Adaptive mountain biking in Colorado
Clip | 3m 28sVideo has Closed Captions
Liv Bender has a drive for adventure, and doesn't let her disability stop her.
Before Liv Bender became disabled because of a rare autoimmune disease, she was active in biking and hiking. Since moving to Colorado, she has now embarked on a new journey of trying adaptive sports.
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Adaptive mountain biking in Colorado
Clip | 3m 28sVideo has Closed Captions
Before Liv Bender became disabled because of a rare autoimmune disease, she was active in biking and hiking. Since moving to Colorado, she has now embarked on a new journey of trying adaptive sports.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipNo riding experince, is that correct?
All right.
Cool.
Well, these things are, pretty straightforward, fairly intuitive.
I always say that my wheelchair is my legs and I have to use my arms and my hands for everything.
First thing we're going to do here is get you fit to the bike.
I mean, I've been a wheelchair user for almost 15 years now, and it's been this long that I've never had the chance to try an adaptive mountain bike.
I am a T10 paraplegic, which is bellybutton level.
I have a really, really rare autoimmune disease.
It's called transverse myelitis and I contracted it about 15 years ago.
Where I grew up in New York, there wasn't a lot of adaptive sports and opportunities to try all of these things.
So being out in Colorado and having all these resources for people with disabilities to try these adaptive sports and recreational activities is just it's bringing me back to before I was disabled.
And, these will be your paddles.
The first thing I'm going to warn you about is, yes.
I can use some more outdoor hobbies.
Wrapped around the crank.
We dont want that.
The problems happen here, the next thing is... Ive been with National Sports Center for the Disabled for ten years.
The name of our new program is the Adaptive Mountain Biking and Hand Cycling NSCD Program.
It all came about whenever I realized there was a need for more adaptive mountain biking.
There very much regular bicycles that are shaped differently.
They use wheels.
Typically there's three of them instead of two.
They're good for anyone with a lower limb impairment, maybe a slight quadriplegic, anybody with balance issues.
My favorite part about riding that adaptive mountain bike is that it feels like it gives you a little bit more freedom than a wheelchair does.
I do push a limit places where I can go with my chair, but being on an adaptive mountain bike just completely goes past that.
I can go faster, I can go uphills, easier downhills, rocky terrains.
Liv and I are riding out at Green Mountain in Hayden Park.
I thought I was strong.
You are, this is not easy.
I'm already impressed.
Really.
The NSCD has been around for 54 years.
We're actually the oldest adaptive program in the United States, the disability community.
It's a small community.
So oftentimes when someone has tried out an activity, they go back and talk to their friends.
There's a lot of people that probably just decided that mountain biking wasn't something they were ever going to be able to do.
And I think that it's really cool that with that, so much adaptive equipment has just come so far that there's really almost nothing that people can't do anymore just because you have a disability doesn't mean you have to sit on the sidelines.
Riding the bike for the first time and making turns is not the easiest thing.
It's going to be something that I'm going to have to get used to.
I'm probably going to tip over and I'm kind of expecting that, you know, that's outdoor sports.
You get little rough and down and dirty.
So my motivation to get people out here is, they're told no a lot.
people with disabilities are typically told, no, you can't do that.
And I firmly disagree If you are somebody that is disabled and doesn't think it's possible to do all of these things, whether it's adaptive mountain biking, skiing, any sort of sport, there's always a way.
I mean, there is literally a way to do anything.
It's just with a little bit of adapting, don't be afraid.
It's different.
It's not going to be exactly the same as what able-bodied people are doing, but it might become a new hobby.
Find out what you can and try them, because there's a way to do everything.
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