Before setting off on the trail, Carol Woody and volunteer Erwin Berry make sure Gage Tatar is safely buckled in his Simgo. Tatar listens with a broad smile as Woody explains what to expect on the dirt track. Emily Chen Newton Hide caption
Toggle caption Emily Chen Newton
Before setting off on the trail, Carol Woody and volunteer Irwin Berry make sure Gage Tatar is safely buckled in his Simgo. Tatar listens with a broad smile as Woody explains what to expect on the dirt track.
Emily Chen Newton
SNOWSHOE MOUNTAIN, West Virginia — Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, outdoor recreation has played a bigger role in the lives of many Americans, including people with disabilities.
The influx highlighted the efforts of groups across the country working to ensure outdoor spaces are accessible to all hikers and cyclists, regardless of disability.
A small disability sports nonprofit in West Virginia has added a sturdy downhill wheelchair to its mountain bike lineup, allowing people with severe mobility challenges to experience the speed and thrills of trail riding.
West Virginia’s Snowshoe Mountain is best known for its ski resorts, but the immaculate trails turn to dirt tracks during mountain biking season. And no matter the season, Carol Woody is the driving force behind adaptive programs as director of the Association of Challenged Athletes of West Virginia (CAWV), the resort’s nonprofit partner.
At Snowshoe, athletes with amputations, paralysis and learning disabilities can all find options to enjoy skiing, which is the goal of Woody’s Adaptive Bike program.
CAWV already had handcycle mountain bikes, but for Woody, it wasn’t enough. Handcycling requires a lot of skill and strength. “So what do people who can’t ride a handcycle do?” asks Woody. “They want to get out and experience the thrill of speeding down super technical, rocky, root-filled trails. Just the excitement, the thrill.” Enter Cimgo, an all-terrain downhill wheelchair made by French company Tessier.
On the first crisp morning of September, Woody directs the mountain’s team of volunteers to load four-wheeled, all-terrain chairs onto the lift. The resort’s ski lift doubles as a bike lift, allowing both able-bodied cyclists and disabled athletes to race down the trails and then back up to the summit.
With pit crew efficiency, a team of volunteers hoists the sturdy cart-like chairs onto a lift. As the chairs start to move, Tricia Tatar says, “Have fun, kids,” and waves to her son, Gage, who is riding with them today.
Carol Woody leans forward with her hands on her knees and asks Gage Tatar if he’s ready to ride Simgo again. Gage Tatar smiles from under his mountain bike helmet as volunteer Erwin Berry stands by to help. Emily Chen Newton Hide caption
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I am his mother, not his assistant.
Tatar is her non-speaking son’s primary caretaker, and says his activities like adaptive skiing and mountain biking give both of them a much-needed sense of freedom. “I’m his mother, not a maid, and he learns to trust other people and have faith in other people because I’m not there all the time,” she says.
As Tatar gestures to the bike hurtling through the surrounding roads, he explains that the sensory stimulation his son receives is unlike anything he experiences in everyday life. Gage especially enjoys speeding along dirt roads, and believes that feeling the wind on his face, jumping over puddles and watching the trees whizz by “wakes up his brain.”
Like Gage, there are many people who love the speed and excitement of the trail, but who have physical disabilities that limit their access to rugged outdoor spaces. That’s why Carol Woody turned to the Simgo and integrated it into her bike program, because it allows people to tackle the most technical trails without pedals.
Carol Woody steers her Simgo while standing firm on the footpegs behind her all-terrain vehicle. Gage Tatar giggles as he rides his Simgo down the dirt roads of a snowshoe resort. Emily Chen Newton Hide caption
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Carol Woody steers the Cimgo while standing firmly on the footpegs on the back of the all-terrain vehicle. Gage Tatar giggles and smiles as he rides the Cimgo down the dirt roads at Snowshoe Resort.
Emily Chen Newton
“Mountain biking doesn’t have to be for everyone, but everyone can participate and experience it,” asserts Woody, pointing out the various features of Cimgos and the other adaptive bikes available at the CAWV centre.
The Simgo is “pilot-operated,” meaning the rider is safely strapped into the seat of a modified race car while the instructor stands on the rear footpegs and operates the steering and hydraulic disc brakes. The pilot also wears a waist strap, “which hooks into the brake system so that if anything happens and the pilot becomes dislodged, a safety brake will be activated and the bike won’t roll down a hill or mountain without the pilot.”
To pilot the Simgo, there’s two days of mandatory training that’s only offered in Europe. But now that the West Virginia Association of Challenged Athletes has been certified, they’ll be working to become a North American training base next summer. Woody said he plans to work with Tessier “to be able to offer our adaptive program to more people across the country.”
Lillian Malloch stands on a gravel road with her back to the lake, reviewing the latest data points on a laptop atop her HETAP device as part of a training session in the Delaware Water Gap. Jared Lenahan Hide caption
Toggle Caption Jared Lenahan
Having the technology is one thing, knowing where to use it is another.
That’s where Jacob Tyree comes in. He’s a wheelchair user who works for Move United, a national nonprofit that launched a trail assessment project in collaboration with research firm Beneficial Designs to collect basic measurements like trail slope, width and obstacle height.
Knowing the trail’s dimensions, especially the slope, is crucial, he says: “If it slopes more than four inches on either side, you’re going to fall over. And it’s pretty uphill, so accessibility becomes a really big concern.”
Outdoor industry professionals gather around a HETAP cart in the rain for a training session in the Delaware Water Gap. Blue umbrellas protect laptops and other technology housed in the device as it rolls down a tree-lined path. (Left to right: Gus Parrish, Jesse Rourke, Matthew Clark, Christopher Dubas, Garrett Wilson) Jared Lenahan Hide caption
Toggle Caption Jared Lenahan
Move United isn’t the only group doing this in the U.S., but the organization has partnered with the National Park Service to use specialized rolling devices that collect data to map and measure the contours and contours of trails. Beneficial Designs created the tool, nicknamed the “HETAP device,” short for High Efficiency Trail Assessment Process. Tyree describes one version as “kind of like a stroller, with a rugged laptop plugged into it and a bunch of sensors, and then there’s this little black box that collects all of this technology data.” So far, the project has been implemented in more than nine states.
But Tyree emphasizes that accurate trail information and new technology like Simgo are necessary to allow access for anyone, regardless of disability. “We’ve taken the idea of what a bike is and used that technology in a fundamental way to overcome the barriers of disability. I’m not asking for the side of the Appalachian Trail to be paved. I want to enjoy the mountains for what they are, just like anyone else who goes out there.”
How statistics and measurements are presented will vary for each park or recreation area, but the goal is to provide this information online or in an app to help people with disabilities plan their trips in advance, without having to worry about unexpected hiccups like their device not fitting on the trail, so they can focus on what’s really important: the thrill.