LITTLE FALLS, NY — In the heart of the Mohawk Valley, where Little Falls small-town ties run deep, Zachary Nash grew up chasing the rush of adrenaline.
Raised on Moreland Street by his grandparents, Sue and former Little Falls Police Chief Gregg DeLuca, Nash found freedom on the slopes and trails.
Now, with a return from his adopted home in Alaska, he’s turning that passion into a movement with Lucid Reality.
This for-profit organization and community, accessible at lucidrealityshop.com, aims to connect extreme sports athletes and enthusiasts through apparel, support, and a shared love for nonconventional thrills.
Nash’s story begins in Little Falls, where everybody knows everybody.
“Growing up with my grandparents and not my parents is a unique thing,” Nash recalls. “In a small community, I always kind of was a little isolated to myself.”
That isolation shaped his early years.
Yet, it also drove him to seek belonging in the world of extreme sports, starting at Royal Mountain Ski Area, just 10 miles away in Caroga Lake.
“I started skiing at two at Royal Mountain,” Nash says.
He credits Robert “Slink” Nash, his grandmother’s partner at the time, for teaching him.
By age six, Nash’s path shifted.
His cousin Devin Verri, a snowboard instructor at Royal Mountain, sparked a new obsession.
“Devin was a snowboard instructor, and I wanted to start snowboarding because I thought it just looked cooler,” Nash says. “He actually gave me my first snowboard and I learned that, and I was kind of on my own going snowboarding at six years old.”
The Verri family, including Devin and his brother Marc, tied Nash to Little Falls’ tight-knit fabric.
Nash’s connection to the Verris reflects the small-town network that shaped him.
“Small town,” he laughs, noting his ties to “Mark Verri, De V, all of them.”
As a kid, Nash wasn’t just about snowboarding.
He tore through trails on dirt bikes, dreaming of motocross glory.
“I actually rode dirt bikes and stuff, too,” he says. “Slink taught me how to ride dirt bikes. Did a lot of trail riding, and I always wanted to do motocross.”
Resources were tight, but Nash’s determination wasn’t.
In high school, he scraped together money for a beat-up truck and a dirt bike.
“It was a Ford Ranger, with 200,000 miles on it, and I drove it till the transmission fell on the ground,” he chuckles.
With that truck, he raced at Royal Mountain and a now-defunct local track he called Twister Valley.
“I was spending all my own money, my gas, whatever, just not even thinking anything of it, but going and doing what I love is pretty much how I thought of it,” Nash says.
By 16, Nash’s horizons expanded.
He snowboarded in Park City, Utah, and Colorado, drawn to the vibrant ski town communities.
“Being exposed to these ski towns and then in the summertime, up in Alaska and around here going to the races, being in those environments, and the community that it hosts, I spent pretty much of my life chasing that,” he says.
“That’s where I felt home.”
After graduating from Little Falls High School in 2015, Nash’s path took unexpected turns.
He briefly worked at Feldmeier Equipment but was fired.
“I joined the Navy, actually,” he says with a laugh. “Hell of a comeback.”
In 2017, Nash trained at Great Lakes, Illinois, and Gulfport, Mississippi, as a Navy Seabee.
He served with Amphibious Construction Battalion 2 at Little Creek-Fort Story, Virginia.
Later, he joined the Army, training in Georgia before landing in Alaska with the 4th Brigade, 25th Infantry (now 11th Airborne Division).
Honorably discharged as a 100% disabled veteran, Nash faced a choice: return to Little Falls or forge a new path.
“I could have come home, I could have done whatever, returned to anything, and I could have gone anywhere I wanted,” he says.
Instead, he stayed in Alaska.
“I was like, I’m going to figure it out right here,” Nash recalls.
“I fell in love up there because the climate is so similar to here in Little Falls. It’s just the temperature extremes.”
Alaska’s rugged terrain captivated him.
“All the mountains there and just how small, like insignificant, you really realize how everything is around you,” he says. “It’s God’s land, you know? You are subject to the land.”
There, Nash birthed Lucid Reality, a vision to unite extreme sports enthusiasts.
“Lucid Reality is a community and an organization where your adrenaline and your passion for chasing what you love meet,” he explains.
The organization focuses on nonconventional sports—motocross, snowboarding, skateboarding, dirt track racing—with an element of risk.
“You’re risking a little bit more,” Nash says. “To recognize that risk, that passion, that drive, to do it when no one’s watching, that’s who you are.”
Through lucidrealityshop.com, Lucid Reality sells name-brand apparel like Champion rain jackets and Under Armour gear.
Profits support up-and-coming athletes.
“We’re not a clothing company,” Nash clarifies. “Our goal isn’t to be really an apparel company, but we’ve got to do some.”
For a motocross rider in Herkimer or Little Falls, Lucid Reality might provide gear and media exposure.
For a dirt track racer, it could be a $600 fire suit.
“We get them geared up in Lucid Reality apparel,” Nash says. “It’s an experience that they can make it whatever they want it to be.”
Nash’s mission is personal. He remembers the struggle of pursuing his passions with limited support.
Now, he’s helping local kids and aspiring talents, drawing inspiration from his Little Falls roots.
“We want to find the kids that have that drive and know exactly what they want,” he says.
The organization welcomes community input to spotlight athletes, fostering a family-friendly space for all ages.
Lucid Reality, branded with Alaska’s 907 area code, is still growing.
Its social media handles, LucidReality907,is in development and what to follow.
“I’m not running it (social media) because I don’t know the first thing about it,” Nash laughs, relying on a team for digital outreach.
The website is basic, but Nash’s vision is expansive.
“We don’t need to advertise all the flashy stuff,” he says. “The people with the passion and the heart for it, they’ll come to us.”
For Little Falls readers, Nash’s story resonates.
His ties to the Verri family and Royal Mountain evoke local pride.
His journey from Moreland Street to Alaska shows what’s possible with grit and heart.
“That’s where I felt home,” Nash says of the extreme sports communities he’s chased.
Now, through Lucid Reality, he’s building that home for others—one adrenaline rush at a time.
Visit lucidrealityshop.com or follow LucidReality907 on social media to learn more or get involved.
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