THIS SATURDAY, starting at 11pm on Saturday 6th July I will be cycling in a team of volunteers, colleagues, physiotherapy students and several service users with disabilities to make it around a 25km Bristol circuit.

It’s going to be hard. We are going to pedalling and pushing our way through the night on side-by-side and recumbent bikes and trikes. The sun will rise before we will be finished with a cooked breakfast to look forward to. We will have to negotiate normal traffic as there are no road closures. And one fellow team mate in her 60s, with Cerebral Palsy, despite the aches and pains of her condition, will be making the statement ‘ACTUALLY, YES I CAN’  as she rides her trike AKA “Sleigh Rider” 25km over the downs.

This has all stemmed from the fantastic Gloucestershire Wheels for All project tirelessly set up and lead by MaryClare Faulkner, former physiotherapist at Gloucestershire House (whose big shoes I am still so far from filling). I’m thrilled to be working alongside her in supporting residents to access adapted bicycles regardless of ability.

People I work with absolutely love it. They get out of the familiar 4 walls of their home and wheelchair frames to experience the thrill and rush of air in the great outdoors. For some it’s their first time, and the experience is riding without stabilisers for the first time (if somebody of you can remember!)

Whether its sunshine or rain or frost, these guys turn out to exercise their freedom, their fitness and their choice. Whether it’s a day in the forest or a day on the track, it’s a back to back day of hoisting, transfers, positioning, but it’s all worth it to see faces beaming with enjoyment..

Please support our cause. Every donation goes towards sustaining these brilliant opportunities for those that can’t simply help themselves, and who need support in order to access health and well-being activities. 

Just today a resident felt the burn in her arms after cycling 2.4 miles, in a side-by-side, 2 person hand cycle for the first time this year.

Another chap has MS. Last month was the first time he ever rode an adapted bike after months of only accessing static therapy bikes in our confined gym space  He jumped at the opportunity to come again. Today he did 2.4 miles on a side-by-side pedal bike before lunch.

The stories are endless and with your support I am urr more will follow! 

You CAN get involved in the following ways:

Make a donation on my Justgiving page, any amount, big or small, is truly appreciated. 

Follow “Gloucestershire Wheels for All” Facebook page to see photos of us in action. You can also get in touch for volunteering opportunities.

Thank you!

Piers

Chartered Physiotherapist at Leonard Cheshire Gloucestershire House, Cheltenham