The Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center in Colorado is credited with encouraging and motivating many with disabilities including Traumatic Brain Injuries. Richard Abbott of Summit County, CO is one of them. Almost two years ago he was hit by a car while biking to work in Dillon in 2006. He was taken by a Flight-for-Life helicopter to St. Anthony’s Central Hospital in Denver, where doctors found he had sustained major brain injuries, numerous facial fractures and was launched into a coma they thought he would never emerge from. After several surgeries, he was transferred to Craig Hospital, a rehabilitation center outside of Denver which specializes in patients with spinal cord and brain injuries. He had to learn how to talk, walk and swallow all over again. He spent almost a year at Craig. Since 1976, the BOEC has been providing outdoor experiences for people with disabilities in the Rocky Mountains and beyond. “One of the biggest populations we work with is people with traumatic brain injuries, and in early June, we hold a brain-injury camp in conjunction with the Brain Injury Association of Colorado” said development director Marci Sloan. Abbott decided to take advantage of a seven-day brain-injury camp and arrived at the Scott Griffith Lodge in Breckenridge for a week of biking, rafting, fishing and rock-wall climbing. Although he still suffers from frequent bouts of dizziness that slow him down, he recently participated in the Third Annual Adaptive Cycle Fest at Keystone Resort, joining eight other riders on a scenic tour of Summit County’s bike paths.