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Cyclist puts a positive spin on facing physical adversity

A cyclist who was seriously injured when a car hit his group talks to youth about his comeback and how he puts a positive spin on life.

By JON WILSON
Published March 27, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - Kip Vosburgh answered his cell phone late last week somewhere near Sopchoppy. Pedaling a bicycle, he was riding a leg of a 300-mile tour deep in the Florida Panhandle.

Embracing the comeback trail, hugging it tight.

"Physically, I've done pretty well," said Vosburgh, one of 14 cyclists badly hurt nearly two years ago when a car mowed them down on a Sunday ride.

But adversity remains, unsettling as a snake suddenly seen.

"Mentally, I still have my days. I had one a couple days ago on this ride. There were cross winds, heavy traffic. I really got spooked. I got off and walked it on in."

Vosburgh, 58, has grabbed hold of the adversity, too, learning from it and growing. If asked, he talks publicly about it. Wednesday at 7 p.m. he'll speak at Pasadena Presbyterian Church. The talk is aimed at youth, but is open to anyone, said Steve Edwards, the church's director of youth ministries.

Vosburgh doesn't call his talks about the accident and its aftermath a ministry.

"It's more of a reaction," he said.

"After (the accident), you start developing a mind-set about how you react to adversity. That mind-set was probably set in place by my father, who lost a leg in World War II."

An athlete, Vosburgh's father no longer could race the mile or run with the football. But he went to college on the GI bill and became a doctor, which he could not have afforded otherwise.

Vosburgh said his father told him he had met lots of people "who would have given an arm and a leg to become a doctor - and I got mine at half-price!"

Such is the spirit Vosburgh wants to convey when he talks.

He said he might have brooded about the accident. "Or I could accept the fact, this is the hand I was dealt, try to go forward and put a positive spin on it."

Vosburgh broke an ankle in two places. The accident shattered his right thigh, broke his right hip, dislocated an elbow and a finger and traumatized his muscles. Doctors put a titanium rod into his leg. He spent two months in a wheelchair.

But three months after the accident, he went on a group ride with cyclists.

In 2004, he completed a relay leg of St. Anthony's Triathlon.

A downside of the accident and all treatment: "I have one leg shorter than the other, but when I stand up, they both touch the ground," Vosburgh said. "My wife says I can dance a little better."

Edwards and Vosburgh are longtime friends who began running together in the 1980s.

Edwards visited in the hospital and followed his friend's recovery. The two bumped into each other a few weeks ago. Edwards discerned the spiritual way in which Vosburgh dealt with recovery and asked him to speak to the youngsters.

"It started to get a life of its own," Edwards said. Adults who have heard the story liked it, too, he said.

Vosburgh's, and the broader story of the accident July 6, 2003, has special meaning for the church's young people. Many learned about the accident at church just a few minutes after it happened because the father of one of the youngsters was among fire and rescue workers involved.

"Now here we are coming full circle," Edwards said. "This is kind of a closure."

As it is for Vosburgh. "It's very therapeutic," he said.

"I enjoy a little bit of the spotlight. The rest of it, it tends to reinforce not only to the audience but to me, some good can come out of it. . . . Hopefully, I'll touch one or two kids."

Pasadena Presbyterian Church is at 100 Pasadena Ave. N. For information, call 345-0148.

[Last modified March 27, 2005, 00:34:19]