CityView Magazine

Opposite | By day, he’s a doctor at Fort Bragg. On weekends, Dr. Sammy Choi rides with the Cross Creek Cycling Club. Left | Dr. Ken Bellian, a Fayetteville surgeon, likes to bike, rock climb and even ice climb on occasion. Here, he works out at RedPoint Indoor Climbing. Below | Dr. Rolf Wallin is an anesthesiologist who enjoys swimming, windsurfing and biking, but he’s recently picked up a new exercise: slacklining. I tried it barefoot. My three small “Since I’ve started slacklining,” he said, “there have only been two or three people who knew what I was talking about.” A slackline is similar to a tightrope, only slack, not solid like a balance beam. It is flat and square, like climbing rope. Slacklining first caught on in the 1970s when rock climbers strung cables between posts in parking lots. Wallin was introduced to the sport by students in New Hampshire where he was taking a language class a couple of summers ago. He ordered his own slackline, connected it to two trees in his backyard and within three weeks was able to walk across 10 times. I managed three steps. At first, I watched Wallin. He slipped on wind-surfing shoes to protect his feet and jumped onto the rope with ease. Wallin practices for three hours every day to perfect his balance, grip and concentration. solo steps required coordination – eyes straight, hands at my sides – to keep my weight centered over my feet. When I lost my balance, Wallin told me to gently bounce on the rope or place one foot on the ground, leg braced against the rope. Wallin has always been physically active; he’s into swimming, windsurfing, biking and ultimate Frisbee. He once rode with Lance Armstrong in the Ride for the Roses in Texas. A picture of him cycling beside Armstrong hangs in Hawley’s Bicycle World on Raeford Road. And there’s more. Magic bus He and Dr. Ken Bellian, a good friend and ear, nose and throat surgeon, CityViewNC.com | 43

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