Natick Soldier continues his ride to recovery

NATICK, Mass. (Sept. 18, 2016) -- Even as they make painful physical demands on their riders, bicycles can be conduits of psychological freedom -- two-wheeled, mobile therapy sessions, if you will.

A certain mental clarity comes with the suffering in distance cycling. If you doubt this, consult with Staff Sgt. Eric Murray.

"Getting on the bicycle clears my head," Murray said. "It takes away all of the negative thoughts that I'm having. All I concentrate (on) is either the person in front of me riding or the road ahead of me."

Murray, a 36-year-old combat arms NCO with the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center's Headquarters Research and Development Detachment, needed the release from worry after he was badly injured in an IED explosion near Sadr City, Iraq, in September 2006.

"I was on a patrol investigating a vehicle-borne IED, and I told somebody that I thought I saw somebody on top of the roof," Murray said. "After I said that, the next thing I knew I was on the ground screaming for a medic. What I was told was that I was coded three different times and that I was in pretty bad shape."

During his recovery from wounds to his lower extremities, Murray began drinking and, eventually, he and his wife divorced.

"I had to figure out some way to get up off my rear end and figure out how I was going to function as a single man with injuries," he recalled.

Murray discovered "Ride 2 Recovery," known as R2R, an organization that helps service members and veterans to heal physically, mentally and emotionally through cycling. Each year, R2R holds a number of multi-day challenge rides of up to 450 miles that bring veterans together in various parts of the country and overseas.

"I (hadn't) been on a bicycle in about 25 years until last year," Murray said. "I decided because I'm an infantryman I didn't need to really train. I found out real quickly I needed to start training a lot more than what I did."

Murray also needed something lighter and faster than his mountain bike, so R2R gave him a road bike.

"They've just been, in my eyes, an awesome (organization) to allow me to continue to heal, mentally and physically," Murray said.

Murray has done five challenge rides since July 2013. His most recent was the "Minuteman Challenge," a 365-mile trek from Waltham, Massachusetts, to Fort Lee, New Jersey, Sept. 6-13. He was one of 150 cyclists on the ride, including Lt. Col. Brian Greata, the U.S. Army Garrison Natick commander.

"Colonel Greata did the whole ride with me, except for one day," Murray said. "He was motivating me and pushing me throughout the whole time. Having somebody from here understand what these things (are) all about was really awesome for me."

Murray occasionally had to rest in the support vehicle when his physical condition warranted, but he always got back in the saddle.

"I'm not a guy that rides hills very well," Murray said. "I've got what they call drop foot. So it bothers me a little bit more. I had to get in the vehicle a couple times because of my ankle."

And if Murray or others needed assistance on the bike, they didn't have to look far.

"We go up and down these hills. We help each other out," Murray said. "If somebody's struggling, somebody comes up from behind you and starts pushing you. We just take care of each other as if we're one big, cohesive military unit."

That camaraderie and shared sense of purpose will keep Murray coming back for these healing rides.

"They're struggling with the same stuff that you are," Murray said. "We just come together, and we're just like one big, happy, dysfunctional family. And it works for us."

Strangers for years, he and the bicycle are as one these days.

"Psychologically, this is the best thing I've ever found," Murray said. "I don't have to worry about anything. All I have to worry about is the direction I'm going."

For Murray, that continues to be forward.