"Plus, he always comes across as about as nice a guy as you'd want to meet."

I've crossed paths with him twice, and he chatted with a dumbass newbie like me as he would with any of his contemporaries.

The first time was a dead November day, biking with my GF on the path above Great Falls. To me, he was just a guy with a boat. I excitedly asked him if he was about to do the falls and had he done it much. He modestly said he'd done it before, but never boasted or even hinted that he's one of the best (if not the best) whitewater boaters in the world. After he set off down to the river, it took the mother of the kid he was with to tell me who he was. And we were left with the pleasure of being the only witnesses seeing him effortlessly drop over the falls that day.

I caught him on my bike before he got out of site and told him I'd read his book and he was appreciative of that. He sure didn't act like a cocky athlete that day.

Also, at the Ocoee games, when the type-A race director was shrilly ordering racers out of the eddy being used by rodeo boaters, he quietly came over, told her everybody was there to just have a good time, and she should shut up.

Later that day, I encountered him on path walking to his trailer. This time, I recognized him, and again, he was more than happy to chat with a fan.

Yes - he's truly a nice guy, and the poster who called him on that one sentence obviously got his paddle stuck up his ass.