Eric and his KMX Kart

Eric
Originally uploaded by bikes@vienna.

This is the inspiring story of a determined young person which warmed my heart. Here is the message from Eric's father, Mark:

John,

I thought you might find this interesting--my 8-year old son, Erik, joined the "Opportunity for Success" bicycle ride last Friday, which highlighted the need for employment of people with disabilities as part of disability awareness month. Erik has spina bifida, which limits his mobility and made riding an upright bike very difficult.  He had pretty much given up on biking when I learned about the KMX and ordered one from your shop.  The KMX has worked wonderfully for him after a few modifications, and really improved his self confidence.

The ride started with a core group of riders in New York, and people were invited to join the group as they went through each town along the route. There were supposed to be several hundred people joining the ride in DC, but that portion of the ride ended up being cancelled due to the poor weather (50 degrees and pouring rain) so only the core group rode through DC.

Erik had been "training" for several months for the DC portion of the ride using his KMX trike from Bikes at Vienna, but we were a little concerned about the bad weather. We offered him the option of backing out since it was cold and raining, but his response was "pack my raincoat." I had initially been worried he wouldn't be able to complete the 2-mile long DC portion of the ride.  However, he practiced for several months and we literally had to get him to slow down during the actual ride (despite the weather) because some of the adult riders couldn't keep up.

I was his run-along pit crew in case he needed technical assistance (he didn't), and to take pictures along the way.

Here is a press release with some info:

http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=1492

Thanks for your help getting the KMX,


Mark


The photo shows Eric on a much nicer day than he experienced on the ride last week.