When I now hear the words “won’t work”, “difficult”, or “can’t”, it is like throwing fuel on a fire, my fire.  Recently I got the wild idea that I wanted to try to ride a different style of bicycle.  It is still a recumbent bicycle and it has all the components that any other bicycle has but what makes this type of bicycle unique is that is has, what is called in the bicycling world, a moving bottom bracket (MBB).  Which means in the case of this particular bicycle is that the cranks and pedals are attached to the handlebars, making it a front wheel drive bicycle.  Upon hearing that, one might think, well what’s the big deal?  Imagine getting on a bicycle and starting to pedal and your feet and legs playing a major role in steering the bicycle.  You push on the left pedal, the front wheel turns right, you push on the right pedal, the front wheel turns left.  Because your feet and legs are now part of the steering, your arms and upper body have to get involved to basically counteract those forces being applied by the lower body and they both must work in unison.  Having balance and coordination doesn’t hurt either.  Sounds fun right?

After I started riding recumbents, I began to read different blogs and get more involved in the recumbent world, learning different riding/handling techniques and about the different types of recumbents that are available.  From cruisers, to low racers, high racers, touring, long wheel base, short wheel base, three-wheel trikes, you get the idea.  I started to notice as I read that there was one particular brand of recumbent that brought out passions in people that I had rarely seen before with other recumbent bicycles and that was the Cruzbike, a front wheel drive, MBB bicycle.

There were pages and pages of blog threads and debate as to the advantages and disadvantages of such a bike.  Those that owned Cruzbikes strongly defended the brand and passions ran just as deep with those who think the bicycle is dangerous and impossible to ride.  I will admit, for those reasons, I was always a little resultant to even consider riding one, I mean, who wants to ride a dangerous bicycle that at any moment will lurch you into traffic or throw you to the ground at a moments notice.  But as the months went on, I started to see more and more owners of the Cruzbike Tribe, giving their testimonies of how the bicycle changed their lives and it was the best purchase they had ever made.  They are glad they made the switch and touted that with practice, anyone could ride this bike.  Over time my interest peeked but the one thing that made me think that this was possible was that I saw many people, years my senior, riding and enjoying these bikes.  Aside for all of the racing records and accomplishments held by Cruzbike riders, it was the average everyday rider testimony that pulled me in.

So, I reached out to Cruzbike via their website and shortly thereafter, I received a response from one of the owners of the company, Maria Parker, who is very accomplished Cruzbike rider and has an amazing story herself.  I asked her if they had any amputee riders out there I could talk to about how difficult it would be to ride a Cruzbike as an amputee and her opinion on if an amputee could ride one of their bikes if none existed.  I mean, your legs are a big part of the entire process of riding one of these things so I had to ask the question.  Maria stated that she did not believe that they had any amputees, anywhere in the world that ride their bikes and that her initial thoughts is that it probably “WON’T” work.  She did follow that up with “but if you are willing to try, have an open mind and don’t mind learning new things, and up for the challenge”, her husband Jim, who has taught hundreds of people to ride Cruzbikes, would be willing to meet with me to give it a shot.

Jim had never taught an amputee to ride a Cruzbike and I think he was as excited about the challenge as I was and maybe even a little skeptical if it would even work.  So, Jim and I set a time to meet and I drove down to meet with him.  He was very gracious with his time and walked me through the finer points of riding a Cruzbike, which literally meant walking and doing a “Fred Flintstone” up and down the street, just to get a feel for it.  I felt and probably looked ridiculous but his method is tried and true.  After a few minutes, the moment of truth was approaching.  Get up a little momentum and place your feet on the pedals, but don’t pedal just yet.  After a couple of rounds of that, it’s go-time.  Get up some momentum, place your feet on the pedals, and start to pedal.  The results?  I think the smile on my face says it all.  Jim told me that I was in the top fifteen percent of people that he has taught to ride a Cruzbike over the years and was very pleased that within a relatively short amount of time, I could cautiously and with a wobble, pedal my way up and down the quiet street.

The point of this is not to share that I have another bicycle in my stable but that being told that it probably won’t work, it will be a challenge, will be difficult, motivated me even more to try something new.  Many times, in our daily lives, we are faced with things that are difficult, a challenge, hard to do.  People may underestimate you, put limits on you, count you out.  It is up to us to prove them wrong, but not for their sake, but for ours.  No one would have been more disappointed if I failed at trying to ride that bicycle, then me.  I wasn’t doing it to prove to others I could do it, I did it to prove to myself I could do it.

This was a huge mindset shift for me after I became an amputee because most things, especially in the beginning were hard to do and a challenge.  So, in a way, I have been re-wired to accept and welcome those types of things because it is a part of my daily life and will be going forward.  I have this constant flame burning within that drives me to always adapt and overcome and when faced with won’t and can’t scenarios, it causes that flame to burn even brighter.  It’s only riding a bicycle, right?  Yes, but for me, it was yet another challenge that I can put in the win column.  What’s the next challenge you are going to put into your win column?