What is your favorite sound? For me, it’s the wind in the trees. It reminds me of all the backpacking trips my family and I took when I was a kid. I remember thinking that when I would hear the wind blowing through the trees, it meant we were close to the lake, our final destination.

After my SCI accident 19 years ago, it became difficult for me to get to a place where I could experience that favorite sound, where I could get far enough away from the noises of civilization to hear just the wind in the trees. I really missed that in my life and was determined to find a way to get it back.

Adaptive Mountain Biking is Accessible
After many years of using a wheelchair for my mobility, I finally discovered mountain biking. It was my ticket back to the mountain trails to experience once again the sound and the feel of the wind that I so love.

Adaptive mountain biking is a relatively new sport, relative in that the hand-cranked bikes enabling people with lower-extremity mobility limitations to ride have only been around for the past 15 or so years. There really are only a few choices of bikes out there for people now; however, adaptive mountain biking is a new sport that is sure to grow in popularity.

Fourcross
Adaptive downhill mountain biking, also known as Fourcross, was a fairly popular sport several years ago, complete with a whole competition circuit. There were several bike manufacturers, R-One being one of the largest.

Two of the downhill mountain bike granddaddies are Stacy Kohut and John Davis, both of whom were instrumental in the whole bike design and manufacturing. In fact, Stacy Kohut is still very involved in the downhill mountain bike scene; check out some of his crazy but informative videos here.

Hand Bike Your Own Way Up
But the difference between downhill mountain biking and just mountain biking is that in the downhill form, riders are dependent on some means other than their own power to get them to the top of the mountain (i.e., a chairlift or vehicle). The mountain biking I am talking about that captured my heart is more like true mountain biking: in order to get down, you must work—crank on your own power—your way up.

These mountain bikes are different from the downhill bikes in that they have lots of gears that enable people to crank up the hills. Additionally, these hand cranked mountain bikes are rear-wheel-drive bikes to ensure better traction versus most hand bikes which are front-wheel drives. Of course, they are also different from traditional hand bikes in that they have large knobby tires, just as typical mountain bikes do.

Adaptive Equipment
There are two different versions of these adaptive mountain bikes that I am familiar with. The most popular and best known bike is the One-Off handcycle designed and built by Mike Augspurger. Check out the website for great photos and videos of the bikes in action.

My adaptive mountain bike is a Greenspeed GTH handcycle. It’s built in Australia by Greenspeed, popular recumbent bike manufacturers. They have been building this hand bike since 1992, and I really love it.

While not as well known or popular as the One-Off, I prefer the Greenspeed purely because of the seating position and the ease of use. The One-Off might enable you to climb steeper and faster, but I found it incredibly uncomfortable, sitting on my knees and lying on my chest, and difficult to use for a fairly high-level paraplegic. The steering of the One-Off is done with your chest by leaning side to side while you are cranking with your arms, whereas the Greenspeed steering is similar to many other handcycles, done with your arms as you crank.

Both are great bikes; what is wonderful is that there are choices for people with disabilities who want to mountain bike, so you can pick whichever bike you prefer. Both bikes cost about $5,000 USD and can be very well customized to fit the rider.

If you are interested in a little off-road competition, you can check out the World Off-Road Handcycling Championships, held each August in Crested Butte, CO. Log onto U.S. Handcycling for info on last year’s event and for details on this year’s competition.

See you on the trails!

See Related Articles
Karen Darke took her handcycle where few women with disabilities dream of biking - in the Himalayas.  Read more about her adventure in On Top of the World: Handcycling the Himalayas.

Love the idea of mountain biking, but not sure how to get started?  See A Mountain Chair for People with SCI and discover a mountain bike for people with disabilities.