My first entry

This is my first blog entry ever and I want to explain why I felt the need to do a blog to start with later on. I will fill you in on how I came to be preparing for a 100 mile bikeride in Austin, Texas in October. But for now I just want to share with you the sensation I had this afternoon riding my bike, Blue Wonder2, fully enjoying the sun and beautiful surroundings of my hometown.

For someone who never has encountered setbacks or injury it is very hard to understand how a disability totally changes your life. I was the victim of a hit and run 11 years ago and that left me on crutches. For a person that made a part of her living out of teaching dance and twirl, that was about the worst thing that could happen to me. Stubborn as I am I refused to give up teaching completely but I went back to teaching one night a week instead of five and had to give up judging comptitions. I will get back to how I came to be on a bike this afternoon, but have to explain why it IS about the bike for me.

I keep my bike, Blue Wonder2, with me in the spare bedroom in my appartment, situated on the second floor, for two reasons. One, this beautiful bike is a gift from my LiveStrong and Cyclist Combating Cancer family and the worst thing that could happen to me is that it would get stolen or damaged. The other reason is that I need to hold on to something walking the galery and going down in the elevator to the groundfloor. I can´t take my crutches down because where would I leave them after I get on my bike?
And that is the moment the miracle starts for me, the second I get on my bike! As soon as I get on the bike and start pedalling I am FREE! No longer a disabled person, but just like anybody else who loves to ride the bike. I am still working on my average speed (not high enough) and the distance I need to cover but I ride the bike like everybody else. Today I rode for three hours, longer as I mend to do and longer as I am allowed to do but the feeling I had being out there, in the sun, enjoying the sensation of speed and not having to depend on anything else but my own body was truly breathtaking. Fellow cyclist passing me greet me and see me as one of them, not the cripple how needs to be treated with care, but just another avid cyclist. And this sensations last up to the second I arrive back home and have to get off the bike.... Than my feet literally touch the ground again.