide the tools for doing that. Equipment, such as you know, a sit ski, or a specialized mountain bike, um, or a way to paddle, like an adaptive way to paddle. Uh separate equipment, a huge thing that I has probably been the most impactful for me is they have a ready-built community. They have like that comes from the instructors, the staff, volunteers, uh other people who see like this crowd of sit skiers up skiing, like when you trillion trends and merms last year. I think we had like 20 something sit skiers up skiing at Bachelor, huge crowd. That like instantly gets people curious. They come over, they talk, they want to be part of this community now. Yeah, so community's been huge. They provide scholarships, you know, funded through grants and donations, a lot of times just from local entities, people and businesses. Yeah. Um and scheduling and programming, and they just provide avenues to do all of that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 36:41

Yeah. That's amazing. Such a great nonprofit that we have here in central Oregon. Yeah. And for those who are listening, I invite them to listen to watch the video that OAS produced about you because it's incredible to see you in action. We see you biking, we see you alpine skiing, we hear a little more about your story, about your move to bend. So I'm going to definitely leave it in the show notes at the bottom of the podcast so people can also click on that and see a little bit of you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:10

I absolutely encourage any of you listening, anybody out there, if you see adaptive athletes, especially like OES, where you're usually pretty well marked staff like with the orange vests and the blue vests, for instance. On the hill out on the trail, on the road, doing whatever, come talk to us. Like I am personally always looking for riding buddies.

SPEAKER_01 37:36

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 37:37

So it's like everybody fits.

SPEAKER_01 37:39

Hi. Thank you so much, Kip, for being here. It's so great to hear your story and just to know how you know active you are. Yeah, thank you very much.

SPEAKER_00 37:49

Yeah, thanks for asking me.