One Legged Wonder

I was ambling home across London Bridge a few nights ago when a man on a shitty generic name mountain bike overtook me. I naturally sped up, feeling half ashamed to be overtaken by a shitty bike and half ashamed that I feel ashamed about stuff like that.

Anyway, point is, I caught this man up (who wasn't going slowly or anything, close to 20) and he had one leg on one pedal. No left leg from the hip down.

Anyone else seen this guy? I think he freakin' rocks.

Yes.
I've seen him a couple of times down Jamaica Road / Rotherhithe / Evelyn St.

There are a few amputees who regularly ride around Richmond Park. Most are very fast and strong.

I also rode from London to Paris a couple of years ago on a charity ride. Two of the riders, riding for the Douglas Bader Foundation, were amputees. I felt as though I had achieved something but it was nothing compared to their achievement.

I know what you are all thinking, and to be honest I am thinking the same.

Should these people really be on bikes ? It makes me uncomfortable, it's just wrong, I can't say why, but I know it is wrong, if you are out on a lovely Summer's afternoon and a cripple on a bike pulls up next to you at the traffic lights and starts talking to you it pretty much ruins your afternoon.

We all pay good money in taxes so these people can have wheelchairs and leg irons and all they do is throw it back in our faces by demanding we should be give over more tax payer's money to buy them bicycles like normal people ride.

This is political correctness gone mad in my opinion.

there's a guy who runs a bike shop in deepest darkest green lanes who only has one leg and who held the speed record in the paralypics for a while. he rides the most beautiful colnago i've ever seen. rockin'

Yeah, the bloke Teddy's on about is awesome... Wanna get him out to HH next year, he's a lovely fella...

I saw him ages ago coming out of 99 Bishopsgate. As that is a posh as hell banking hell-hole and he didn't fit in at all, I assumed he was a courier.

YouTube - Bike messenger rides with one leg

I know what you are all thinking, and to be honest I am thinking the same.

Should these people really be on bikes ? It makes me uncomfortable, it's just wrong, I can't say why, but I know it is wrong, if you are out on a lovely Summer's afternoon and a cripple on a bike pulls up next to you at the traffic lights and starts talking to you it pretty much ruins your afternoon.

We all pay good money in taxes so these people can have wheelchairs and leg irons and all they do is throw it back in our faces by demanding we should be give over more tax payer's money to buy them bicycles like normal people ride.

This is political correctness gone mad in my opinion.

you read my mind! not to mention the akward questions from the kids. I found that the best solution was to have a dvd player installed in the back of the Cayenne turbo, that way they won't get distracted by such things.

I took a wrong turn off shaftesbury avenue yesterday, now that was embarassing! (Though I might pop back later when the nanny has put the kids to bed).

tynan
"I know what you are all thinking, and to be honest I am thinking the same.

Should these people really be on bikes ? It makes me uncomfortable, it's just wrong, I can't say why, but I know it is wrong, if you are out on a lovely Summer's afternoon and a cripple on a bike pulls up next to you at the traffic lights and starts talking to you it pretty much ruins your afternoon.

We all pay good money in taxes so these people can have wheelchairs and leg irons and all they do is throw it back in our faces by demanding we should be give over more tax payer's money to buy them bicycles like normal people ride.

This is political correctness gone mad in my opinion."

tynan,
a bit supprised with your attitude, these people have a hard enough time without fools like you making it harder for them...... they are such a minority, the financial side is irrelevent.
i hope one day you will grow up enough to be ashamed of these words. i thought up to now you were one of the cooler members of the forum.

an old guy from a local club told me he once knew a rider who had one arm amputated. He could apparently go down steep hills while changing gears by taking his hand off the bars to use the shifters on the down tube.

tynan,
a bit supprised with your attitude, these people have a hard enough time without fools like you making it harder for them...... they are such a minority, the financial side is irrelevent.
i hope one day you will grow up enough to be ashamed of these words. i thought up to now you were one of the cooler members of the forum.

but what about my little darlings? Tristan and Persephone were very upset

won't somebody please think of the children?

fred
it just shook me to see these words from tynan..... there are some idiots on this forum but i had a higher regard for his comments

fred
there are some idiots on this forum

there are?

let's organise a cull.

fred
it just shook me to see these words from tynan..... there are some idiots on this forum but i had a higher regard for his comments

silly you

hoisted by his own petard!

did I use that right?

so it seems, its just that most people always manage to disappoint at some time....... no worries, out for a ride now, to cull a few idiot cyclists, taking the baseball bat with the nails today methinks .......hi ho !

I know what you are all thinking, and to be honest I am thinking the same.

Should these people really be on bikes ? It makes me uncomfortable, it's just wrong, I can't say why, but I know it is wrong, if you are out on a lovely Summer's afternoon and a cripple on a bike pulls up next to you at the traffic lights and starts talking to you it pretty much ruins your afternoon.

We all pay good money in taxes so these people can have wheelchairs and leg irons and all they do is throw it back in our faces by demanding we should be give over more tax payer's money to buy them bicycles like normal people ride.

This is political correctness gone mad in my opinion.

this was meant a joke, right? A bad one though. just think for a second you get hit by a truck and loose a leg (as it almost happened to some people on this forum) Would you stop riding if there was a chance you still could?

You need this:

And there was me wondering why you're called slowstephen...

I found riding with one leg applying force is good training - reveals how little you use the 360 degrees available when using two - shows you where the up and forward and back muscles really are.

so it seems, its just that most people always manage to disappoint at some time....... no worries, out for a ride now, to cull a few idiot cyclists, taking the baseball bat with the nails today methinks .......hi ho !

http://www.londonfgss.com/thread14593.html

this was meant a joke, right? A bad one though. just think for a second you get hit by a truck and loose a leg (as it almost happened to some people on this forum) Would you stop riding if there was a chance you still could?

are you serious?

it was humour, people.
HUMOUR