Photos by Teocalli
Starting back in 2002/3 I had the good fortune to be granted the first of what proved to be a number of Sabbaticals from work in the IT/Telecomms Industry to teach Adaptive Skiing (teaching people with disabilities). I had been teaching Adaptive Skiing for a number of years from the UK and by a strange set of coincidences had become one of the first batch of people to become qualified to train and examine Adaptive Ski Instructors within the BASI (British Association of Ski Instructors) system. As a result, I wanted to broaden my horizons beyond the UK scene and was successful in getting accepted to teach at the Adaptive Sports Centre in Colorado. The original intent was just to go for a single season. However, the consequences were that we ended up buying a winter home there and spending a number of seasons teaching with the ASC.
During my time there I also went through the PSIA scheme and successfully qualified as Trainer/Examiner within that system too. It was truly a privileged and life changing experience for me and resulted in building some long term friendships with people I worked with and others who I taught during my period with the ASC.
One of those people is Jake. I had the pleasure to teach Jake on some of his early ski lessons and subsequently, over the years, we have spend quite a bit of time skiing together on some of the nutty terrain that Crested Butte offers in the Back Bowls.
There seems to be a significant number of people who visit Crested Butte and end up living there for some period of time. So much so, that it is a local saying that people go there to visit but end up staying. Jake fits that scenario.
So what does this have to do with On The Rivet and cycling? Well, I invite you to watch the following video that introduces a different sort of cycling. Please also take a little time to access the links following the video.
I leave Jake to introduce himself below.
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Another interesting piece on Jake`‘
See recent article on Jake @ReactiveAdaptations
Interesting that on those off-road bikes people are leaning forward and I guess pedalling downwards.
Most hand-cycles they seem to be more like a recumbent position which would give something to push against, maybe to make up for the fact that their entire bodyweight isn’t on the pedals as it is for a seated cyclist.
Would be interesting to know what the thought behind that is.
@ChrisO – there are two basic types sitting with the cranks more or less at face level and the style Jake rides leaning forward. The ones leaning forward usually have a chest pad that you can steer with while cranking. They are also a bit more full-on for downhill. Which way to go is really down to rider preference though for the leaning forward style generally the rider would still want to have good spinal function.
Jake also makes e-bike assist models.
That’s awesome! I live in Denver and have done “Bicycle tour of Colorado” with the Adaptive Adventures crew on two occasions. It gave me a full appreciation of the effort it takes to hand cycle. Having had a chance to ride with several adaptive athletes I would have to say that they are some of the most bad ass cyclists I’ve ever ridden with (and my buddy Howie can kick my ass on flat rides on his carbon hand cycle). Thank you for your work with Adaptive Athletes. I think that cycling is such an amazing activity for anyone facing… Read more »
The ASC take a group of Hand Cyclists on Ride the Rockies each year. Would love to get back over there but a bunch of issues for me mean that travel to the US is out for a while at least. They also host Wounded Warriors week each season. Had some good fun on and off the mountain with those guys. The ASC are building a fabulous new centre on the mountain. A major investment which we would love to get out and see sometime. When I first went there we had one small area in the bottom of the… Read more »
Yup, that’s no recumbent, so all good!