When I was 12, I broke my right ankle. I was biking to school in November, I slipped on wet leaves in a friend’s driveway, and next thing you know I have 3 screws in my ankle and a cast to my hip. It was 1978 and I sort of had fun cruising around school on crutches for three months, then by spring I was back playing soccer. At the time, the surgeon told me that by the time I was 30 I might have trouble walking on it. “Thirty? I’ll be half dead by then! OK!” At 30, I hiked Mt Whitney in California and had just quit mountain bike racing. I’ve lived an athletic life and haven’t let the ankle slow me down much. I’ve sprained it more times than I can count, I’m a whiz at taping it back up, and I just keep on keeping on.

Handing out maple syrup at mile 18![/caption]

I’ll interject here to say that I’m a person who gets in all kinds of trouble by saying “how hard could it be?” But, I also get into great adventures, so I hope handcycle training will be another one of those. Do I really think I can ride 26 miles? I have no idea, but I’m sure going to try!

At this point, I’m literally limping through the ski season, hoping to get a hand cycle set up on an indoor trainer by the end of January, and excited for the next steps! Surgery is scheduled for March 13th. I live right on the bike path, so as soon as the weather clears after surgery I hope to be out pedaling - or at a minimum, getting on the handcycle on an indoor trainer within a week of surgery.

Stay tuned for updates as the adventure continues.