The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Transformation of body and soul
After surviving nearly lethal accident, cyclist opens fitness center with new outlook on life
MIDDLETOWN — Two and a half years ago, an accident changed Robert Hurd’s life.
On July 20, 2015, the Higganum resident was returning from a weekly group ride with Pedal Power of Middletown when he was hit by a car at an intersection in the Westfield section of town. Hurd, 56, had begun pedaling through the intersection with the green light, his daughter Taylor Arrigoni said, but the driver turned directly into the path of her father.
The impact sent him, face first, into the car.
Arrigoni’s husband, who was riding right next to her father when Hurd was hit by a car, swerved and fell trying to avoid the collision. He got off with scrapes and bruises but Hurd, who was in the best shape of his life, was so injured his face had to be entirely reconstructed over the course of the next two weeks, said Arrigoni, 27.
His jaw was broken in five places and he needed 13 hours of surgery and a tracheotomy to breathe. His face was unrecognizable, his daughter said. Hurd, a contractor by trade, was so beset with the overwhelmingly difficult and painful process of recovery — and feeling of helplessness — that he vowed in the hospital he would pursue his longtime dream of opening a gym.
“It was the scariest thing I’d ever seen.” Taylor Arrigoni, about seeing her father for the first time after his accident
“‘The only reason you’re here — alive — is because of the shape you were in when you got here,’” Hurd said the doctor told him in the neuro ICU when he woke up.
He has been an avid cyclist, runner and fitness enthusiast for over 30 years, run five half marathons and one full marathon.
“The day before my accident I rode 300 to 400 miles over the weekend and the day I left (the hospital), they told me I had to climb six stairs — just six steps — and at the top of the sixth step, I cramped up and I almost fell down,” Hurd said. “I told the nurses I didn’t think I could make it down.”
It was an immensely humbling experience for a man who had been racing throughout New England since his 20s, cycled up Mt. Washington eight times and easily bicycled from Connecticut to Maine to meet his family there for a long weekend or to Boston and back for a Red Sox game.
“It was the scariest thing I’d ever seen,” said Arrigoni about seeing her father for the first time after his accident.
Doctors told the family that Hurd’s brain hadn’t sustained injury. If he hadn’t been wearing his helmet, the outcome would have been fatal.
“The first question he asked when he woke up was ‘Where is my bike?’” said his daughter, a former social worker.
After two weeks, Hurd’s doctor discharged him to decrease the chances of his face becoming infected.
At home, Hurd said, his brother mentioned there was a gym for sale in Middletown.
“I decided that’s what I wanted to do. I really enjoy watching people work out, making themselves a little better. I tell everybody we’re all not going to be professional athletes, but what we can do is make ourselves the best that we can be,” Hurd said.
Earlier this month, Hurd opened Go to Fitness Ultimate Training Center at 1385 Newfield St. The newly renovated facility features yoga, bootcamp, boxing, kickboxing, TRX, RIPT classes, personal training, spinning, free weights, cardio equipment and weight machines.
“Your body is your only place to live,” said Arrigoni, who left her job as a therapist in a group home to come work for her father as general manager of the gym.
“When I see people work out and give it their all, that’s what makes me happy,” Hurd said. “Hopefully the gym can make money, but that’s not really my final thing. I just really want people to better themselves.”
Hurd has very few limitations as a result of the accident and, although his face has healed as much as it will, he experiences pain from the large amount of titanium used to repair his face.
“In the wintertime, because of all the metal, my face gets really stiff,” Hurd said. “In the summertime, I get really bad migraines because of the heat and it swells up.”
For Arrigoni, who had a baby six months ago, and Snap Fitness assistant manager Liz Scovill, running the gym for Hurd is a labor of love.
“I was out of the game for so long, getting back into it is kind of rough,” said Arrigoni, who is greatly inspired by women who accomplish nontraditional feats.
Scoville prefers boot camp classes and TRX band suspension trainers, which forces people to use their own body weight by adjusting the resistance.
“A lot of people think you have to work out for an hour, 45 minutes. You can do 20 to 30 minutes on that and it kicks your butt just as much,” said Scovill, who has been dating Hurd’s son for 10 years.
It is very important to Hurd to keep the Go To Fitness family-run, he said.
Meanwhile, Hurd is eyeing the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb in August.
The first time he reached the summit a decade ago, Hurd said, a storm raged for an hour, pelting down an inch and a half of hail.
“I’ve been up there when it’s been 70 degrees and I’ve been up there when it’s been 60 mph winds,” Hurd said. “It’s amazing. Every time you’re up there, you stand up there, you’re in awe of what you did and where you are.”
Go to Fitness is open daily from 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. For more information, see gtfultimatetraining.com, GTF Ultimate Training on Facebook and Instagram.