The Adventures of Ben Cane

Earn my Blackbelt in Kyokushin Karate

Ben Cane — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 06:13:47 +0000

Martial Arts has always been a great influence in my life. The first time I ever started martial arts was when I was a little kid. I don’t even remember how old, but I do remember I was studying a blend of Kenpo and Kickboxing. I may have started young I was not able to stay in martial arts long.

When I was 10-11 I started up again training under Sensei Alex Santa Maria, he thought a blend of Kenpo, Tang Soo Do and Chinese Water Boxing. But yet again, I was not able to stay long enough to get past yellow belt (the 2nd belt from White). At the age of 14 I tried to start again at American Karate Studios at 32nd Street and Greenway in Phoenix, Arizona. This time I achieved my orange belt, however being a teenager decided to take over my life and I dropped out yet again.

For a long time I felt as if I would never realize my dream of being a martial artist. That is until I finally realized my dream, I finally received my Shodan (Black Belt) in a martial arts style. On Saturday February 2nd, 2011 I tested for and achieved the rank of Shodan in Kyokushin Karate training under Shihan Mike Armstrong of Blind Tiger Martial Arts Academy.

I first met Shihan Mike approximately 4 years earlier as I decided to give Martial Arts a try again, but this time was different. This time I was an adult, this time I had no excuses to quit, this time I was going to succeed. After spending 4 years of 16+ hours a week in the dojo, I have finally made it.

In order to pass the test for Shodan in my organization you must demonstrate all of the technique and kata requirements from White to Black belt. In addition to techniques you must break a brick with a palm strike as well as break a river rock with a shuto (karate chop). After all of these requirements are performed the karate-ka must fight 5 kyu ranked students and 5 dan ranked karate-ka’s.

They say that your black belt test is the hardest thing you will ever do, I believe that to be true. While I’ve been able to go on many physically demanding adventures. I have never felt as nervous in my life as I did during my black belt test. I am not sure why the blackbelt test is more stressful and demanding than climbing Kilimanjaro or asking my fiance to marry me, but it was. Maybe because I’ve waited for this moment my whole life and here it was, within my grasp just waiting for me to step up; to show the results of my years of training.

To show my commitment to the martial arts.

Grand Canyon: Rim to Rim to Rim

Ben Cane — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 03:50:15 +0000

Second Hike: Rim to Rim (Camp) to Rim

This weekend Team Armstrong which consists of Mike Armstrong (Blind Hiker/Sensei), Greg DePinto, and myself (Ben Cane) joined the Foundation for Blind Children’s Canyon Crawlers for a hike across the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim. But much like we usually do we decided to step it up a notch and use this to train for the Arizona Trail; Below are the details of our adventure.

On 10/09/10 at 05:50 Team Armstrong left the South Rim via the Bright Angel trail. 14.5 hours and 24 miles later we reached the North Rim via the North Kaibab trail. At that time we joined up with the rest of the Canyon Crawlers team at the North Rim camp site. We were greeted with a garbage bag full of chicken (bones were flying) and a few Grand Canyon lagers, a perfect way to end a day.

However our journey was not over yet, on 10/10/10 Team Armstrong left with over 40 more canyon crawlers 14 of which were blind leaving the North Rim at 5:45 and reaching the South Rim only 13 hours and 24 miles later via the Bright Angel Trail.

On this day I was able to experience a great sight and see some pretty kick ass blind hikers who pushed through the pain and reached the North Rim something many would say is impossible for the blind. But there is one story I wanted to share with everyone, which is Dillan’s (pictured left).

Dillan is a 12 year old boy who is fighting a brain tumor that took his vision. He has been undergoing chemotherapy throughout our 10 months of training, usually receiving his treatment on Thursday and hiking 8 or 10 miles with us early Saturday morning. It’s been very hard on Dillan and his Dad who is on the team, but also for Dillan’s sighted guides. But every time we think he can’t go on, Dillan stands up and hikes on. It is amazing to witness. A 12 year old blind child, who just 36 hours before received chemotherapy, presses on.

Dillan is a tough Kid and despite his chemotherapy he was one of the first groups out of the canyon. I hope to hike with him again in the future.

The Grand Canyon gave me a taste of what the Arizona Trail is going to be like, and even though I’m sore and can’t feel my toe’s; I’m excited! April 2nd will be a journey of epic proportions.

Press On! (Canyon Crawlers Motto)

Lose 180lbs

Ben Cane — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 21:54:04 +0000

Imagine if you will that you’re boarding an airplane and luckily you have an aisle seat. The excitement sets in…. but what’s this? You look at your number again…. no it can’t be….you’re sitting next to that guy…?

You know the guy I’m talking about, the one so fat (excuse me must be PC) so obese that he doesn’t really fit in the seat. With his belly rolling over the armrest taking up all of that lovely real estate you’re going to be neglected the whole flight, the real-estate that doesn’t involve you getting smashed in the head when the drink cart goes down the aisle.

Let’s face the truth here people, no one, absolutely no one, wants to sit next to that guy. But what’s worse than sitting next to him is BEING that guy!

In May 2006, I went on a company trip and not only was I “that guy”, I was so large that I couldn’t even fit the seatbelt around me!

Talk about a moment of realization. Now don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a realization that I was fat. Since I was 8 years old I’ve always been chubby. Hell in middle school I was called titty boy because I was so fat my man boobs (or moobs if you will) were bigger than most of the girls in school. I knew I was fat. However, this was a realization of just how fat I’d gotten over the years.

After the trip, I decided I should investigate this further and purchased a scale. After spending 30 minutes trying to figure out just how many times the scale rolled over, I found that years of Double Six Dollar Burger meals and working a desk job left me tipping the scales at a solid 380 lbs – a nice healthy weight if I was looking to pursue a career in Sumo.

Alas, Sumo wrestling would have to wait, as my Japanese wouldn’t even count as elementary and I could barely bench press 70 lbs let alone push a 400 pounder out of a tiny ring. Needless to say, this wasn’t exactly the happiest moment of my life – coming to the realization that I wasn’t just fat, I was morbidly obese and completely out of shape, that can be a bit disheartening.

The Solution

In my career of computing, I have found when you find a system in a broken state, you have two options. You can completely replace the system/broken components or slap some glue and duct tape on it and continue to operate in a semi broken state. If you choose the latter option, the system will continue to worsen and eventually crash and never recover. Not exactly an option I am prone to choose when talking about my own health.

By now the solution was obvious. I had to completely overhaul my body and that was going to take a lot of time and focused effort to really happen. How to lose weight was simple enough, Diet and Exercise but how to motivate oneself is the hard part. Since I was a kid I’ve always been in love with the Martial Arts, in fact it was the only sport that I truly enjoyed. Knowing this, I found my method of motivation. I joined a Karate school here in Phoenix in April of 2007. At that point, I was weighing in at 350 lbs, not shabby for mostly dieting but a slow start it was.

The Results

So here I am, as of December 2009 after many hours, days, years in the dojo sweating and dieting, I now weigh in at 205 lbs; 175 lbs less than I weighed in 2006 (A few months after this blog post I weighed in at 200lbs). I’ve gone from having to sit down after 10 minutes of Karate to receiving my Brown Belt (3rd Kyu) at the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,341ft) this summer.

While I still need to slap a spoiler and some flame stickers on this system, I am no longer in a broken state. In fact, I’m in the best shape of my life and my long term goal of weighing 200 lbs has turned to pushing myself to see just how far I can take this, to see what the ultimate Benjamin looks like.

Grand Canyon: Rim to Rim

Ben Cane — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 05:36:10 +0000

First Hike: Rim to Rim

The first time I ever hiked the Grand Canyon was pretty interesting. Only a few months after getting home from Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro one of the team mates Soon asked if I was interested in hiking the Grand Canyon; Rim to Rim.

Seeing as how I’ve never done the Canyon before I said sure, but I haven’t been hiking much. Soon told me to do a few strenuous hikes in the next coming weeks and I should be prepared. Especially after Kili.

So of course, I did one little hike and it wasn’t that difficult; but around came the weekend to go up to the Canyon. I loaded up my backpack and drove up to the South Rim.

Seeing as how this is the first time since I was 9 that I was visiting the canyon I didn’t realize how cold the South Rim was. We setup camp and were geared up to wake up at 5am to depart on our little adventure.

When the next morning came, we scared down some quick food and took off to Yaki point. From there we descended down the South Kaibab trail to Phantom Ranch. All the way to Phantom Ranch I was doing pretty good, I didn’t feel tired at all. We had our lunch and off we went through Box Canyon (A Canyon within the Canyon).

Towards the end of Box Canyon about 2 or 3 miles from Cottonwood Ranch; It hit me. I was tired, the Sun was beating down on me and I was hot. When we started the morning it was around 40 degrees but now at the bottom of Box Canyon inside the Grand Canyon it felt like 110 degrees.

Once we got to Cottonwood Ranch we rested for a little bit and at another snack. It was this point that I realized I packed way too much in my backpack; but there was nothing I could do about it now. Now its time to climb the north rim.

We left Cottonwood Ranch and started to climb up and up and up through what seemed like endless switchbacks and over so many bridges that I couldn’t count them all (I think it was 7 but it seemed like a lot at the time). Towards the top, after the cave it started to get dark; I continued on, pushing further and further. I was exauhsted but I knew, I had to continue.

There are only two ways up the Grand Canyon, on your own or on a burro, I didn’t have a burro..

I kept walking and walking and eventually, I reached the light at the end of the tunnel (well, actually just their headlamps). I had finally made it to the top.

We got into camp, I setup my tent in record time laid down and went to sleep. I was tired, sore, and I really didn’t want to wake up the next morning.

After I got back home, I limped for 2 days because my feet were sore. At the end of the day it took us 12 hours a relatively respectable time, but I was in no way prepared for the Canyon. It was still a challenge and I had a ton of fun.

Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro

Ben Cane — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:32:10 +0000

On November 2008, I joined “Team Kili” a group of 8 blind climbers and 17 sighted guides from the Foundation for Blind Children.

They were hiking the Phoenix 7 Summits Challenge as part of their training to summit Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa. I was invited to join the training hike by Sensei Mike Armstrong my martial arts instructor and best friend. At the time I’ve known Sensei for about 1.5 years and was used to him performing feats that would be considered impossible for someone who is completely blind;

However when I joined the group I saw something I didn’t expect. I saw 7 other blind people with a huge challenge ahead and the determination to conquer it; At that point I knew I wanted in on this!

Fortunately I was able to join the team as 1 of the 17 sighted guides, I was added to Team Armstrong which consisted of Sensei Mike, Greg DePinto, and myself. While I would have happily guided any of the blind climbers I was glad to be placed on Sensei’s team as I wanted to be there every step of the way to help Sensei overcome this mountain.

On June 23rd, 2009 Team Kili started its journey at Machame Gate (1634 m/5,363 ft) and 6 days later 8 Blind climbers and 17 Sighted guides reached Uhuru Peak (5,895 m/19,340 ft) the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. In doing so we set 2 world Records the Largest Blind Group & the Youngest Blind Climber to summit.

I will never forget the experiences of Kilimanjaro, the best day for me was day 4, as Sensei was very sick from the end of day 1 until day 4 where we scrambled up the Baranco Wall. With his recovery Sensei was renewed with energy, the wall required some hiking with quite a bit of scrambling to reach the top. Team Armstrong spent quite a bit of time at the Tempe Rock Gym before leaving for Kilimanjaro, so climbing the Baranco Wall was nothing but fun for us, we scaled the wall like it was a jungle gym with smiles on our faces.

The hardest day on Kilimanjaro was summit day; as the day before I had over exerted myself at about 16,000 ft and felt as if I was going to pass out (my lips and left hand went numb). I was afraid on summit day I was going to have the same problem and I did, several hours into the summit hike I started having problems keeping my pace with my breath. The air was so thin that with every step I had to take at least 2 breaths before the next. I had a real hard time keeping a slow pace that allowed me to breath, and I felt as if I was running full speed while breathing through a clogged snorkel and having an asthma attack.

However I was fortunate to have Kirsti (one of Kevin’s assistant guides) there to help me out, Kirsti helped me find and keep a pace that allowed me to continue, and with that pace I made it to the top. I was cold, tired, and my lungs felt like they were in a vice grip but when I reached the top I forgot it all and was overcome with a feeling of accomplishment. A experience I think everyone should have in their life.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro is an unforgettable memory for anyone who attempts it. I will never forget the 8 days I spent on that mountain, or the 24 other people on that trip who all had a goal of showing the world that no matter what challenges life has in store you can over come and do anything with hard work and determination.

As a personal note I would like to thank several people.

Kirsti – Without your guidance I’m not sure if i would have made it, you stayed with me when I felt as if I was going to pass out and you made me promise that I would make it up that mountain which helped motivate me even more. I will never forget the help you gave me.

Kevin – Thank you for putting up with all of the whining and for leading us through this great adventure. The only reason all 25 of us made it up this mountain was because of your guidance.

Sensei Mike – Without you I never would have had the opportunity to climb Kili in more ways than just introducing me to the team. Without the many days spent at your dojo I never would have physically been able to make the climb or had the mental strength to overcome the physical pain and continue on.

You were also the greatest inspiration to keep going as watching you continue on for 4 days even though you were so sick I thought they were going to make you turn back, and the fact that even though your blind, you never let that get in your way in everything you do in life. This was the motivation I needed to make it to the top, I could have taken the easy way out and quit but I thought to myself “Sensei would never quit” and this kept me going.

Team Kili – If I was making a motivational poster for the word Teamwork I would put your picture up as we were the role model of teamwork whether it was helping Pat and Sensei while they were sick or making fun of Marc when his pee bottle exploded in his tent. We defined the word teamwork, Thank you for sharing this experience with me each and every one of you will be a friend for life.

My Friends and Family – Thank you for your support with your support not only were we able to shatter peoples perception of the blind but we were able to raise enough money to put 50 babies through the FBC programs.

The 8 blind climbers of Team Kili – Always remember how much of a badass you are (yes Cindy you are a badass). You stepped up to a challenge that most would say no to and you did it only to show the world what you are capable of. I hope you realize how much of an inspirational act this was for everyone.