From choosing handcycles to planning routes, a range of para-athletes and industry pioneers share their expertise on three-wheelers.
Bicycling | December 2021
Read the full story at bicycling.com.
A looming late afternoon storm rolled above San Diego when professional athlete Jeremy McGhee handcycled up a canyon-bound singletrack and into a rock-tossed creek bed. He shifted gears and the chain snapped, immobilizing his bike. Limited in his lower limbs by paraplegia, he used his arms to lower himself to the ground and at eye level with the metal links. He tinkered but within minutes, the drizzle became a downpour. McGhee’s eyes shot upstream: A deafening wall rushed down, submerging him in neck-deep water.
“Getting caught in a flash flood was gnarly. Imagine being a paraplegic sitting and lifting a heavy bike three feet up onto the bank, then lifting yourself. When I finally got out and fixed my chain, I had to stop every 10 minutes to clear the drivetrain of clay mud,” says McGhee, 44, who now lives in Bentonville, Arkansas.
That close call was 15 years ago, and the mountain biker is more seasoned now. “I didn’t know how to shift properly, to check weather, do equipment maintenance, practice emergency preparation, or what tools to carry,” explains McGhee, an adaptive trail consultant and founder of The Unpavement, an organization that rates trails for adaptive riders and documents routes through uncut video and in-depth summaries.
After a motorcycle accident at age 25, McGhee became a pioneer of outdoor access for disabled riders. Here, he (and his peers) share tips on how to get started handcycling, both off road and on pavement, plus how to find a bike that works for you and your rides.
5 Tips for Planning Off-Road Rides as a Handcyclist
Jeff Fox/Jeremy McGhee
1. Go With a Buddy
The foremost rule: As a new handcyclist, or if you’re exploring never-before-seen singletrack, ride with an able-bodied partner, says McGhee. Don’t go solo. Experienced handcyclists like McGhee or Kirk Williams, who ventures with quadriplegia, frequently ride independently on familiar trails or double-wide dirt fire roads. But even with advanced skills, it’s possible to get into trouble. Obstacles like collapsed trees can bottleneck the path, which is particularly an issue if the trail is enclosed by forest or exposed and too narrow to pivot the handcycle 180 degrees.
“If I can’t turn the bike around—like if there’s a stick on the trail, I get a flat tire, or the bike flips—I need to sit there until someone comes to pick up me or the back of my bike and turn me around,” explains Williams, a 34-year-old professional photographer based in Durango, Colorado. He adds, “When you’re learning, have someone spot you on obstacles or off camber terrain. Tipping over can happen easily if you don’t understand the geometry of a three-wheel machine.”
If you don’t have someone with you, “have a backup plan and reachable satellite communication device, so you can message people if you’re in trouble,” Williams says. “If you’ll have a signal, take your cell phone.”
To find ride partners, McGhee contacts local trail associations, uses social media, or asks friends. For challenging missions, his ideal support rider is “super athletic, trained for emergencies, can assess situations and do recon on the route, and understands who I am, which takes time and experience,” says McGhee.
To cycle technical trails beyond his comfort zone, Williams joins organized trips with the Telluride Adaptive Sports Program.
2. Find Adaptive Trails
One tool for researching adaptive trails is the Trailforks App and website, which congregates the routes rated by The Unpavement. McGhee’s system classifies trails according to the existence and difficulty of obstacles, the track’s width, and if a support rider is needed.
Keep in mind, “gates, tree gaps, and bridges need to be at least 36 inches wide, so you can roll over them. Your scout should understand that width,” says Williams.
3. Follow Etiquette
Typically, uphill traffic has the right-of-way. However, “default to moving aside for adaptive riders. It’s probably more difficult for them to get off the trail,” says McGhee. He also warns that adaptive riders should use power assist to hold an equal pace with analog riders on trails, rather than speeding around.
4. Bring Some Back-Up
If you ride a handcycle with e-assist, consider carrying a spare battery and understand the battery range, which varies based on the terrain. A battery that cruises for 26 miles on flat roads might only last 6 miles climbing steep, loose singletrack with 4,000 feet of gain. McGhee explains, “Disability level is also part of that equation. Someone with quadriplegia who uses an elbow shifter might shift less and use the motor to start from stop, which puts more demand on the battery.”
Other must-haves for McGhee: A harness and webbing for his partner to help hoist him into the bike if he crashes on a precipitous or slippery slope.
5. Choose the Right Equipment
After bike builder Jake O’Connor had a construction accident that resulted in a spinal cord injury in 2001, he was set on manufacturing a burly off-road handcycle with excellent suspension, bigger wheels, and a fine-tuned steering system. After all, he lives in the birthplace of mountain biking, Crested Butte, Colorado, so he needed to get out there.
O’Connor built his own handcycle and later founded ReActive Adaptations to engineer handcycles full-time.
One of his first bike builds was the Bomber RS with 24-inch wheels, rear suspension, and an aggressive prone position for trail visibility. The wheel configuration is tadpole, meaning there are two wheels up front and one in the back. Also known as rear-wheel drive, this setup enables a sharp turn radius and places the body weight above the wheels for traction on steep dirt climbs.
“For riders on rail trails and not gnarly singletrack, front-wheel drive gets the job done. They don’t need a bike as advanced and capable as mine. My drivetrain is more complicated, heavy, and drags,” he notes.
After launching ReActive Adaptations, O’Conner met Williams and realized the Bomber’s chest steer, which requires core muscles, doesn’t support quadriplegic riders, so he developed the Nuke with a recumbent seated position that some women also prefer to relieve chest pressure. Then he added full suspension versions of those bikes: the Hammerhead and Mako. The Nuke and Mako feature QuadGrips grips and brakes, allowing riders with quadriplegia to pedal and stop the handcycle using their wrists.
Most recently, he debuted the Stinger, “a foot-pedaled recumbent bike for folks with balance issues or extremely low or incomplete paraplegic,” explains O’Conner.
Nearly all of O’Conner’s customers add the e-assist upgrade. “I like manual bikes, because they’re simplistic and lightweight, but the motor helps us go as fast as an able-bodied person on streets and 4×4 trails. We will never keep up on singletrack, especially downhills, but can go faster and do longer miles. Before, 10- to 15-mile rides taxed my neck, shoulders, and hands. Now, there’s less impact on my body, and I feel great. The e-assist is especially a big deal for quadriplegic riders that have limited arm strength,” O’Conner says.
If O’Conner’s waiting list is any indication, the demand is high for off-road handcycles. Williams says, “An off-road handcycle is really a life-changing tool. There’s no way to reach the places these can take you any other way.”
Before you make your own handcycle purchase, consider what you want in the machine, then know you can always reach out to ReActive Adaptations for one that fits your needs, or check out the off-road adaptive bikes made by Sport-ON.
5 Tips for Planning Road Rides as a Handcyclist
Alicia Dana
1. Find the Right Route
Based in Putney, Vermont, handcyclist, Paralympic athlete, and bronze medal winner at the Tokyo Paralympic Games, Alicia Dana, 54, specializes in speedy road rides, and she says bike paths, paved recreational trails, or roads with wide shoulders are optimal for handcycling, as well as areas with low vehicle traffic.
“To get started, find a route that’s not too challenging in terms of hills and has decent turns—that aren’t too frequent or sharp—to practice. These bikes speed up on descents and can flip if you’re unaccustomed. Ride within your ability level,” she explains. Avoid roundabouts too. When you want to progress, choose steeper grades for zippier downhills.
To discover routes, drive around to scout, talk to local bike shops, and use various apps like Strava or Ride with GPS for insights regarding what’s paved (versus gravel), distance, and elevation gain.
2. Take Safety Precautions
Use a tall orange bike flag, bright lights (in daytime, too), and high visibility clothing. “Be proactive and vigilant about your surroundings. We’re lower than able-bodied cyclists and harder for cars to see. Also, our bikes have a rearview mirror attached to the handguard, because we can’t look over our shoulder the way able-bodied riders can,” says Dana.
3. Ask for Support
Unlike off-road handcycling, “We generally ride on our own. Riding with able-bodied people has a pendulum affect: We’re faster on descents and can draft off them but it doesn’t work the other way around,” she says. That said, “having a friend or family member drive with you as a sag wagon—a support vehicle—with water and snacks is a nice option.”
You also might need help securing your feet in your handcycle, she adds: “Once you’re lying down, you can’t reach the foot straps. I have a system with a ski pole with a hook on the end.”
4. Figure Out Transport
Handcyclists need to develop a personal system for their wheelchair if they drive to the start point and don’t have an electronic wheelchair lift. “After I’ve unloaded and transferred into my handcycle, I leave my wheelchair outside the vehicle with the break locks on. Others lift it into their vehicle, and use a remote to shut the back. You could also ask someone else to load it for you,” says Dana.
5. Buy the Right Bike
The first question is, “Do you want to race or get basic exercise? Figure out your purpose and goals,” says Dana. The lead handcycle manufacturers include Carbonbike-USA, which specializes in lightweight carbon fiber handcycles for speed performance and racers, and Top End, which focuses on aluminum frames.
Recreational or cruiser handcycles typically offer an upright sitting position and cost less. Race designs are lighter in weight, aerodynamic (the cyclist lays fairly flat), and feature high-end components. The wheel configurations are fairly universal with a 650C front wheel that accelerates well and two larger 20-inch back wheels that absorb bumps, explains Dana.
Double amputees and very low spinal cord injuries—meaning, the rider has full use of their core and torso—can ride in a kneeler handcycle to utilize their upper body to pedal.
