Published: Monday, February 13, 2012
Cycling is therapy for injured veteran
Richmond, who served in Navy, has 'moment of Zen' when riding his bike
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Sarah Weiser / The Herald
Everett's Jeremy Richmond takes an early morning ride near Silver Lake.
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Sarah Weiser / The Herald
Everett's Jeremy Richmond takes an early morning ride near Silver Lake.
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Sarah Weiser / The Herald
Everett's Jeremy Richmondrides along Silver Lake during a recent ride.
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Sarah Weiser / The Herald
Everett's Jeremy Richmond, who served in Iraq with the Navy, is part of the Wounded Warrior Project.
EVERETT -- In war, the difference between life and death is sometimes only an inch here or there, or maybe just a mere millisecond of time.
For Jeremy Richmond, the difference between another successful mission with the United States Navy and a life inalterably changed was a simple misstep.
While serving on the Cyclone-class patrol ship USS Typhoon in the summer of 2004, and as part of a mission to protect Iraqi oil platforms in the Persian Gulf, Richmond was assigned with fellow crew members to board and search seagoing vessels. On Aug. 1, as he was scaling a rope ladder to reach the fantail of a large car carrier, a commotion above caused him to hasten his climb.
Richmond lost his footing, fell about 20 feet and landed on his back atop a rigid wire rope about 1 inch in diameter. He went through three weeks of medical treatment before returning to duty, but his injuries -- he had considerable disc and nerve damage -- would not be fully and accurately diagnosed until several years after he left the Navy in January of 2006.
Today the 32-year-old Richmond lives in Everett, is married with three children, and works for a company that manages commercial office buildings in the Seattle area. It is an otherwise normal life, except for the ongoing and often agonizing back and leg pain that is a continuous reminder of his accident.
"To some degree, this is never going to go away for me," said Richmond, who takes daily pain medication and has another prescription for whenever the discomfort becomes too severe.
Yet even more effective than pills, Richmond has found physical and emotional relief in a surprising activity -- cycling.
"When I'm cycling, I don't think about anything else," he said. "And I don't feel any pain. I just hit a moment of Zen, and I don't know how else to describe it. It's great and I love it."
Richmond, who rides 3-5 days and 50-60 miles a week, says his bike outings have also helped him deal with another residual problem from his military service -- post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Richmond sometimes feels anxiety in crowded public places or when he knows people are moving unseen behind him.
"When I'm at the mall, sometimes I'm OK and sometimes I'm not," he said. Even an interview at an Everett coffee shop, with other patrons occasionally passing behind him, "is bugging me a little bit," he admitted.
But in his hours on a bike, none of that seems to matter.
"If I get too frustrated with something, things can really go downhill," he said. "But my wife can sense that and I love her to death for it. The minute she sees it coming, she'll just tell me, 'Go for a bike ride.' So I grab my iPod and my headphones, and out the door I go. And it does the trick. I'll come back an hour later and I'm fine."
Though some victims of PTSD find momentary comfort with alcohol or narcotics, "I ride bikes," he said. "That's my therapy."
In September Richmond participated in Soldier Ride, a rehabilitative cycling event put on by the Wounded Warrior Project, a non-profit organization that works on behalf of injured veterans. Riding in the Seattle area with other former service men and women -- many of them missing limbs, or with other severe and permanent disabilities -- "was just like riding with my family," he said.
In July, he also participated in the annual Seattle to Portland Bicycle Race, an event that drew approximately 10,000 riders.
Richmond, who expects to ride in both events again this year, is unable to participate in certain sports and physical activities. Running, for instance, is extremely difficult because of resulting pain, as is a prolonged workout on a treadmill.
But he has taken up snowboarding, "and I think that's my new wintertime Zen," he said. "When I do it I have a lot of low back pain, but not enough to make me not want to do it."
Cycling, though, remains his preferred means of exercise. And as the weather warms, he expects to be on his bike even more.
"Whatever's going on at the office, whatever's going on at the house, whatever's going on with my leg and back, it all just kind of goes away while I'm on the bike," he said. "I normally have an ear bud in, so I'm listening to music and it's a complete zone-out of everything else. It's just me, the bike and the road."
For Jeremy Richmond, the difference between another successful mission with the United States Navy and a life inalterably changed was a simple misstep.
While serving on the Cyclone-class patrol ship USS Typhoon in the summer of 2004, and as part of a mission to protect Iraqi oil platforms in the Persian Gulf, Richmond was assigned with fellow crew members to board and search seagoing vessels. On Aug. 1, as he was scaling a rope ladder to reach the fantail of a large car carrier, a commotion above caused him to hasten his climb.
Richmond lost his footing, fell about 20 feet and landed on his back atop a rigid wire rope about 1 inch in diameter. He went through three weeks of medical treatment before returning to duty, but his injuries -- he had considerable disc and nerve damage -- would not be fully and accurately diagnosed until several years after he left the Navy in January of 2006.
Today the 32-year-old Richmond lives in Everett, is married with three children, and works for a company that manages commercial office buildings in the Seattle area. It is an otherwise normal life, except for the ongoing and often agonizing back and leg pain that is a continuous reminder of his accident.
"To some degree, this is never going to go away for me," said Richmond, who takes daily pain medication and has another prescription for whenever the discomfort becomes too severe.
Yet even more effective than pills, Richmond has found physical and emotional relief in a surprising activity -- cycling.
"When I'm cycling, I don't think about anything else," he said. "And I don't feel any pain. I just hit a moment of Zen, and I don't know how else to describe it. It's great and I love it."
Richmond, who rides 3-5 days and 50-60 miles a week, says his bike outings have also helped him deal with another residual problem from his military service -- post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Richmond sometimes feels anxiety in crowded public places or when he knows people are moving unseen behind him.
"When I'm at the mall, sometimes I'm OK and sometimes I'm not," he said. Even an interview at an Everett coffee shop, with other patrons occasionally passing behind him, "is bugging me a little bit," he admitted.
But in his hours on a bike, none of that seems to matter.
"If I get too frustrated with something, things can really go downhill," he said. "But my wife can sense that and I love her to death for it. The minute she sees it coming, she'll just tell me, 'Go for a bike ride.' So I grab my iPod and my headphones, and out the door I go. And it does the trick. I'll come back an hour later and I'm fine."
Though some victims of PTSD find momentary comfort with alcohol or narcotics, "I ride bikes," he said. "That's my therapy."
In September Richmond participated in Soldier Ride, a rehabilitative cycling event put on by the Wounded Warrior Project, a non-profit organization that works on behalf of injured veterans. Riding in the Seattle area with other former service men and women -- many of them missing limbs, or with other severe and permanent disabilities -- "was just like riding with my family," he said.
In July, he also participated in the annual Seattle to Portland Bicycle Race, an event that drew approximately 10,000 riders.
Richmond, who expects to ride in both events again this year, is unable to participate in certain sports and physical activities. Running, for instance, is extremely difficult because of resulting pain, as is a prolonged workout on a treadmill.
But he has taken up snowboarding, "and I think that's my new wintertime Zen," he said. "When I do it I have a lot of low back pain, but not enough to make me not want to do it."
Cycling, though, remains his preferred means of exercise. And as the weather warms, he expects to be on his bike even more.
"Whatever's going on at the office, whatever's going on at the house, whatever's going on with my leg and back, it all just kind of goes away while I'm on the bike," he said. "I normally have an ear bud in, so I'm listening to music and it's a complete zone-out of everything else. It's just me, the bike and the road."
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