Wounded Warriors complete ride, but road has been much longer
MIAMI - Forty Wounded Warriors took to the road to complete a 9-mile bicycle ride from Miami Beach to Marlins Park, but for some, the road to start here has been much longer.
"Miltary if you really think about it we're all athletes," Kristina Cobel said.
Cobel was in the peak of physical fitness in 2018, while she was serving as a US Air Force Staff Sergeant, then she suffered an injury.
"Numbness, tingling, feels hot," she described her pain.
It was so intense, she could no longer serve.
"Unfortunately, when you get injured you get a disability, so technically if you break it down, it's disabled, takes away your ability to do something with full comfort and full function," she explained.
Getting around was hard enough, but getting back on a bike, a tall order for those who have had severe injuries or wounds from combat.
"We want to stay as independent as we possibly can," she added.
That's why she's 1 of 40 taking part in this year's Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride.
"What it is, is one part introduction to cycling, and two, to demonstrate to anybody with disabilities or any sort of injury whether visible or invisible that they can go out and do something," Bill Hayes, Wounded Warrior Project Staff.
And getting out and staying active is important for health reasons. According to a WWP survey, more than half 51.6% are considered obese or severely obese, and 40% are more likely to experience severe pain than non-veterans.
"I have to continue to shift my body in order to stay as comfortable as I can," Kobel shared.
Her injury is part of the reason she sits on a recumbent bike.
"I've never done a cycling ride with a group, especially of this magnitude, even so I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to maintain the cadence and the pace."
But as this group has always been united by the colors red, white and blue, they finished at Marlins Park altogether.
"I am just in awe by how many people have to come to help us, and to just be part of this, it makes me want to cry honestly," Kobel said.
