Way back in May, before I had even tried riding a bike, I agreed to come on this camp. So many changes in schedule due to various covid restrictions means that I won’t actually be able to officially classified as first planned. But I hope to still learn an immense amount about para cycling – and hopefully pick up a few tricks along the way too.
😡 Things that annoyed me:
👎🏻 I couldn’t catch the flight I booked because there no wheelchair taxis in Invercargill before 9am
👎🏻 Very large neighbour on the plane leaning on me excessively – for the duration of my flight
👎🏻 despite having been booked for pre boarding to allow me time to get up the steps / ramp onto the plane, they forgot to do it so I had to wait till very last
👎🏻 The motel room booked for me (as a para athlete) has no threshold ramp access for the wheelchair, and no safe showering facility for me (stand up shower over a bath which is up a step from floor level, no non slip mat)
👎🏻The physically able bodied spectator who constantly kept talking to me without invitation telling me how all her medical issues are more lengthy/ painful/ costly/ complicated / dibilitating than my loss of a leg.
💡 Things I learned today:
👍🏻 I’m not the only paracyclist who doesn’t agree with some of the aspects of the classification system
👍🏻 for some reason I have developed a flawed way of cornering post amputation, which I’m now working on fixing
👍🏻 considering I have only actually been riding with 1 leg for about 6 weeks, I’m actually doing pretty well. Probably better than I give myself credit for. Most thought I’d been riding this way for a year or more
Melanie Magowan 