Nick Ryan's limp is pronounced tonight as he strolls across Forbes Avenue at a crosswalk down the street from the Pittsburgh campus. His limp is always more noticeable when he's tired, and this week he can count his total hours of sleep on one hand. Seriously.

The junior English and Public Policy major has spent months as the lead organizer of a competition for pogo-sticking, which is, believe it or not, an up-and-coming extreme sport. The next day begins Pogopalooza, a four-day competition and extreme pogo exposition taking place in Pittsburgh. An estimated 60 young men from around the world will compete in the high jump, perform tricks, and even flip over one another—all on pogo sticks. Although Ryan was a pogo athlete in high school, he will not participate.

During his junior year, while sitting in a chair in his basement, Ryan realized he had lost mobility in his right arm and leg. The sudden paralysis was accompanied by extremely skewed sensitivity on his left side, and the slightest touch induced widely inconsistent sensations. He was rushed to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a bruised spine, perhaps cumulative damage from practicing pogo tricks. Alarmingly, doctors had no idea how much, if any, of his mobility he would recover. Even worse, neurologists estimated he had only a four-week "window" in which he could recoup major muscle movement.

Ryan began an immediate rehabilitation routine. Within a month, he miraculously regained almost full range of motion, though there are permanent after-effects. Nerve damage has left him incapable of feeling pain and temperature sensation on his left side. His coordination is also mildly impaired, revealed by his slight limp, really only noticeable when he's exhausted, like the evening before Pogopalooza.

No longer able to compete, he's no stranger to his organizational role, having already arranged pogo demonstrations for years along the East Coast.

It turns out Ryan wasn't the only Carnegie Mellon connection at Pogopalooza, which received coverage on ESPN. Several contestants were aboard BowGo, a patented fiberglass bow developed by Ben Brown, a Robotics Institute project scientist. No wonder. "It's the smoothest ride of any of the extreme pogo sticks," says Ryan. Ultimately, Brown hopes his technology will lead to a running, hopping robot capable of covering long distances and rough terrain. Ryan, meanwhile, thinks it will help lead to more world records like the ones set at Pogopalooza—highest jump: 8'6"; most jumps in one minute: 221, and fewest jumps in one minute: 41.

Shannon Deep (HS'10)