Brill!!!. Google "Nancyclist" and a lot of stuff should come up about a lady in the USA who discovered an improvement in her symptoms as the back rider on a tandem - forced pace is even better .The title of her recent book points up the anomalies in PD "If I can climb Kilimanjaro, why can't I clean my teeth?". I was looking at the electric bikes again today but at 75 I've probably left it a bit late! But you never know.
Gus, i was so pleased to read your post, particularly as you have sounded rather despondent recently. For me cycling is the best medicine, great for mind, body and spirit. It is the only time I can forget I have Parkinsons and, as you say, gives you FREEDOM.
Little and often is best, and mind out for those cars!
Happy pedalling
S
Think I will get a bike,
DVLA have not yet renewed my licence to drive, but do have a letter dated 2nd May 15 with a progress update, informing me that under section 88 of the RTA there is provision for me to drive. However recently needed to hire a car but thought this would cause too much hassle at hire company so decided to hire the car for only husband to drive.
So until I hear from them it will be walk drive my own car or get a bike.
thank you all for your feed back & your never to old ! what you got to lose
Hi Gus my bikes in the shed hidden under a load of rubbish that needs sorting . I'm gonna have to find It I think . It's about seven years old but hardly used . My mother in law bought it for herself and then was scared to get on it . She hadn't been on one for thirty years . I told her you never forget ! Anyway she gave it to me . Happy cycling glad you're feeling a bit better x
cheers maddison
Eileenpatricia,
Re. electric bikes - just be careful about their weight! They are much heavier than a normal bike - I had one, great to ride, but found it was too heavy (25 kg) for me to woman-handle in & out of our bike shed, and pushing up steps etc was hopeless as I have trouble walking & pushing things at the best of times! Also, its weight unbalanced me when standing at a junction one day, I fell sideways & broke my collar bone! After that I sold it and have since enjoyed riding my usual road bike again and gradually rebuilding some fitness. But, electric would be brill for a bigger stronger person than me!
However, saying all that, Gtech, (the makers of the light-weight Air-ram battery floor cleaners) have just developed an E-bike, that looks really great on their videos and only weighs 16 kg! One to keep in mind if & when needs must!
There is a wide choice of electric bikes. I have tried a small wheeled electric-assist bike.it was not very heavy, I have tried ordinary size electric -assist bikes, but not an ordinary electric bike. With an electric-assist one you would always have to pedal, but it is much lighter to pedal than an normal bike. There are straight forward electric bikes, which are probably heavie, that let you have a rest from the pedalling,, In Holland, where only the assist version is considered a bike, the other one is classified as a moped, these bikes are very popular with older people. Some hotels there offer a weekend break for a couple of days Bed, Breakfast and Dinner + the loan of a such a bike for the duration of your stay. An excellent way of trying them out.
There has been some research done into the benefit of cycling. One research, in the USA, was about tandem cycling (Forced Exercise and Parkinson's Disease 2011), the other, in Holland, looked into the phenomenon of being "off", so unable to put one foot in front of the other, let alone being able to walk any distance , but still being able to cycle . The only snag in this case was getting off and on the bike, which can be tricky, I have experienced this.
Hi All,
All I did was hit the backspace and my post disappeared. so this is short. Thanks to all for the info. . A whole of go bbledygook technospeakk has appeared under my post. so I'll stop now