Jacob Eager clipped into his pedals late one March morning, below a sky scrubbed clear by a sudden shift within the wind. The day earlier than, smoke from greater than 130 wildfires had turned the Oklahoma plains right into a battle zone—flames on each side of the highway and gusts robust sufficient to fell bushes. However now the fields stretched quietly and golden earlier than him within the morning gentle, the scent of smoke nonetheless clinging to the air of Stillwater. Formally, the Mid South gravel race was cancelled. Roads had been closed. Evacuations ordered. However Eager had weathered worse.
Eager was there for nothing however the promise he’d made to himself, and his buddy’s perception that when you converse it, image it, and put within the work, the universe would possibly simply meet you midway.
One yr earlier, practically to the day, he had been commuting to work in New York Metropolis when a truck sideswiped him, costing him his decrease proper leg and his job.
Earlier than the accident, Eager, 28, labored as a gaffer within the movie trade, hauling lighting gear throughout units. It was work he cherished, however returning to it felt practically unattainable. But, one way or the other, he would.
Once we spoke over a video name, Eager was dwelling out of an Oklahoma Airbnb, on location for a brand new present. He was again within the work that had as soon as outlined him. However lengthy days on set, the pressure of transferring with a prosthetic, and a rising consciousness of his bodily limits had begun to shift his perspective. For some time, he virtually misplaced the identification he’d constructed – on set and off. A lifelong bike rider, Eager had been a former bike messenger, a proud Mid South finisher, the sort of man who may trip fixed-gear all day and nonetheless grin and pop tips on the finish of it.
“I bear in mind considering, if I ever get again to Mid South, it means I made it again to life,” he says.
And so, he returned to the Sooner State, chasing that model of himself. However nature threw a 170,000-acre-sized curveball.
The most recent race content material, interviews, options, evaluations and skilled shopping for guides, direct to your inbox!
The 2025 version of Mid South noticed no fanfare, no cowbells, no muddy end line hugs. Hurricane-force winds had unfold fires throughout Payne County. Houses have been burning. Whole neighbourhoods have been evacuated. And a few 170,000 acres could be misplaced that weekend. Race organiser Bobby Wintle and his crew have been compelled to make a late-night resolution to cancel the beloved occasion and ship the riders residence as quickly because it was secure for them to take action.
“We have been in the course of chaos—deep, deep chaos,” Wintle recollects. “And we have been attempting our greatest to carry on to hope that the winds would change”
However when town confirmed there could be no help for closures or security operations, and the total scale of the wildfires turned clear, the selection was not optionally available.
“It was the best, hardest resolution of our complete lives… I’m simply extremely grateful it didn’t occur on Saturday with 4,000 riders heading in the right direction. Components of the course have been actually on fireplace on each side of the highway on the identical time.”
(Picture credit score: Alex Barratt)
At first, Eager noticed no alternative however to move residence. However the considered leaving with out even attempting to fulfil his quest felt like one thing he’d remorse.
That Friday, Eager and his mates opened their AirBnB to anybody in want—a small act of generosity amid the chaos.
“We requested our host, they usually have been sort sufficient to allow us to have individuals over,” he says. “I feel 5 of us we’d by no means met earlier than stayed with us. It simply felt like the appropriate factor to do. We have been fortunate; we had a roof.”
As a substitute of disappointment, many discovered one thing else: an opportunity to trip, to attach, to be current. The winds had calmed in a single day. Smoke nonetheless lingered, however the skies have been clear and the air was secure. And with many of the official course shut down, locals shared backroads and quiet loops—routes that wouldn’t intervene with restoration efforts however nonetheless provided a way of goal and place.
Within the wake of all of it, as casual rides started to take form, his mates mapped out lengthy, punishing routes. However Eager selected one thing quieter, deciding to trip the course in reverse with the hopes of crossing paths with mates using out and again. That manner, he figured, he wouldn’t really feel so alone on the market.
He set off. His metal bike loaded with snacks, tubes and instruments. There could be no feed zones. No timing mats. Simply the regular thud of his prosthetic in opposition to the pedal stroke, like a drumbeat.
Smoke nonetheless hung in locations and he needed to pull a bandana over his face simply to breathe.
He instructed mates he’d most likely trip 20 miles and name it. However as soon as he bought transferring, it was onerous to cease. He rode out, noticed acquainted faces and saved going – to the subsequent city, the subsequent flip, the subsequent horizon.
Then got here the headwinds—17 miles per hour, unrelenting for practically 40 miles. At one level, bonking and out of meals, he pulled right into a fuel station and texted his mates to come back get him.
“I used to be cooked,” he says. However as he waited and he devoured no matter he may seize from the cabinets, one thing shifted. A bit of meals, a chilly soda, a chew of fried rooster, and out of the blue, he felt alive once more.
When his buddy Alex T. Barratt and others arrived, with reinforcements of snacks and a field of wine hanging from the window, doubt crept in. He was feeling higher, however not satisfied he may go on. Then Barratt bought his bike out of the automotive, clipped in, and began pedalling.
“He was like, ‘Properly, it’s this manner again to city if you wish to come’,” Eager recollects. “I instructed him I used to be carried out. He simply checked out me and stated, ‘What else are we gonna do at this time?’ And I assumed—yeah, you’re proper.”
So he bought again on the bike.
(Picture credit score: Sophia Krivoruchko)
Eager’s first Mid South had been a gritty however joyful ordeal. In 2024, he had raced it fixed-gear, leaning into the chaos of mud, rain and dirt that outlined the occasion. No brakes, no gears, simply pure stubbornness. He even wheelied for a very good chunk of it.
“Jacob is a legend within the Oklahoma Metropolis biking neighborhood,” says Wintle. “He’s so gifted, so humble, and so good. He’s bought swag and elegance, and he’s so cool… That photograph of him kissing his entrance tire on the end line—mounted gear, mid-wheelie—it was like, this dude is the shit.”
This time round, issues have been totally different. He rode a geared metal gravel bike fitted with knobby tires and a body bag filled with necessities. Gears weren’t nearly effectivity—they have been a necessity. Having misplaced the flexibility to face and grind up climbs, Eager needed to spin. His weight distribution was totally different now, too, and pushing too onerous risked tweaking the prosthetic or his hip.
He’d additionally grown hyper-vigilant about hygiene. Any grit or chafing contained in the prosthetic’s socket may flip into hours of ache. He cleaned the liner religiously, carried wipes and an additional sock. “Little stuff turns into huge issues rapidly,” he says.
He used to assume using mounted was about being robust. Now, he says, “being robust is doing no matter it takes to maintain transferring.”
That model of himself—younger, scrappy, invincible—felt distant when he wakened in a hospital mattress later that yr, staring on the ceiling, questioning if he’d ever stroll, not to mention trip, once more.
Restoration was ugly.
Phantom pains. Breakups. Setbacks. Even after the amputation, docs needed to take away extra. “That half hit onerous,” Barratt recollects. “It was already robust seeing him lose a part of his leg, however then they needed to take much more. I simply bear in mind considering, man, let this be sufficient already.”
So Eager saved his targets small. Get away from bed. Take a step. Pedal just a few ft on a coach.
Fortunately, he wasn’t fully on his personal. Eager’s stepmom is a bodily therapist, and he was in a position to transfer into her accessible residence in Texas for early rehab. And never lengthy after the crash, Meg Fisher—an Olympic medalist and revered para-athlete—reached out. She provided steerage, encouragement, and sensible recommendation on every thing from prosthetic match to staying mentally robust.
“She was one of many solely individuals I talked to about limb loss,” he says. “She simply bought it.”
“I didn’t need to take into consideration being an amputee. I didn’t need to go to help teams. I didn’t need to be labelled a para-cyclist. I simply needed to be Jacob.”
However over time, that modified. A buddy launched him to a gaggle of amputee athletes. No speeches, no remedy circles—simply individuals getting again to life.
“Seeing different individuals on the market, doing their factor—it flipped a change in me,” Eager says. “It made me realise it’s not about being ‘regular’ once more. It’s about constructing a brand new regular.”
Jacob Eager with Meg Fisher
(Picture credit score: Alex Barratt)
Because the solar dipped low, Eager and Barratt saved pushing alongside on their very own 2025 Mid South journey. Their path lit solely by the headlights of the help automotive trailing behind. The trip had gone longer than anticipated, and with every mile, the streets grew quieter. Once they lastly rolled into Stillwater, it didn’t really feel like a end. The city was nonetheless. The end line arch was up, however nobody was there to welcome them in. Simply wind and dirt. Jacob seemed round, his physique aching, his socket rubbed uncooked. He tried to really feel proud, however largely, he felt hole.
Then somebody steered heading to the brewery. Possibly there’d be just a few individuals there.
Eager and Barratt rolled slowly towards Stonecloud Brewing, and simply as they rounded the nook, they heard one thing.
Cheering.
Lights. Flashlights. Voices shouting Jacob’s title.
Pals and strangers had gathered—coordinated quietly by his mates, who’d messaged Wintle and Fisher behind the scenes. Dozens of individuals have been ready. Others ran alongside them. And Eager, using side-by-side with Barratt, began to cry.
Possibly his buddy was proper. Possibly when you trip onerous sufficient, dream loud sufficient, and let individuals love you anyway, one thing extraordinary would possibly nonetheless be ready on the finish.
“That Bobby hug made all of it price it,” Eager says, voice catching. “I shed a tear at dawn, and I shed the remainder of them at sundown…The biking neighborhood is what bought me by means of this. The individuals who by no means handled me in a different way, but additionally knew when to help with out making it a giant deal.”
Eager and his buddy Alex T. Barratt
(Picture credit score: Julia Wilkins)
On that smoke-hazed March night, when the final glints of fireplace smouldered on the plains, Jacob Eager stood on an empty Stillwater avenue. Soiled. Exhausted. Complete.
Seems, “you don’t at all times want a end line to complete one thing that issues.”
At Mid South, the custom of celebrating the DFL (useless f*cking final) is simply as sacred because the winner’s champagne. Wintle at all times made it clear: the ultimate rider throughout the road is the beating coronary heart of the race. This time, that spirit converged round Jacob Eager. Not as a result of he was final, however as a result of ending on his personal phrases one way or the other introduced the race again to life within the course of.
“Everybody has one thing to study from Jacob,” Wintle says. “He exhibits that you’re succesful, that you’re stunning, and that it doesn’t matter what you appear to be or the place you’re from or what’s occurred to you, you’re worthy of affection—and of doing the belongings you set your thoughts to. He embodies that. That’s the guts and soul of Mid South—from the within out.”