June 14, 2020 was a typical early summer time day for Reno, Nevada-based Austin Worth. The then 28-year-old spent the day hanging out with buddies earlier than cruising dwelling on his bike as he at all times did.
Three blocks from his dwelling, he was coming round a pointy nook and navigating some roadwork when a part of his bike made contact with the change within the asphalt grading, high-siding him off the bike and into the air earlier than making contact with an oncoming car.
The subsequent factor Worth remembers is waking up within the hospital, a health care provider standing beside him, holding his bike helmet.
“The physician stated he had by no means seen a motorcyclist’s helmet look the best way mine did and have its wearer nonetheless be alive,” Worth tells Biking Weekly “I sustained a T4 spinal wire harm, had burst fractures from T4 to T10, a traumatic mind harm, two cranium fractures, a damaged jaw, 13 facial fractures, a damaged hip, a collapsed lung and 13 damaged ribs.”
The physician thought of him fortunate for nonetheless being alive however for Worth, it took a bit to see it that method. Whereas the various fractures would heal, the spinal wire harm meant he can be paralyzed from the sternum down with no core or trunk assist. Worth wouldn’t solely be unable to stroll or to trip a standard bike once more – transferring ahead, all of his power and performance would wish to return from his chest, arms and higher again.
“Earlier than my harm, I used to be actually into downhill mountain biking, BMX using and mountain biking on the various trails right here in Reno,” Worth says. “To search out out post-accident that I’d be in a wheelchair and my life can be so completely different… I felt like my life was over.”
Roy Tuscany, founder and CEO of Lake Tahoe-based nonprofit the Excessive Fives Basis reached out to Worth within the weeks following Worth’s accident.
The newest race content material, interviews, options, critiques and skilled shopping for guides, direct to your inbox!
Tuscany, a former elite downhill skier, had himself suffered a spinal wire harm that left him unable to make use of his ft and calves with the identical vary of movement and skill as earlier than his harm. Tuscany based the Excessive Fives Basis in 2009 to offer adaptive sports activities gear and experiences to fellow spinal wire harm survivors
“It was very nice to have the ability to make contact with someone who understood what I used to be going by means of on the time,” Worth says. “You might have so many unknowns within the weeks after an harm like this. You principally must relearn your total life.”
Tuscany was additionally in a position to provide Worth a bit shiny gentle on the finish of his restoration tunnel: he’d have the ability to trip bikes once more, albeit considerably otherwise.
One sport the Excessive Fives Basis helps is adaptive mountain biking – amongst others equivalent to snowboarding, snowboarding, browsing and fishing.
Tuscany explains that of the sports activities that may be made adaptable to a wide range of skills, biking is excessive on the record.
“Our adaptive bike packages are our fastest-growing packages throughout the group,” Tuscany says. “We’ve now given grants for 225 adaptive mountain bikes, which is our largest vertical of adaptive gear that we give to athletes.”
Moreover, the Excessive Fives Basis partnered with famend path builder Steve Wentz to create a community of Reno-area trails that meet the 58 inch-wide and no pinch level turns necessities wanted to comfortably accommodate adaptive mountain bikes.
The three path methods are: Sky Tavern, Sierra Vista Park and Sawtooth, all situated in or close to Reno.
The Excessive Fives Basis additionally hosts daylong and multi-day adaptive mountain biking camps in 4 places throughout the U.S. – Vermont, Nevada, California and Colorado.
“We have now all the mandatory gear on-hand for athletes to check out at our camps, together with Bowhead adaptive mountain bikes,” Tuscany says. “Athletes can come and check out the gear, trip the paths and in the event that they determine they need to pursue the game additional, can apply for a grant with Excessive Fives to buy their very own adaptive mountain bike – which might vary from $12,000 to $30,000.”
Worth attended his first Excessive Fives mountain bike camp in July 2022, and was immediately hooked on adaptive mountain biking.
“I keep in mind sitting on the prime of the run at Sky Tavern in an adaptive mountain bike on my own and that was the primary feeling I’d had post-accident of not feeling like I used to be disabled or in a wheelchair. At that second, I felt free,” recollects Worth.
Worth continued to hone his adaptive mountain bike expertise by attending different bike camps with Excessive Fives and difficult himself to maintain up with extra superior riders. Right this moment, Worth may be discovered shredding even essentially the most tactical of adaptive trails and touchdown daunting jumps on the paths in Reno.
“I’m really in the perfect form of my life – however in a wheelchair, which is like, tremendous ironic,” Worth says with fun. “My entire mindset modified once I bought on a Bowhead adaptive mountain bike – discovering the adaptive mountain biking neighborhood by means of Excessive Fives means every part. We’re not confined to wheelchairs. We’re out right here hitting jumps and slashing berms. I’d say my life at present is healthier than it was pre-injury for positive.”
Paying it ahead, Worth can be serving as a mentor for different spinal wire harm survivors.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it – getting again on the market on an adaptive mountain bike will likely be scary, however it will likely be so value it,” Worth says. “Everybody on the Excessive Fives camps and within the adaptive mountain biking neighborhood are so accepting. We perceive all of the belongings you’re scared and even embarrassed about – and we don’t decide. We wish everybody to have the ability to get again out on the paths and to get that sense of loving life once more.”
In regards to the bikes
Calgary-based adaptive mountain bike producer Bowhead was based in 2018 by Christian Bagg, a former big-air snowboarder who broke his again throughout a 1996 competitors and was paralyzed from the waist down.
Bagg was not one to let his harm sideline him from doing what he liked most: hitting the slopes. As a lifelong lover of tinkering and inventing, Bagg shortly realized that conventional adaptive skis would profit from a design that included articulating joints, permitting for higher stability and steering – however his dedication to off-road sports activities quickly sparked one other curiosity: adaptive mountain biking.
“After which at some point in the summertime, Bagg appeared on the adaptive skis he’d constructed utilizing the articulating joints and thought, ‘What if I flip the skis over and put wheels on this?’, and that’s how the primary Bowhead adaptive bike was made,” says Sally Stanier, neighborhood relations supervisor at Bowhead. “Bagg by no means meant to make fashions to promote, however when one other man who had an identical harm to Bagg reached out about having Bagg make him an adaptive mountain bike, it sparked the need to show Bagg’s tinkering on adaptive bikes right into a enterprise.”
Every Bowhead bike contains a single rear wheel behind a chair-like seat, which is linked to an articulating entrance finish made up of two wheels and hand cranks. The rider’s legs sit outstretched between the 2 entrance wheels.
Stanier explains that Bowhead’s use of an articulating entrance finish on all of their adaptive mountain bikes is what units them aside.
“The articulating entrance finish permits riders to lean into corners whereas sustaining management of the bike, which makes using each enjoyable and secure,” Stanier says. “Because of the articulating entrance finish, out bikes are solely as huge as standard mountain bike handlebars, which implies Bowhead adaptive mountain bikes can sit on almost any mountain bike path, which opens up an entire world of using for our adaptive athletes.”
All of Bowhead’s present bikes use “e-assist” to assist riders get essentially the most out of their adaptive mountain bike.
“On common, your arms can generate a few quarter of the watts that your legs can,” Stanier explains. “Our bikes don’t have gears, however there are 5 completely different energy modes that can help you a bit extra at every degree. This enables our riders to have the ability to trip steeper trails and really get essentially the most out of their adaptive mountain biking expertise.”
All Bowhead bikes function full, impartial suspensions on every wheel and two brakes: one brake lever that controls the 2 entrance wheels concurrently and one which controls the rear wheel.
Moreover, every Bowhead bike is custom-made to suit its rider’s wants and measurements.
“When a motorbike order is available in, we’ve a name with the rider to verify their specs and their wants – some riders might not have the ability to use each fingers or arms equally and might have changes to the hand cranks, for instance,” Stanier says. “We additionally solely use high quality mountain bike parts and Bosch motors when assembling our bikes.”
Stanier says that whereas the corporate acknowledges their bikes are a big monetary funding, the excessive degree of care and specificity that comes with every order is what makes Bowhead distinctive.
(Picture credit score: Jorden Drew, Alpine Media Home)
In 2023, Excessive Fives contributed funding to greater than 60 adaptive bikes by means of the Empowerment Fund grant program. There are three grant award cycles per yr, and athletes can discover out extra data and apply for a grant right here.
