ABLEnews Extra

                    Mettle to the Pedal

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The fortune cookie said it all: "Now is the Time to Try Something
New."

Ronne Irvine smiled at the perfect prophecy of it, tucking the tiny
slip in his pocket. A few days later, the Reston [VA] native would be
in Atlanta [GA], about to push off with six others on the adventure of
a lifetime: an eight-month, 13,000-mile bicycle trip around the world.

As mind-boggling as it seems--six days a week, eight hours or more
each day, from now until November perched on a bicycle seat--even more
amazing to those who hear of this 16-country global odyssey is that
Irvine and five of his riding companions are what society calls
disabled. The tour will stop briefly in the District today.

Three of the riders have lost the use of their legs and will push
themselves over the Ural Mountains this summer on tri-wheeled
handcycles, using their muscular arms and shoulders to maintain a pace
of 10 to 14 miles an hour. One rider is missing his left leg. He will
pedal across Mongolia this August with his prosthetic. Another rider
has no feeling in her left arm and has her bicycle rigged with all the
controls on the right side.

Irvine, 38, who lost his left foot and two fingers in a car accident
near Mount Vernon several years ago, is one of two riders from Fairfax
County. The other is Kathy Rosica, a 34-year-old toxicologist, and the
only nondisabled cyclist among the seven.

The intent of the AXA World Ride  95, as the $4 million event is
called, is to showcase the ability of athletes who are physically or
mentally challenged. Says handcyclist Rory McCarthy, an engineer from
West Bath, ME: "It's an incredible opportunity to show that someone
with a disability can do things on a grand scale and go beyond what's
expected. It shows that disabilities aren't limitations."

Along the route, McCarthy and the rest will be joined by thousands of
other cyclists, some disabled, for periods ranging from a brief day
ride to several hundred miles on one of the tour's 14 stages, such as
11 days in Japan in late September, a segment that filled up
immediately. A CBS television crew is along for the entire 13,000
miles, filming a documentary to be aired shortly after World Ride  95
concludes November 18 in the District with a celebration on the Mall.

Led by three-time Tour de France champion Greg LeMond, the ride's
honorary chairman, the cyclists set off 10 days ago from Atlanta,
moving north like Sherman's army in reverse.

"We're like a horde of locust. We'll do heavy damage," says Irvine,
noting that thoughts of food and hot showers easily blot out the
lowing cows and whoosh of the wind as each day's journey wears on. The
cyclists, who hit the road as early as 6:30 some mornings, are linked
to five support vehicles by walkie-talkies, which were put to use one
day last week to demand Snickers and Twinkies for lunch.

The faster cyclists are able to ride 18 to 22 miles per hour, which
makes for a grueling day when the group must cover more than 100
miles, as it did yesterday on the Richmond to Alexandria leg, their
longest in the United States. Today's leg is by far the shortest:
several miles from Alexandria to the Jefferson Memorial, where the
group will meet with visitors at 9:45 AM.

With only 30 days off from now to mid-November, the cyclists will be
in the saddle--come rain, shine, or typhoons--an average of six days a
week for the next 34 weeks. In cycling-crazed France, 2,000 riders are
expected to escort them triumphantly into Paris next month, and US
Ambassador Pamela Harriman has invited them to dinner. By contrast,
ridership will be greatly pared a few weeks later, when the cyclists
tackle 500 miles of dirt roads crossing Siberia.

"There are definitely times when you think,  Why in the world am I
doing this?'" said McCarthy, who has a genetic muscular atrophy
condition and walks with crutches. "Then you get someplace and start
talking with people, and you know you're having a positive impact."

In North Carolina last week, the troupe stopped for a lunch next to a
school. Curious teachers soon had the students, including four in
wheelchairs, out for a chat.

Coloradan Steve Ackerman, the first handcyclist to compete in the
400-mile Ride the Rockies tour, said that, like many active people, he
thought his athletic life had ended when he was paralyzed in a car
accident eight years ago. Handcycling restored his independence, and
he now skis (water and snow) as well as swims. On his travels outside
the United States, Ackerman said, he's observed a "feeling...that
people with disabilities belong at home. I'm hoping to change that."

To make the trip, Ackerman left his wife and two children in Colorado,
although they hope to join him in Europe. Deb Ackerman, a teacher, was
enthusiastic about the tour, he said. "She feels, like I do, that this
is a message that needs to be heard."

Ride organizers realize the psychological and physical demands of the
tour will be great, and a physician will be along for every stage.

"I knew it would be stressful. And it has been, right from the start,"
said Agnes Kearon of Ballston Spa, NY, who raised $7,000 from T-shirt
sales and soup-tasting fundraisers to make the trip. (The per-rider
cost is about $45,000, with corporate sponsors, including AXA, a major
French insurance company, funding most of it.)

"It's been long, and it's been hard, and it's been a lot of miles,"
Rosica said as she and the others pulled into Richmond late Saturday,
550 miles under their yellow-and-wine Reebok jerseys. "On the other
hand, for me, it's been an accomplishment already."

Organizers have packed sleeping bags and tents for sleeping in remote
spots. With space at a premium, each rider is allowed a 15-by-27-inch
duffle bag and one backpack. When Irvine's new high-tech prosthesis
arrives in the mail, he'll have to make room in his bag for his bulky
"Old Faithful" foot, along with any souvenirs he picks up along the
way.

Why do this, he was asked. Because maybe it will inspire some young
disabled person who sees the cyclists roll through town, was his
simple answer.

Besides, Irvine said. "Can't is a four-letter word. I don't believe in
can't."

[Global Trip Puts Cyclists' Mettle to the Pedal, Marylou Tousignant,
Washington Post, March 27. 1995]

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