mickle
innit
- Location
- 53.933606, -1.076131
As you may know, I sell pedal cycles to disabled people for a living.
One of my Customers, Roy, is a lifelong cyclist and owner of a garage full of Colnagos and Ribbles. Like many of us cycling is the love of his life.
Roy had a series of severe strokes a couple of years ago which left him totally paralized down his left side and (a feature of right side brain strokes apparently) he is in strict denial about how severely disabled he is, and seriously overestimates both his abilities and his prospects of recovery. The chances of him ever being able to ride any of his bikes ever again is pretty much zero. But you try telling him that...
He's been calling me regularly, talking about how he wants to get back on his bikes - of adult stabilizers and trikes - and when his wife found out she contacted me to explain that, well, it's just never going to happen. It's been very hard for her - finding a balance between the truth of the seriousness of his disability and keeping his spirits up.
Cycling means different things to all of us. But what we wanted to do for Roy was identify some of the things he loved about cycling (the wind in the hair, the freedom, the thrill of going fast under your own steam, the companionship/solitude, the 'just being on a bike') and see if there was any way we could start ticking some of those boxes.
One of the bikes we sell is this beauty:
A 'Flex' wheelchair transporter by Nihola of Daneland.
Yesterday Roy and his son went for a ride on this. They rode into town along the riverside path from here and stopped for a cup of tea on the riverbank. At the little blue shared-use footbridge a class of school kids helped by pushing them up the steep slope, and he came back with the biggest grin on his face. We managed to tick some of Roy's boxes. We've suggested that over time, if his condition improves he mught be able to graduate to other machines, recumbent sociable quads, trikes etc. But it's extremely unlikely. We're certain that all of Roy's future cycling is Flex shaped.
His son lives on the other side of the country, so can't get back to York all that often and his wife doesn't have the legs or confidence to pedal the Flex with Roy in it. So this is a call for volunteers who live in or near York. If you'd like to take Roy out for an hour or two, once in a while, drop me line.
mick.allan(at)getcycling.org
You'll be making an old cyclist very happy.
And Roy.
One of my Customers, Roy, is a lifelong cyclist and owner of a garage full of Colnagos and Ribbles. Like many of us cycling is the love of his life.
Roy had a series of severe strokes a couple of years ago which left him totally paralized down his left side and (a feature of right side brain strokes apparently) he is in strict denial about how severely disabled he is, and seriously overestimates both his abilities and his prospects of recovery. The chances of him ever being able to ride any of his bikes ever again is pretty much zero. But you try telling him that...
He's been calling me regularly, talking about how he wants to get back on his bikes - of adult stabilizers and trikes - and when his wife found out she contacted me to explain that, well, it's just never going to happen. It's been very hard for her - finding a balance between the truth of the seriousness of his disability and keeping his spirits up.
Cycling means different things to all of us. But what we wanted to do for Roy was identify some of the things he loved about cycling (the wind in the hair, the freedom, the thrill of going fast under your own steam, the companionship/solitude, the 'just being on a bike') and see if there was any way we could start ticking some of those boxes.
One of the bikes we sell is this beauty:
A 'Flex' wheelchair transporter by Nihola of Daneland.
Yesterday Roy and his son went for a ride on this. They rode into town along the riverside path from here and stopped for a cup of tea on the riverbank. At the little blue shared-use footbridge a class of school kids helped by pushing them up the steep slope, and he came back with the biggest grin on his face. We managed to tick some of Roy's boxes. We've suggested that over time, if his condition improves he mught be able to graduate to other machines, recumbent sociable quads, trikes etc. But it's extremely unlikely. We're certain that all of Roy's future cycling is Flex shaped.
His son lives on the other side of the country, so can't get back to York all that often and his wife doesn't have the legs or confidence to pedal the Flex with Roy in it. So this is a call for volunteers who live in or near York. If you'd like to take Roy out for an hour or two, once in a while, drop me line.
mick.allan(at)getcycling.org
You'll be making an old cyclist very happy.
And Roy.
Also I could be at risk of injuring my Achilles tendon.
