There’s a reason John Muir once wrote, “The mountains are calling and I must go.”
“Who wouldn’t want to just ride up a mountain trail, or a jeep trail and be with nature,” said Jake O’Connor, who lives in Crested Butte, and spends as much time as he can in the mountains that surround his home.
The mountains have a pull for many of us in this state. And Jake O’Connor is no exception.
“We really do live in probably one of the most beautiful places in the world,” O’Connor said.
Except for O’Connor, it’s not as simple as hopping on a trail and going wherever it takes him. About 15 years ago, a construction accident in northern Colorado left him paralyzed. He’s a t11 t12 paraplegic. Shortly after the accident, he started riding hand cycles on the road, but he said that was not for him.
“I’d rather be eating dirt and dust than getting hit by cars,” O’Connor said. “I think road cycling is dangerous--you’re never going to win that battle between a car and yourself.”
And then O’Connor heard about off-road hand cycling, where the person rides on mountain bike trails instead of streets. He borrowed a friend’s rig, and was hooked.
“It’s just ultra-stable,” O’Connor said. “I don’t have to unclip like you guys have to, so I can go a half mile an hour straight up a hill and not have to worry about falling over.”
He rode that for a while, and then decided to start making his own.
“I’m continuously amazed to see where people are taking these bikes, and what they’re doing with them,” O’Connor said. “It blows my mind.”
O’Connor’s company, ReActive Adaptations, is one of the only companies in the world making off-road hand cycles.
“Sometimes I’m so busy that I don’t have time to think about it, but it really is really cool, it’s a trip to see someone with a disability…get on one of my bikes and have this gigantic grin,” O’Connor said. “You’re like wow, I just opened a door for this person.”
To learn more about these off-road hand cycles, go to ReActive Adaptations’ website: http://www.reactiveadaptations.com/
