Thank you for a beautifully written piece. I don’t imagine that you and I have any “inconveniences” in common — other than being bicyclists in an automotive world — but I felt much of our shared humanity by reading your words. Tailwinds!
25
Thanks to the author for the matter-of-fact tone of the article on disability. As a 62 year old below-knee amputee of 46 years, I too have made needed repairs with duct tape. I began life on a farm. Practicalities and a self-sufficient orientation have served me well. Some folks are amazed that I ride a bicycle, too.
22
This is so fabulous. I am an avid cyclist and bike mechanic whose only real "inconvenience" is severe hearing impairment. (and when people tell me I shouldn't ride in the rain, when I can't wear my hearing aids, I'm sure you know what I tell them) I cried with joy at the description of you fixing your prosthetic arm with a derailleur cable. I'm envisioning a custom brake lever that would allow you to vary braking force between front and rear wheels. Anyway, keep riding.
58
@bicyclist
Ask them what they say to people wearing ear buds and ear muff headphones.
4
Your writing is truly poetry: simple, direct, evocative. Like you, I am a long distance (touring) cyclist. And like you, I have a disability although mine is more hidden. As a 19 year old in Vietnam, 50+ years ago, I came too close to war and brought back with me PTSD. Cycling alone for long distances allows me to reconnect to the self I lost over five decades ago. I luxuriate in rural roads, hills that undulate, and especially crossroads where I get to decide where to go and where not to go. Nothing better.
60
I like how Mr. Giscombe mentions layers. This essay certainly has many.
I would start by mentioning my friend who also lost a limb in childhood. He lost a good portion of one leg to childhood cancer I believe. When we first starting talking shop about bikes, I didn't even know he was an amputee. I thought he was just a another bike geek like myself.
When I learned he was missing a leg, I wasn't even surprised. My first reaction was: That makes a lot of sense. Cycling is a wonderfully low impact and accessible sport even if you're missing a few parts. He also hikes extensively and climbs as a hobby. He draws the line at skiing though. I've tried. I think he just doesn't like the cold.
The other interesting point that caught my eye was Giscombe's rejection of the high-tech solution. Yes! I absolutely don't want anything essential in my life I can't fix on my own on the fly. Sometimes this goal is impossible but low-tech is a beautiful thing wherever you can find it.
The mechanical simplicity of bikes is one of the appeals. I love clean and simple bike. I first learned the idea from camping but the idea is easily transportable. You learn how to improvise. I once road about a hundred blocks in Manhattan with a split tire I booted with a dollar bill.
This is a common trick among cyclists but you'd be surprised how many people are completely helpless when they blow out a tire wall. Always carry cash.
2
Lovely. Thank you.
The comfort and security of the familiar but what if his right arm is strained by something? Maybe a more versatile prosthetic arm controlled by his mind might be of more use than his tried and true "Farmer's Hook".
Thank you for this essay, C S Giscombe!
I’ll keep an eye out for you in the Berkeley hills - I’m on a blue steel Ed Litton, circa 1995.
1
Pure prosody
Throughly enjoyed this opinion piece, I to have spent countless hours on a bike seat enjoying the world around me and doing some mental garbage picking as I like to call it as the road rolls by. Keep writing and riding as long as you can Mr Giscombe.
1
We gotta keep moving. A moving target is hard to hit.
An uplifting piece in a day of dismal news; thanks NYT and Mr. Giscombe. If in New York City on a Saturday morning, come to the Engineer’s Gate and visit with the cyclists of InTandem, a group that pairs “Captains” with “Stokers”.
As a captain I have, in a short involvement, ridden with people with various conditions that inhibit their ability to ride independently. One told me people laughed when he told them he was going cycling.
While I love words and reading columns like this, there is nothing like the indomitable human spirit, is there??
I’d be happy to ride with you Mr. Giscombe...if I could keep up!
5
Dear Mr. Giscombe,
If you have so time in the next year and a half, would you mind running for President? It might be a bit "inconvenient" considering your other obligations, but it would nice to have someone in the Oval Office who knows how to overcome adversity instead of creating it.
16
When I read these essays in this series , I am always struck , amazed at the people who write and live with various disabilities. This one was especially timely for me because I recently had surgery for three separate issues on my left hand. It is sore, swollen, I am not able to use it. It has made me very cranky. But mine will get better after some physical therapy and time. So I read this beautiful essay with awe and a little shame. How can I complain, when there are people in this world who share so beautifully their disabilities and almost turn them into a magical experience. These people seem to be blessed in another way with a gift to share and make us feel empathy and amazement for them ..
6
Excellent. My neighbor "lost" his arm in a chemistry explosion at his job--I imagine it was everywhere--and he wore an old style pro like yours. [I was a kid then.]
I think the major difficulty that I knew of was when he locked onto his VW bug handle and couldn't get loose.
He was cursing a blue streak and his wife was not capable of understanding the simple tools he requested.
Not because he was cursing but because she did not know names or ID of simple tools.
I reverse left/right brakes on my bikes too, you must warn people if they might ride it!
2
Glad to read your article, I had a transradial amputation of the right hand twelve years ago. Trek fitted me with a mountain bike that has brake and shifter on the left. The brake has a splitter to address both front and rear wheels. One of my favorite rides is from Vail to Frisco Colorado. Your article gives others hope. We do have choices.
11
Oh, well done, sir. Command of words and bike. Rare breed, that. A nice way to chase away the fact that I had a flat 10 miles out.
Steel *is* real.
8
I wonder have you met or at least seen the one legged man who rides his bicycle around Berkeley? I saw him regularly during the 90's, never got a chance to meet him. I've been gone a long time and you never mentioned him so maybe he moved on too.
Not being "fully" abled isn't as much of a barrier to living well as are the people who think they are.
4
Thank you for this beautiful essay on the complexities of moving through the world. I recall the H. G. Wells quote, "Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race."
10
Why not have more than one kind of arm, if you can afford it? Some people have a useful arm and a cosmetic arm, for dressy occasions. Or another arm that does things the other doesn't. Sort of like there is more than one kind of bike.
3
a bicycle is the most beautiful machine I've ever been on. Thank you for taking us on a ride.
12
I'm not an amputee, but I'm a cyclist and a writer. What a pleasure this was to read. Thank you Mr. Giscombe.
7
Major injuries are life changing. Mine- losing the mobility of my left ankle and inches of height- seems minor now, some 40 years later. Yet life is never the same after it happens. I struggled for years to figure out my new circumstances, but married to a PT who had a word for people like me- customer. I am glad to see that we have something in common, a life not ruined by a disfiguring accident. Better that our innate ability (or lack of, thinking of my many errors along the way) was the thing that mattered in the end. Bike on.
4
I usually stop reading Opinion pieces like this halfway through. This one caught me up, not for the human interest angle, but for the quality of writing and the wise insights. No whining helped, too. I, too am an academic and can imagine myself in his place, at least a little. I like how he describes the experience.
9
My profound respects and admiration for taking the dis- out of the word disability.
Mine is only minor - the loss of my left eye. At the time I feared I would no longer be able to pursue the true passion of my life - painting.
The fear was unfounded and my pieces now are better than ever as I learned how to work without stereoscopic vision.
7
@Texexnv
It seems to me that stereoscopic vision is over-hyped, although I would not say that to my friend who lost left recently to cancer. Merging into traffic is difficult.
My childhood cat lost her left eye via car accident at 6 and continued to jump off windowsill (we watched) just past slanted porch post on that side.
Also Tabby successfully hunted despite eye sown shut.
She lived until 20+.
Every time I brought this up in psych classes it was disregarded.
2
I, too, like you (the author) and other commentators get something more than just the physical on my bike.
Can you really ever stay angry for more than a fleeting-Buddhist moment on a bike?
Keep writing/riding, bro!
15
Why not both? An either or, as each situation dictates?
The best of both worlds so to speak.
I drive an 80's truck because I can fix it. I use an early flip-phone because it is quite robust and can be thrown against a wall and still be used as a doorstop.
But I love my modern Miata for its instant and smooth control and power.
The spouses smartphone is a computer in you pocket.
Proper tool for the time and place as needed.
As a fellow cyclist...have you tried the newest hydraulic disc brakes? How about the electronic shifters being used?
Yeah, me neither. Yet.
9
Great article! I make bicycles, my latest racing bike is a sponsorship for a one-legged racer in Kenya who is competing in a distance race from Nairobi to Mecca. He lost his right leg below the knee as a child and uses the bicycle for getting around. He first contacted me for assistance getting into the US to race - he raced at Leadville in a field that included Lance Armstrong.
The design challenge was to build a frame that accommodated a somewhat forward riding position and had lateral stiffness to stand up to the unbalanced forces of his very strong left leg.
The man's name is Ibrahim Wafula. Wish him luck! And may good fortune follow you all the days of your life Mr. Giscombe.
41
“Keep climbing,” indeed. That’s a motto from which all might benefit and it is well-and-truly taught, experienced, embodied, and re-envisioned on a bike. Bikes make things better for everyone and are endlessly adaptable to meet a range of physical assemblies.
13
Very much along the lines of this writer, Jo McGowan has an beautiful article in Commonweal this week (May 17, 2019) about her daughter, Moy Moy. Tho in a wheelchair and unable to speak or lift a finger, she changed thousands of people's lives in India where she lived. When she died unexpectedly last year, her Dad said at the funeral, "Moy Moy constantly reminded us never to dismiss anyone as unable to accomplish the amazing."
7
Nice read this morning. From a cyclist with two arms and one leg, I salute your asymmetry. On a bike, you just know everything is going to be all right.
39
From my rather advanced (in terms of actual exposure) use of prosthetic arms - tuned, tweaked body powered technology - I will say that if there is any future to prosthetic arms that has a sustainable growth at all, it is NOT myoelectric prostheses: they did not improve control error in over 4 decades, based on a review of scientific papers. In fifty or hundred years they will say "Do you remember when they still tried to make prostheses mind-controlled? How absurd".
5
Thank you for this thoughtful essay, Mr. Giscombe. I was stopped in my tracks for a moment when the fellow cyclist you met in the Berkeley hills commented that touring was a thing "sadly beyond" your capabilities. Such a presumptuous comment, and from a stranger. I doubt he meant to disparage, but how easily he drew his limited conclusion. We can all learn from this. Everything is possible.
13
Dear Mr Giscombe, I am a friend of your sister's here in NYC. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance through this beautifully written piece. Thank you!
16
Cycling is certainly for the stubborn. Twenty five years of riding with blackout seizures and all the falls, road rash, broken bones and twisted bicycle frames that go with that, it still was fun and brings back fond memories just thinking about, especially the moments after finally getting to the top of the mountain. I admit though that I do try to forget some of the trips down and the ambulance rides.
11
Thank you for the great essay. Like you on the bike it covered a lot of ground. See you on the road.
22
Lovely essay. Thanks, Mr. Giscombe.
Life is indeed, if lived well, always an odyssey of overcoming obstacles.
26
This is a wonderful piece by a great person. As a serious cyclist myself with, thankfully, all of my limbs intact, I am pleased to read a column like this. Even though I had and recovered from prostate cancer my experience is of a different order entirely. Thanks for a piece about cycling.
22