A First Cycle participant tries out a handcycle.
Photograph courtesy of OPAF.
The Orthotic & Prosthetic Activities Foundation (OPAF) launched the inaugural First Cycle Clinic on Saturday, October 4, in Greenville, South Carolina. With more than 100 people in attendance, it was the largest single First Clinic event; participants came from North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee to try adaptive cycling.
Among the event sponsors were Ability Prosthetics & Orthotics, Greenville; Shriners Hospitals for Children – Greenville; Endolite, Miamisburg, Ohio; and Paceline, Monroe, North Carolina. Roger C. Peace Rehabilitation Hospital (RCPRH), Greenville, and Heather’s Ride, a nonprofit organization based in Greenville, provided handcycles, tricycles, and tandem bicycles for participants to try. Instruction and coaching were provided through RCPRH and staff from Greenville Cycling & Multi-Sport, and included several Paralympic cyclists and coaches.
“This brings our number to 12 different First Clinics offered by OPAF, introducing the physically and mobility challenged population to recreation and activities that they may have thought lost to them,” said OPAF Executive Director Robin Burton. “We are very proud of the collaboration efforts to bring First Cycle to life and look forward to introducing new First Clinics in 2015….”
First Cycle was conceived by John Kinder, PCC, and Brian Kaluf, CP, both avid cyclists, to introduce others to adaptive cycling as part of their recreational activities. Kinder and Kaluf are employees of the Ability P&O Greenville patient care facility.
