Bob Babbitt chats with para-triathlete Rob Balucas about Rob's passion for sport and how he helped shape a wheelchair athlete community on Strava.

In 2015 Rob Balucas was training for a half IRONMAN, he lost control of his bicycle, crashed, and sustained a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Within 10 days, Rob had recovered enough to begin increasing his activity levels in a wheelchair.

He was back in training, but this time as a para-triathlete on a handcycle. He used the Strava app to track his rehab and then worked closely with the engineers to include a handcycle mode for accurate routes and times.

#ChallengedAthletesLive

Posted by Challenged Athletes Foundation on Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Check it out here: apple.co/StravaStory

Paratriathlete Rob Balucas began handcycling when there was no place to track his progress.

He reached out to Strava and helped develop handcycling mode. Now athletes worldwide benefit from his innovation. #GAAD

Learn about his incredible journey: https://t.co/0WcJ8cpgAl pic.twitter.com/wMhlH3X6pT

— App Store (@AppStore) May 21, 2020

I had the honor of being a guest on Breakfast with Bob while in Nice, France for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships!

Rob was a good age-group triathlete who, while out on a training ride with friends, lost control of his bike, crashed and was told that he would never walk again. What the doctors did not tell him was that he could not tri again. He qualified for Ironman 70.3 Worlds at the Buffalo Springs 70.3 race in Texas this summer and hopes to one day complete a full Ironman as well!

Filmed on location at Hotel West End on the Promenade des Anglais at the world championships in Nice. Brought to you by Velofix, Polar, UCAN, Active.com, and Premium Plus Sports Travel.