Paralyzed cyclist is ‘cured’ by bike crash and now she hopes to take part in the Olympics
The headline above is really hard to believe. Monique van der Vorst was paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair for 13 years. She had taken up hand cycling after a routine ankle operation paralyzed one leg. While riding her hand cycle she was struck by a car, and became completely paralyzed from the waist down. Then a collision with a cyclist cured her. Her remarkable story is detailed in an article in The Daily Mail.
Touring around the U.S. to see all of the MLB stadiums, NFL stadiums or college stadiums is certainly not a new concept. For years people have been making a pilgrimage to these houses of sporting worship, but most do not even get to step on the playing field of their heroes. Cycling is on of those sports that fans can actually ride on the same “playing field” as the pros if they are willing to guide themselves, learn enough of the local language to communicate with the locals and unfortunately battle traffic. Knowing that fans want to ride on the same course as the pros, numerous touring companies have cropped up offering cyclists to opportunity to ride the famous courses of their heroes. Sometimes even on the same day as the pro race, just hours in front of the peleton, and be fully supported with guide services, food and accommodations. Seeing an opportunity of their own to diversify their business, the bike company Cervélo, has teamed up with the touring company, Butterfield & Robinson Management Inc., to create the Cervélo Pro Travel Experience.
What really happens to a plastic bottle that is tossed into the recycling bin? Does it actually get recycled or carted off to the dump? Shoe company New Balance along with Dasani water, owned by Coca-Cola, have now teamed up to show what is possible through reducing, reusing and recycling some of the materials that we use in our everyday lives. This partnership was launched to highlight the sustainability of reusing the plastic from one product and turning it in another product. In this case it was turning the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic that is commonly used in drink bottles into a fabric that can be used in a pair of shoes under the name newSKY.
The day after Thanksgiving in the U.S. officially kicks off the Christmas shopping season. Some of you might have been proactive and have gotten all of your shopping out of the way, but if you are like many, you haven’t even started to even think about it. If you have not started your shopping yet and there is a toddler or even a big kid on your list, you might be interested in checking out the tricycles from Dirt King USA.
Blip tubes are a clever design by Urbane Innovations, “that saves waste, saves packaging, and saves the time of explaining tube choices to consumers.” Lofty goals for a fundamental piece of cycling equipment. But tires and tubes are certainly often replaced items on a bike. So any efficiency gained has a large impact overall. Bicycle tubes come in a mind boggling array of sizes. Blip tubes seek to remove some of that confusion and help the environment at the same time.
A majority of bike shop are owned and staffed by knowledgeable and honest people, but have you ever walked into a bike shop and felt that you were being steered towards a particular bike or size that didn’t seem to fit right? Were you told that a certain model was not available in another color? If you have run into this before at a bike shop, the best option is to either walk out or find another sales person, but what do you do if that shop is the only one in town that is an authorized dealer for the brand of bike that you want? Another option is to arm yourself with knowledge, and Felt Bicycles is helping you do that – at least for its brand.
During the winter months it’s best to dress in layers to keep in the heat, but did you know that a base layer can also help keep you cool? Firefighters often wear a base layer of fire retardant clothing below all of their other gear to keep from burning up and athletes sometimes wear a base layer to help wick away sweat. Wickers, based in New York, manufactures undergarments for all walks of life. From rock climbers to the military; kids to women experiencing menopause; and motorcyclists to hikers – Wickers makes an undergarment for literally anyone, and for any time of year. Best of all the garments are made in America.
Of the hundreds of thousands of apps that are available for the Apple iOS and the Google Android, how many are truly useful? That depends on how you look at it, but a better question might be how many have the potential to save a life? There are not many, but that trend is changing as it is becoming more obvious that smartphones and tablets are here to stay.