Get a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live.”
~Mark Twain, "Taming the Bicycle"
Today I was able to handcycle through a beautiful wooded area with a friend. Leaves have already fallen here in the East and the weather was cool enough so that we were comfortable. The path wound up and down a few hills and I had to stop a few times because of the steepness going uphill. At one point, I turned to my left and saw an old tree with a branch that grew down vertically, ending in a "handle" about three feet off the ground. I showed it to my friend.
The woods were totally silent except for my friend as she shifted on her bike, scrunching some leaves under her tires. We both laughed which stirred up a few small critters.
"Which way should we go?" my friend asked, looking at the 3 different paths that converged near us.
I shrugged, then picked the one that looked to be the bumpiest, happy to be able to go "off-roading " on my handcycle. I get tired of being confined to pavement in my wheelchair! We headed down the path, careening downhill on a winding road that led us back to civilization.
As we rode back home, we had to deal with cars that sped by, an ambulance, a police car with its sirens going - and I already missed the silence and quiet of the woods.
As the police car sped by, lights blazing, my friend said "Gee, I thought they were going to pull us over."
"Nah," I replied. "They have better things to do than to pull over a quadriplegic trying to cycle around."
I haven't had much time lately to stop what I'm doing and go off for time to reflect. That "summer vacation" never happened. Yet I realized, after I arrived home, that handcycling for a few hours down a wooded path was more than enough to rejuvenate me.
I was able to bring back the sense of "being quiet and still".
Although I could have done without the police chase.
6 comments:
I know what you mean. I can't believe summer is over! I've never tried handcycling. I'll admit Ive been afraid I might fall out or tip over. Sounds like it's worth a try.
Thanks for sharing this. I feel stuck in my wheelchair lately and realized I could go to a park and roll around. Wish I had a handcycle t hough.
This is going to sound so rude, but here goes anyway, as I'm genuinely interested and awed by all you are able to do. How do you handcycle, if you are a quadaplegic?
Duct tape! Basically I use a piece of equipment called a handcycle which is designed to use if your legs are paralyzed. You cycle with your arms and if you are a level C5 quadriplegic or above (C6,7 etc), you can either use a special grip (which is expensive) or gloves or duct tape to hold your hands on there. It all depends on your level of spinal cord injury. That is not a rude question btw. I'm glad you asked because there is a lot of confusion about quadriplegia. Some think we are paraplegics which minimizes the fact that our hands and wrists are paralyzed while others think we are all like Christopher Reeve who was C1-2, a much higher injury on the spinal column, an injury that can require assistance with breathing. I always suggest people see the movie Murderball to get an idea of what quadriplegics can do - or can't. (I prefer to maximize what I can do).
Well, I'm guilty of assuming that quadraplegics had no use of their arms, hence the question. So your arms work, but your hands don't?? I gather you use voice recognition to write your blog, and you certainly make use of your time in a worthwhile way. Your advocacy work will have a ripple effect through the lives of untold number of people.
Yep I use voice recognition. Maybe this will help explain:
From the movie review of Murderball:
"Contrary to common belief, being quadriplegic doesn't mean being unable to move your arms and legs at all. There are varying degrees of it: Quadriplegic simply means having limited mobility in all four limbs (and, yes, sometimes no mobility at all).
http://www.ericdsnider.com/movies/murderball/
So there is a variation. Some quadriplegics have more movement than I do in their hands and wrists, while others have only shoulder movement - or nothing from the neck down.
I am very glad you brought this up and asked the question! As for assumptions, it's a very common one and a great question.
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