It’s been almost eight years since Mike Schultz’s left leg was amputated following a life-changing snocross crash. He’s been keeping busy as ever, competing in paralympic snowboarding and adaptive snocross events, as well as engineering high-performance prosthetic equipment for himself and fellow adaptive athletes on behalf of his company, BioDapt. I took a few minutes to catch up with Mike in an AmSnow-exclusive Q&A session. Here’s what he had to say.
Last month, you won your fifth gold medal in the SnoCross Adaptive event at the 2016 X Games in Aspen. What did that moment mean for you?
This year, going back and racing a flawless race was really rewarding, since last year I missed out on it because of a really bad foot injury. It was an extremely long recovery. I shattered my heel into about 15 pieces last year at X Games in the boardercross. I was in a wheelchair/scooter for 6.5 months, so it slowed me down for a long time. I just worked my tail off to recover and get back into action towards the end of summer. To be in good shape, in good riding condition to compete at Winter X this year, then to come up with the gold was extremely rewarding.
What sort of modifications need to be made to your sled to allow you to race on it?
The snowmobile is pretty straightforward compared to the dirt bike. On a motocross bike, you need to do electric shifters, custom foot pegs and all that. But the snowmobile, since obviously you don’t have to shift gears and everything’s on the handlebar, the biggest thing for me to set up on the snowmobile is a custom stirrup that keeps my [prosthetic] foot in a consistent spot while I’m bouncing around through jumps and everything. That kind of goes into the design of my Moto Knee and Versa Foot. Since I don’t have control over flexing the knee when I want to, it’s more a matter of me shifting weight into it to compress it and leaning off of it to let it extend. So the stirrup being in the perfect spot is kind of key. Otherwise, if it’s too far forward, my knee tries to push me backward on the seat. If it’s too far back, then my balance is all messed up.
Eight years after your accident, what are the biggest challenges you face?
For the first couple of years, it was all about getting my prosthetic equipment working right and then me getting comfortable with it. Now, after I have all of that figured out, now it’s just trying to increase my skills. I’ve kind of hit a plateau with the current equipment I have … There’s definitely stuff that I’m working on on the drawing board to allow my prosthetic equipment to be a little more versatile and high performance. The biggest thing right now is finding that point where my mind and my body work together instead of my mind wanting to go way faster than my body lets me.
What led you to design/build your own prosthetic leg?
I’ve always been a shop guy. I look at mechanical equipment, and I’m always intrigued by how they work. As I grew up, that was a big part of my life – being in the shop, welding and fabricating things. After my amputation, I spent a couple of months researching all of the equipment available for sports. Right away, I knew I was going to be back in action on the snowmobiles and dirt bikes. That’s my passion. I didn’t really think I’d be competing anymore, thought it was going to be more of a recreational activity. But after finding out about the adaptive supercross at Summer X Games, that really propelled me forward into wanting to be competitive again. I didn’t feel there was equipment available that would work up to my high standards, so me being a problem-solver, I took on the project of building my own leg.
I looked at it more as a suspension component than a human leg. Because of the snowmobiles and dirt bikes that I’ve been working on since I was so young, I understand suspension components and shocks, and knew that I wanted to build my prosthetic leg around a little FOX mountain bike shock.
Did you ever dream that your efforts to make your own prosthetic would evolve into BioDapt?
Originally, the first several months I was working on my personal prototype. I was just focused on getting myself back in action. Then I quickly realized after going to a couple of different adaptive events that there were a ton of other amputees that could benefit from the technology that I was working on. The wheels started turning. I wasn’t going to be a professional athlete anymore, or so I thought, and I was going to have to figure out Plan B for a career. Being a prosthetic manufacturer started to become a reality.
Mystik Lubricants is one of your newest sponsors. How do they help you keep your sled running smoothly for competition?
Being a professional racer and athlete is all about finding a good group of people and supporters that help make everything a little bit easier. Obviously, having my equipment run in tip-top shape is one of my main priorities, and Mystik Lubricants is definitely one of those companies that keep my machines running smooth and fast.
When you’re not busy competing or in the shop, how do you spend your time?
Motorsports is my main thing, between dirt bikes and snowmobiles, and now I’m also on the U.S. Paralympic Snowboard team, and I have some big goals in the future with that, if all goes well. Between competition and training for competition and building prosthetic legs, there is a little bit of extra time for one of my favorite hobbies, and that is actually horseback riding. It’s something that I do with my wife, Sara. It’s really fun to load up the horses and go trail riding for the weekend, and just kind of relax. Be a little slower paced for a couple of days. It’s always a real highlight of our summer.
What else are you involved in?
I definitely look forward to the days when it snows more, so I can do more trail riding off the track. This weekend, if all goes well, I’m going to end up racing the Red Bull Enduro race. I’m scrambling to get things caught up here in the office so I can start working on the snowmobile to get ready for that. It’ll be really interesting and a lot of fun hopefully, if I can keep all my parts together through that gnarly race!
Will this be your first time racing enduro?
Yeah. Several years ago, they had an endurance/snocross/cross country race up in Brainerd [Minn.]. I went to watch it, and I was kicking myself for not signing up, because it looked fun. So this time around, I’m going to give it a try. I think this one’s definitely going to be a little more extreme conditions than that one ever was, but I’ll give it a shot, and as Sara tells me, “Make smart choices while you’re on the race course.”
What else does the future hold for you in 2016 and beyond?
That’s always up in the air. My future plans change about every 4-5 months when new opportunities come up. As of now, I’ll be on the motocross track a couple times throughout the summer, and we’ll see what the future holds for snowmobiles next year. I’m kind of at a point of choosing to focus on snowmobiles or focus on paralympic snowboarding for a couple years. I’m kind of at a crossroads of what I’m going to do next. But one way or another, I know I’m going to be a busy guy! I always really enjoy coming back and competing on the snowmobile circuit and spending time with my true second family, which is the snocross family.
For all the latest insider info, subscribe to American Snowmobiler magazine today!