Dearest Readers,
This week I am re-learning to ride my shiny new birthday bicycle 20+ years since I last had a bike and 3+ years after a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis. You could say that I’ve grown a bit since I was 12. You could say I might’ve put on a lot of pounds. You could also say that according to the expertise of Wii Fit, the left side of my body compensates for the weakness on the right side of my body to the tune of 75%. You could say I have little to no balance.
My husband has been seriously biking for a few months and fell in love with it. Our city has a fantastic trail that follows an old train trail and connects to other towns. It’s well designed and mostly shaded. While the summer heat is likely to provide a wealth of challenges to me, I hope to learn to ride well enough to actually enjoy it when autumn arrives.
Learning to ride a bike with MS is going to be tricky. I’ve chosen an Electra Townie bicycle which has wider tires for riding on both streets and trails, a wider seat for comfort, and easy gear shifts so that I don’t offset my balance when changing gears. This may be the most comfortable bike in the world.
I’m definitely no longer a kid, but I hope to feel like it again – I feel so less disabled on this bike than I do when walking. I have one skinned knee already – I can’t wait to see what happens!
Do you bicycle in spite of MS?