rob balucas

Catalyst. Creative. Triathlete. Speaker. Cigar Aficionado. Amateur Behavioral Psychologist. Fresh Spring Roll Addict. Paraplegic at the moment.

  • what happened?
  • updates
  • speaking
  • media
  • subscribe
  • support
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

powered by babaLucas

© Rob Balucas
All Rights Reserved

Rob Balucas: 2022 Breakfast with Bob from Kona

Rob Balucas was an accomplished age-group triathlete, preparing for his first 70.3 when he crashed on his bike during a training ride in 2015 and was paralyzed. It’s been a long journey, but he is finally here in Kona ready to take on the Ironman World Championship.

Our 11th year of Breakfast with Bob from Kona is brought to you by Master Spas, SFuels, HOKA, Zoot, FORM Smart Swim Goggles, Quintanaroo, Zoot, and our @Challenged Athletes Foundation

October 4, 2022

Bumble – ‘Paraplegic After an Accident, Rob Overcame Despair — and Met Erika’

Prachi Gupta

In 2015, one week before he was supposed to compete in a half Ironman Triathlon, Rob lost control of his bike at a sudden blind, sharp turn. He was thrown off, landing flat on his back about 20 feet down the hill. At first, he thought maybe he’d suffered a broken collar bone. But the injury turned out to be far more severe: he had cracked several ribs, his lungs had partially collapsed, and he’d fractured his spine. The accident had left him paraplegic, without any feeling or control in his legs.

As Rob, 44, began to come to terms with what had happened, he faced a choice: live with resentment and anger, or move forward. “I knew that at the bottom of that pit of despair is nothing. There’s no answer,” he says. “It happened, and you gotta deal. My brain still worked. I’m still me.”

Before the accident, Rob had been “playing the San Francisco lifestyle,” he says, meeting women through dating apps, including Bumble. He appreciated the ability to filter matches and know fairly quickly whether there was mutual interest or not. While conventional dating advice — especially for men — is geared towards netting as many matches as possible, Rob wanted to filter out anyone who didn’t share his values or wasn’t interested in a serious, committed relationship. “I’m cool with fewer matches and putting myself out there real and raw,” he says.

“I have a belief that there’s someone for everyone. There are people in wheelchairs who have families and relationships and kids.”

After the accident, he moved back to his hometown, Fresno, Calif., to focus on physical therapy and begin training as a paratriathlete. When Rob was ready to date again, he was faced with another choice: to include a photo of himself in his wheelchair on his Bumble profile, or not? For Rob, the decision was simple. “My pictures definitely included my wheelchair,” he says. “If your goal is a meaningful, long-term relationship, you gotta bring what you got.”

In terms of dating apps, he saw this as “an additional filter” to finding the right person: “I have a belief that there’s someone for everyone,” he says. “There are people in wheelchairs who have families and relationships and kids. For me, it was like, screw it. If I hear from fewer people, fantastic.”

On first dates, he was candid about what it means to be paraplegic. “Once we got into it a little bit, I’d be like, yeah there’s a lot to this,” he says. “Bowel, bladder, and incontinence and impotence problems…this is real.” Not everyone was a match: one woman ended things after two months because she wanted to be able to hike with a partner. “Here’s the rawness,” he says. “I want to hike too.” Though it hurt to hear, however, he appreciated her honesty.

It really sunk in that the wheelchair “was not an accessory” — it was central to Rob’s life.

By staying true to himself, Rob found an ideal partner in Erika, who found his positive attitude and his forthrightness “very refreshing.” They matched on Bumble in 2018. She lived in Los Angeles and Rob was in Fresno, so they relied on phone calls and FaceTime to get to know each other. “It meant we had to have an actual conversation, and I would see him rolling around in his wheelchair,” she says. That’s when it really sunk in that the wheelchair “was not an accessory” — it was central to Rob’s life.

Like Rob, Erika is an endurance athlete. “I’m a huge outdoor person,” she says. “And then my thought was, eh, I have friends to go hiking with. It’s not the end-all be-all that I have my partner do that with me…I need someone who will be there for me in other ways.” Yet, in their first several outings together, they quickly realized there were a lot of physical activities they could share. Erika joined Rob in a race for the Challenged Athletes Foundation, they went to Yosemite National Park and hiked on a wheelchair-accessible trail, and not long after, Rob attended a yoga class that Erika taught. “It was a great experience, and I was able to share a part of what I do with him,” she says.

Things moved pretty quickly after that. A year later, the couple purchased a home together in Los Angeles and have been working from home together through the pandemic. Although some friends and family members have asked about a wedding, they have no plans for marriage. What’s most important — as in Rob’s approach to dating — is to be consistent and honest. “We knew what we wanted at this stage in our lives, and [marriage] didn’t seem necessary,” Rob says. “It felt natural to commit, and say this is it. I just want to focus on having a real bond and a real relationship.”

See Website » View Article PDF »

February 25, 2021

USA Today Money – ‘An accessible home makes life easier’ for a para athlete and his partner’

Tanisha A. Sykes | Special to USA TODAY
Published: 4:04 a.m. ET Sep. 17, 2020 Updated: 7:59 a.m. ET Sep. 17, 2020

After looking at two houses, Rob Balucas and Erika Chau, knew they found the right home in 2019.

The couple, who met a few years ago on the dating app Bumble, now live in West Hills, California, in a quaint mid-century modern ranch.

Before they landed their current house, they had seen older homes that needed a lot of work. Their priority was ensuring their new abode was accessible for Rob, a paraplegic who uses a wheelchair. In 2015, Rob, a web design/online marketing entrepreneur, was training for a Half Ironman competition, and a cycling accident left him paralyzed from the waist down.

“He couldn’t even fit through the bathroom doors in one house,” says Erika, assistant vice chancellor, academic affairs, at the University of California, Los Angeles.

After experiencing one too many narrow doorways and tight hallways, they were really “bummed out”.

Erika Chau and Rob Balucas bought their home in Los Angeles, CA for $668,888. It was at the top end of their budget but met many of their accessibility needs.

Admittedly, “a lot of building codes have changed because the Americans with Disabilities Act requires them be wider and bigger,” she says. “But there should be an intent to at least have some accessible housing available, or some thought process for condo units or homes.”

At the time, Erika was living in West Hollywood, and Rob in Fresno. While looking for houses online, Erika spied their current home, with its wide driveway, open kitchen, and a ramp leading to the front door. She immediately FaceTimed Rob: “I could be insane, but I think this house is in the neighborhood we want,” she told him. That was a Sunday. “Our realtor got me in the next day to see it,” Erika says.

They paid the asking price of $668,888, which Rob says was at the top end of their budget, even though they were approved for more. With the help of their realtor, who suggested widening the doorways, then adding a pocket door, they could visualize the space’s potential to meet Rob’s needs.

“I literally couldn’t fit through the bathroom doorway when we first bought the house,” says Rob, an active para athlete who competes with members of Angel City Sports, which provides free adaptive sports opportunities for people with physical disabilities or visual impairments. He continues: “So we had to widen it and put in a barn door.”

And the open floor plan is a winner, he says. “The kitchen to the living room is one big open space, now we just have to decide how to lay out our furniture.”

Aside from needing a flat layout with no stairs inside or outside of the property, the couple, both 43, say many of their needs are typical of other homebuyers.

“We wanted something nice, open, and the right commuting distance to Erika’s work,” says Rob. He also wanted to live in a flat neighborhood where he could easily walk his dog, Chloe, and get around by himself.

“For Rob, it’s also really important to have a shower that has a tub, or a stove with controls in the front so he can reach them,” adds Erika. “A lot of people don’t think about those things, but that’s what we were looking for in our home.”

The home has a built-in ramp to the front door, an open kitchen and living room and hardwood floors. To make the home more accessible, the couple installed smart technology, modified the door to Balucas’ bathroom and moved the dishes, food and glasses to the bottom shelves in the kitchen.

Now that they are settled in, the couple can sit back and enjoy their new space, replete with smart lights, a smart thermostat, and a smart oven that are easy to control from an app.

“One thing I have learned is to have patience because everything takes longer when living in a wheelchair,” he says. “Having an accessible home makes life easier.”

Contributing: Andrea Kramar

See Website » View Article PDF »

September 18, 2020

Angel City Sports Takes Annual Adaptive Sporting Event Virtual

By Kristen Lago Los Angeles
PUBLISHED 12:19 PM ET Jul. 17, 2020

LOS ANGELES – Every summer for the last five years, hundreds of athletes have descended upon the UCLA campus for an adaptive sports event.

Dubbed the Angel City Games, the four-day festival is the signature event for Angel City Sports — a chance for the adaptive sports community to come together and network in a unique and fun way.

This year though, much like many other live sporting events around the globe, the Angel City Games fell victim to the coronavirus pandemic.

But rather than cancel it completely, founder Clayton Frech took a cue from his athletes and adapted.

“Our community tends to already feel and probably be socially isolated and so now, we felt we needed to do something big, special and kinda flashy to bring the community together,” Frech said.

He decided to take the games from UCLA and bring them online.

In a time that’s been so difficult for so many, Frech believed it was important to give his community something to look forward to.

“It’s really the soul of the organization, it’s such a huge part of what we do all year long,” Frech said.

And his athletes are grateful for the opportunity.

Rob Balucas is one of hundreds who will participate over the three week online event. Through his injury, he’s learned to make the best of every situation.

“Getting injured later in life, I knew that the sun was going to come up and the sun was going to come down and I could either waste it lamenting my situation or I could do the best with what I have and just go for it,” he said.

He’s taken that mentality and altered it to the situation he’s now in. The pandemic is something out of his control, but he can choose to take advantage of the virtual event.

“When you’re forced into something you don’t want, but you have to deal with, that’s our game,” Balucas said with a laugh. “To give people a framework to do that stuff through the games is an awesome asset to play together.”

Read On

August 7, 2020

Angel City Sports Takes Annual Adaptive Sporting Event Virtual

By Kristen Lago Los Angeles
PUBLISHED 12:19 PM ET Jul. 17, 2020

LOS ANGELES – Every summer for the last five years, hundreds of athletes have descended upon the UCLA campus for an adaptive sports event.

Dubbed the Angel City Games, the four-day festival is the signature event for Angel City Sports — a chance for the adaptive sports community to come together and network in a unique and fun way.

This year though, much like many other live sporting events around the globe, the Angel City Games fell victim to the coronavirus pandemic.

But rather than cancel it completely, founder Clayton Frech took a cue from his athletes and adapted.

“Our community tends to already feel and probably be socially isolated and so now, we felt we needed to do something big, special and kinda flashy to bring the community together,” Frech said.

He decided to take the games from UCLA and bring them online.

In a time that’s been so difficult for so many, Frech believed it was important to give his community something to look forward to.

“It’s really the soul of the organization, it’s such a huge part of what we do all year long,” Frech said.

And his athletes are grateful for the opportunity.

Rob Balucas is one of hundreds who will participate over the three week online event. Through his injury, he’s learned to make the best of every situation.

“Getting injured later in life, I knew that the sun was going to come up and the sun was going to come down and I could either waste it lamenting my situation or I could do the best with what I have and just go for it,” he said.

He’s taken that mentality and altered it to the situation he’s now in. The pandemic is something out of his control, but he can choose to take advantage of the virtual event.

“When you’re forced into something you don’t want, but you have to deal with, that’s our game,” Balucas said with a laugh. “To give people a framework to do that stuff through the games is an awesome asset to play together.”

Read On

July 20, 2020

  • 1
  • 2
  • Next Page »
 

Loading Comments...