All my troubles seemed so far away! Beatles lyrics always work!
Lizzie and I took a small trip to Berkeley yesterday to the adaptive cycling center at the Aquatic Park. The setting is beautiful and the cycling center offers variety, probably 100 or more adapted bikes. Truly a bike for everyone. We used to go, Bill, Lizzie and I and all sorts of family groups, to the cycling center about twice a month when we first started going in 2014.
Look how Lizzie has progressed from a side by side trike with a core support to the cycle in the featured page. When we purchased a trike for Lizzie we stopped going.
Yesterday proved though that revisiting place where your loved one has experienced success is worth trying again. This time we experienced cycling through different eyes. When we got there Lizzie was all hyped to go. The staff helped to pick a bike different than her regular trike. It was an ICE bike, very cool. I told Lizzie to get on the bike and with support she already had her legs over the bar and was sitting in the seat. We strapped in her feet and the staff could sense that she was going to take off so they showed us the parking brake.
Lizzie was a rock star cycler. She cycled the entire path without stopping except when I needed a little break. I didn’t even hold on to the bike and Lizzie easily adapted to different brakes. Lizzie would brake herself when she got going too fast. Her steering that day was spot on too as there were others on the trail and with barely any prompting she’d move over. It was easy for me!!!
Most importantly though there were so many others cycling on the path in recumbent trikes and other adaptive cycles that I could sense that Lizzie felt infused with good energy.
Thanks to BORP for providing these services to disabled individuals and thanks to Annika the person that prompted us to go that day. We’ll be back before 3 years!
Tip #1: Adaptive cycling centers do exist in some cities. A friend lives in Seattle and she was able to find one. If you are interested in trying out biking check the internet.
Tip #2: We purchased Lizzie’s bike by constantly checking on eBay and on craigslist. We were able to purchase a used $1200 trike for $400.
#repeatsuccess#gettingout#newexperience#commraderie#adaptivecycling#
Therafun 