By Marty Kirkland
martykirkland@daltoncitizen.com
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In his 27 years, Saul Raisin has bravely faced plenty of challenges. He became a promising young talent in cycling, a sport that doesn’t have anything close to the same support system for its youth participants in America as baseball, football or basketball.
At a time when many people his own age were still carefully working out independence from their parents via college life, the Dalton native was in Europe, working his way toward the sport’s highest profile races — its “Grand Tours” — in a place where cycling was a much bigger part of the athletics landscape. At a time when many people his own age were searching for their first jobs, Raisin was fighting for his life and succeeding, recovering from an April 2006 crash in the first stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe in France that led to a coma and a traumatic brain injury.
He even began a comeback from that devastating accident, a quest he later gave up, he said this week, because he found purpose in other pursuits and didn’t believe the risk of suffering another such injury was worth riding competitively.
After all that, you’d think something like a few core college classes would almost be boring. But Raisin, who’s in his first semester at Dalton State, is now going back to check off some of the things he missed while chasing his cycling dreams.
“It’s a huge change for me, especially going to school,” Raisin said. “It makes me work my mind. Cycling is very hard mentally and physically, but it’s a different kind of exercise than sitting in college algebra.”
Raisin, who was 23 at the time of his accident, said he’s just getting started on an educational path he hopes will lead to more intensive studies in physical therapy or speech pathology. And he’s been busy preparing for this Saturday’s Raisin Hope Ride, the fourth edition of his fundraiser for charities that help victims of traumatic brain injuries and those who care for them. It’s among the most visible activities of his Raisin Hope Foundation, which he started because he wanted to contribute in his own way after being helped by others as he went through a challenging recovery.
“The last three years, we’ve raised over $150,000 for traumatic brain injuries,” said Raisin, who noted his parents, Jim and Yvonne, play a big role in the foundation as well.
“The Raisin Hope Foundation tries to look for organizations that can help give people hope, people who are going through traumatic brain injuries and their families, because the resources for people like that are very minimal. We’re a very small foundation, but we’re people with big hearts and bigger dreams and we want to give back.”
While the discounted pre-registration phase has passed, people are still welcome to come on board for the event, which begins at 8 a.m. at Prater’s Mill. The day will include several options for ride length — cyclists can go six, 15, 40 or 60 miles — and everyone who registers will receive a T-shirt and lunch, as well as entry in the raffle for several giveaways.
Over the years, Raisin has also had several people who use this day as their chance to donate to the foundation, whether or not they ride, he said. Such entries are welcome and will receive the T-shirt and lunch, Raisin said, but the prospect of cycling shouldn’t intimidate anyone, either, since the ride will be as easy or as hard as a participant chooses.
“You have people that come out that have an ego that want to go hard,” Raisin said. “But it’s a fun ride for all ages. We’ll have some disabled athletes out there, every category, even little kids will be there. It’s whatever you want to make it. If you want to throw down the hammer, you can, if you want to have a good time, you can. That’s what I’m going to do.”
The day will also include an appearance by Miss Georgia, Christina McCauley, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. McCauley contacted Raisin after finding out they had common ground in support of pediatric hospital Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Raisin has ample opportunities for such networking through his website, raisinhope.org, which Raisin uses not only to tell his own story, but to let others affected by traumatic brain injuries tell theirs and support each other. He also visits hospitals to talk with patients and their families in person on behalf of brain injury associations in Georgia and Tennessee.
And while he’s no longer a professional, Raisin has neither lost his competitive spirit or hung up his bike for good. He has completed two marathons, several half marathons and did four Half Ironman Triathlons last year. He’s not doing triathlons this year in order to focus on school, but still rides his bike about an hour a day because he finds it “relaxing and therapeutic.”
As for his health?
“I feel great, absolutely,” he said. “The old Saul is back.”
