Lose the Training Wheels
By Dave Shields

A couple of months ago the Wichita, Kansas chapter of the MS Society invited me to ride in their event and speak at their dinner. As those of you who have participated in charitable rides like this already know, the atmosphere is almost always electric and addictive. This particular ride was even better than usual, especially because of the presence of a few special people.

Right after I finished speaking to the crowd about my newest book with Saul Raisin a man came up to my booth and asked if I could stick around afterwards to talk about “some important things going on in cycling at the moment.” I promised that I would, and as I signed books and talked to people I kept wondering what these “important things” were.

The man returned to my table as I was cleaning things up. He introduced himself as Matt Hampton, and then he asked to look at Saul’s book. He turned to the photo section and pointed to Saul’s brain scans. “My son suffered a massive stroke at birth. His brain was in a similar condition to this and has never fully recovered. He has cerebral palsy.”

One of the remarkable things about promoting Saul’s book is discovering the number of people who’ve been affected by brain injuries of one type or another. I told Matt how sorry I was to hear about his son’s situation.

Just then a tentative young man stepped out from behind him. “This is my son, Jacob. He’s thirteen. Today he rode forty-one miles with me,” Matt said.

The hint of a smile crossed Jacob’s lips. A distance like that would be no small accomplishment for any thirteen-year-old, but I could see that Jacob wasn’t just any kid. Growing up had probably been harder than average for him because the problems he suffered at birth.

I put my hand on his shoulder. “You rode forty-one miles?”

Jacob’s face lit up. He smiled from ear to ear and nodded his head with unrestrained enthusiasm. In a wonderful conversation I’ll never forget Matt explained to me how hard he’d worked to teach Jacob to ride a bike, and how disappointed they’d both been when the first family outing abruptly ended in a crash. Matt told me how discouraging Jacob’s subsequent fear had been. He’d dreamed for so long of riding with his son, but now hope seemed to be lost.

One day, while home sick from work, Matt was reading Bicycling Magazine. He learned about a unique program that was successfully teaching children with a variety of mental and physical challenges to ride bicycles. The system was a brainchild of master engineer and tinkerer Dr. Richard E. Klein. He’d become fascinated with the dynamics of bicycle riding while teaching at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, and had continued working on related issues after his retirement.

Among the things Dr. Klein discovered was that training wheels actually teach children bad habits. Instead of initiating recovery by leaning and turning in the direction a bicycle is tipping, a child with training wheels recovers by throwing their weight and turning their handlebars in the opposite direction. For children whose confidence is already challenged by brain issues, this results in an almost invincible barrier when transitioning away from training wheels. Dr. Klein’s solution included approximately twenty innovative steps on the road to cycling competence.

The kids begin by riding modified bicycles where the rear wheel is similar to a rolling pin. As their confidence and competence increase the rear wheel is replaced with versions that have a smaller sweet spot, so to speak, and greater rock. They practice for about an hour-and-a-half each day. Periodically throughout the process the children ride a tandem bike with a dual steering mechanism. In this way, not only do they get to experience the wonderful sensation of riding, but the instructor (who rides on the back) gets a sense of the challenges and progress unique to this student. In a matter of three to five days the vast majority of these children who were previously thought incapable of learning to handle a bike, are riding a normal two-wheeler on their own. I asked Jacob how it felt when he rode for the first time. With a wide grin he said, “I can do this!”

In addition to kids with cerebral palsy, the program has successfully taught children with autism, Downs Syndrome, and acquired brain injuries to ride. They’ve even taught some adults. In fact, their success rate is over 80% in the span of a five day camp!

The really cool part of this is what happens to the student’s confidence in other areas of life. Matt explained to me how the world had opened up to Jacob since he’d learned to ride. It’s not simply that he started to master other balance oriented tasks like ice skating and rollerblading, or that Jacob’s love of cycling forced him to focus on therapeutic exercises that might eventually repair complications related to fully utilizing his left hand and arm, but Jacob’s confidence in other areas has soared. He’s become more social, he’s grasped bigger dreams, he’s happier, he’s more mature in dealing with some of the challenges that cerebral palsy has introduced in his life and he’s able to ride just like all the other kids in the neighborhood. According to Matt, Jacob’s life is a whole lot better as a direct result of bicycle riding. Jacob enthusiastically agrees.

Matt Hampton expressed his gratitude to Lose the Training Wheels by doing a lot more than being a grateful parent, he’s become secretary and treasurer of the organization. These days he devotes his free time to helping local organizations host events around the country. He’s making a difference in many young lives.

“So what can I do to help?” I asked.

Matt explained that as I was talking about my book, Tour de Life, it occurred to him that Saul Raisin would be the perfect spokesman for their program. I knew he was right, and I knew it was exactly the sort of an organization that Saul wanted to help. I also knew that Saul was swamped by requests for his time.

That night Saul called. I told him about what I’d learned and in his typically decisive and optimistic fashion Saul said. “I’m in.”

Since that time I’ve had the opportunity to introduce Saul to Matt and Jacob. We’ve discussed the ways each of us can participate in spreading the word about this incredible organization to more people. I’ve accomplished one of my first simple tasks if you’ve chosen to read this far. If you know people who might be interested in helping to fund programs, organize clinics, or volunteer I’d be grateful if you’d spread the word. We hope that if you know of children who’d benefit from one of these camps that you’ll tell their parents about Lose the Training Wheels. Because of Dr. Klein and others there’s now hope for their child to ride a bike, and there’s also reason to believe that once their son or daughter learns to pedal a two-wheeler other magical changes will follow.

If you’d like to see a video of Lose the Training Wheels students in action please click here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eyHg2pu9wk). You can visit the organization’s web site by clicking here (http://www.losethetrainingwheels.org) or email them at matt.hampton@losethetrainingwheels.org.

Dave Shields is the author of the bestselling and Benjamin Franklin Award Winning novel, The Race. The best selling sequel The Tour, is receiving widespread praise for confronting doping issues in sports from the perspective of the a professional rider competing in the tour de France under pressure to win at any cost.

Dave is often seen discussing cycling related topics on networks such as CNN, ESPN, and Fox News.