Paul Ritter
A story in pictures written with love by Dee
Paul Ritter, November 2002.
(It's a motorcycle reference, by the way!)
Paul Ritter, November 2002.
(It's a motorcycle reference, by the way!)
Paul was second of four children born to Ray and Enid Ritter. His older brother, Phil, is a Stanford professor who has two grown daughters and two grand-babies with his wife of 25+ years, Lynn. After Paul was his sister, Ardath, an RN living in the Bay Area with her husband Mick Brandley - their two sons are in college. Russ Ritter, a Portland computer expert and new grandpa, was the 4th child but the first to marry. He and Eleanor raised 3 daughters and a son during their two decades together. After some years as a single dad, Russ remarried in August 2004. He and his bride Kacy bought a charming vintage farmhouse in Roy, Oregon, and host the majority of the Ritter family gatherings.
Probably Paul's proudest achievements came in his 1970's racing career. Racing a bevel head Ducati for Dale Newton, Paul had a very successful couple years mixing it up with national roadracers like Cook Nielson, Reg Pridmore, Steve McLaughlin, Ron Pierce, Wes Cooley, and Keith Code. Paul won the AMA's first-ever Sears Point Superbike event in 1977 and again in 1978. In fact, earning #3 for the year, he was only 7 points (one more race finishing 6th or better - his worst finish was 4th) from becoming the 1978 AMA National Superbike Champion!!! His name pops up in record books and online official records, features, and interviews.
(click any photo for higher resolution image)
Left: Paul winning the
AMA Superbike National at Sears Point, California, July 1977 (Cycle News photo).
(Read Paul's brief description of the photo, the bike, and that season
here.)
Middle: Another shot of Paul at Sears Point '77, about to pass Cook Neilson - this was just his "rookie" year!
Right: Paul and Cook chatting in the pits, 1977.
Paul's former race bike:
Dale Newton's Ducati 900ss
Above photos taken by Steve Allen 10/10/04 at "La Ducati Day" (La Honda)
Photos taken by Nick Cedar for the 1999 BevelHeads calendar: Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3
Unscathed after years of professional racing, Paul entered a vintage race in Colorado "just for fun" in 1998, his first race event since retiring in 1981. The freak accident that nearly claimed his life was well-documented by his friends in the Pacific NW motorcycle social group, Wetleather. Recovery took a long time, but after two years Paul was living independently again in his own apartment. After another two-year transition, he moved into his own, built-to-order home in Albany, Oregon, in time to celebrate Thanksgiving 2002.
Left & middle: Paul's house has knee space under lowered counters, etc., to suit his new lifestyle.
Right: Here we are, apres move day with Paul's brother Russ and girlfriend (now his wife) Kacy, November 2002.
March 2002: "He'll never ride again!" or so they said. Oh yeah??! You can't keep a great guy down for long!
Can you believe THIS???? Click on either picture to see the whole thing!
Dauntless Motors is building a custom sidecar for Paul's automatic transmission Moto Guzzi. Paul's wheelchair will clamp into the sidecar and Paul will operate the motorcycle with hand controls. My plan: to ride passenger on the bike while Paul is driving and wear a blindfold over my helmet's faceshield. Imagine the double takes!
During our April 2004 visit to Dauntless Motors for sidecar measurements, Paul was asked to set his handlebar height.
Above: Progress as of November 2005.
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February 2003: Paul bought a great new British invention called a "PowerTrike" - an electric mountain bike style front end that attaches to his wheelchair, allowing him to ride up to 12 MPH (Paul claims it got up to 17.2 on a downhill!) over rougher terrain. I didn't get to see it, but I heard how his 13-year-old son Steven hung onto the back on his skateboard for a birthday ride through the park in Chico, CA, later that month. There is so much you can do with enough imagination and an adventurous heart! Right: Paul racing his new "PowerTrike" along Nye Beach after the Newport Wine & Seafood Festival. |
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The PowerTrike has returned some old activities to Paul.
Left: Reading next to the McKenzie River in Paradise Campground.
Right: Picking blueberries, August 2003.
Chalet RV (Albany, Oregon) modified our 1996 Chalet Aspen 15-foot folding trailer with a wider door in time for us to go camping together for the first time on Easter weekend 2003! A million thanks to owners Chris and Brenda Hanson, Tom Walker, Dave Sturtz, and everyone else there (Jeff, Caleb, Viktor, BJ, and Leo) who worked so hard to make this happen!
Right: Paul decending the ramp contraption we set up on our Memorial Day weekend Cascades getaway. We rode around Paradise Campground (McKenzie River) on Paul's PowerTrike - what a sight we must have made speeding around with me in his lap!
We spent the July 4 weekend camping at the Metolius River. Our trailer set up got better and better through the 1st camping season
Click any picture for a closer view.
The last weekend in July 2003, Paul and I took Paul's son Steven rafting on the McKenzie River. We found a rafting company willing to accommodate Paul's disability. They provided a guide with 35 years experience and certified for swift water rescue.
Click the pictures to see the whole story!
All through July 2003, Paul took swim lessons so he could pass the watermanship tests to be certified for scuba diving.
Click either picture to see Paul swim (1.7 meg movie)!
September 2003: Two days before the 5th anniversary of his near-fatal racing accident, Paul became a certified scuba diver! Read about our Bonaire scuba vacation, complete with underwater photographs!
Click on the photos for more...
The last weekend of October, Paul and I flew to Denver for Paul's week-long re-evaluation by Craig Hospital.
Craig specializes in spinal cord injury (SCI) and head injuries and the post-injury rehabilitation of the patient and his/her family, including not only how to dress and feed yourself but also how to have fun again through hobbies and sports. Their "Broken Man" symbol, literally the cornerstone of the original Craig Hospital building, symbolizes the broken man made whole again. I bought myself a silver medallion with that symbol and have worn it every day since.
Craig's battery of therapists, nutritionists, and medical specialists checked Paul head to toe in a solid week of hourly appointments. In addition to the medical stuff we both tried a handcycle, a power-assist wheelchair, and a wheelchair tennis clinic. Evenings we prepared our own dinners in the new "family apartment" and took turns winning at Rummikub. We also got to have a reunion dinner with Bert, Betty, Carol, and Sharon, who we met on our Bonaire dive vacation. Halloween was a big party day with costumes, skits, music, haunted house exhibits, and a parade.
This article appeared August 2004 in a Chico, California, newspaper:
Click on the picture for a higher-resolution image.
This article appeared in the May 31 (2006) issue of Cycle News:
Two or three weeks later, former Superbike
racer/Cycle magazine editor Cook Nielson
wrote to the "Voices" column about it.
Click on either picture for a readable image.
