Ricky James - Perseverance 1

Seven years ago, Ricky James was a promising amateur racer who was paralyzed from the waist down in a crash at the Lake Whitney Grand Nationals. Since then, he has accomplished more as a paraplegic than most of us will in a lifetime. In addition to getting back on a modified motocross bike and earning an X Games medal, RJ has raced trucks, stock cars, short course off-road trucks, go karts, and more. In 2008, mentored by his trainer and good friend David Bailey, James competed in the Ironman World Championships. Now, after some personal ups and downs (including a MX crash in which he re-broke his back!), Ricky is on a quest to qualify for this year's Ironman World Championships in Hawaii in October. The first step? Finishing inside the top two in this weekend's Buffalo Springs 70.3 event. I'm lucky enough to call RJ a good friend, and over the past couple of weeks, I documented his preparations for this weekend's event. Good luck, Ricky!