Nick Maniscalco hopes to bike across U.S. as he fights back from near-fatal crash

DALTON GARDENS — Nick Maniscalco wants to bike across the United States next year.

Yes, it’s a challenge he wants to take on. But there’s another reason.

“I want to earn a million dollars.”

Wait. It’s about money?

Well, yes. And no.

“I don’t need the money,” the Dalton Gardens man said after making his way back inside his home with the help of a cane.

But others do. And Maniscalco wants to get it for them.

“I want it for a grant to allow other TBI people to back to college,” he said.

TBI. Traumatic brain injury.

Maniscalco was 19 when he suffered one in January 2008 when the car he was driving slid on black ice near Walla Walla, Wash., where he had been visiting friends and was on his way home. It slammed into a flatbed cement trailer. The impact pushed his skull into his brain.

The crash, he said, “changed my life.”

He spent eight months in the hospital, four of those in a coma. Doctors told his parents he had a 50-50 chance of living. And if he did, he might not walk or talk again.

“Not the greatest hope for me,” Maniscalco said. “Obviously, I’m still here today, thank goodness.”

He underwent nearly five years of physical therapy. He learned to walk and talk again. He went back to school. He earned a certificate to be a small engine mechanic.

But he found he didn’t enjoy it.

“Nobody to talk to,” he said, smiling.

Today, Maniscalco is studying business marketing at North Idaho College. Once very athletic, able to do a backflip from a standing position, he continues to exercise to regain his balance, strength and stamina.

His goal, next year, is to bicycle some 4,000 miles across America.

“It would be epic if I could just ride across the United States,” Maniscalco said. “I told that to Aaron, he was like, ‘Let’s do it.’”

Starting this weekend, he and friend Aaron Rittenour hope to bicycle from Anacortes, Wash., to Dalton Gardens, about 400 miles by the Northern Tier route.

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But they’ll have to go up and over a few passes — Washington (elevation 5,400 feet) and Loup Loup (elevation 4,000 feet) in the Cascades – to do it.

A map of their course is spread out on his living room table. They’ll come into Newport, Wash., push on to Sandpoint, then to Athol before the homestretch on the path next to U.S. 95.

“This summer, I want to get my name out there. I’m alive, I’m real,” the 31-year-old said.

It might sound impossible for someone who endured nearly fatal injuries in that crash 12 years ago, but Maniscalco says it’s not.

“It will happen. It just might happen as quickly as I would like it to,” he said. “I’m going to do it.”

And he points to 2011 and 2012, when he walked 365 miles at brother Matt’s dare, as evidence of what he is capable of doing when he sets his mind on it.

“You can’t let your brother challenge you and not take it — of course not,” he said, grinning.

In 2013, he began bicycling and has put in more than 1,000 miles.

Last year, he bought a new bike and has been training for this first interstate trek, though not as much as he would have liked.

They hope to cover 50 miles a day, but that’s probably optimistic, Maniscalco said. There will surely be days when he’s not feeling up to par, the weather is miserable, they have mechanical problems, and they’ll have to hunker down for a day or two.

So, they’re projecting three weeks, which will include overnight stints at campgrounds. No hotels are in the bare-bones budget.

“I don’t have any money,” he said.

Nor do they have a driver for their support vehicle for food and supplies, after their original one recently canceled on them. So they need one. And donations to cover expenses would be helpful, too.

Maniscalco said they are prepared for obstacles. He knows cycling from northwest Washington to North Idaho is no walk in the park.

“I love challenges. I need to challenge myself,” he said. “I’m not going to get any better if I don’t do something.”

He is forever hopeful.

“I feel very good about it,” he said.

What drives him, along with raising funds to help others with TBI, is to do all he can to get back physically to where he used to be — when he could do that standing backflip.

“I was in very good shape,” he said. “I would love to get back to the top of my game. I’d love to be able to do a backflip off the ground again.”

Until then, he’s OK with where he is today, that he can stand, walk, ride and work.

He believes, however, he can do more. Much more.

“I’m proud, I’m happy, but I’m not done,” he said.

Maniscalco, who goes by “Nick Recycled” on social media, is on Facebook, Instagram, Strava and YouTube. Donations can be made at GoFundMe and his email is [email protected]