All Ability Cycling Network Conference
Where we all are and what can we offer you ..

On Friday 27th April 2012, Cornwall hosted the first All Ability Cycling Network Conference and you can now download the Delegate's pack they were given on check in here ..

As things have moved on, we have now developed a new page for the the more detailed information about the conference
so please click on the link above when you have finished reading this page.  Meanwhile we would like to share this with you ..

   
(left) My friend Caroline going to the garden party at Buckingham Palace (July 2011), (centre) cycling for the first time on 2 wheels (12th January 2012)
since her accident in 1988 and (right) Caroline on her recumbent which is what she will usually ride especially since her trike was stolen just before Christmas 2011.

!! It just goes to show what can be achieved., Go Caroline, go girlie, so proud of you !!

Be inspired peeps .. there really are some amazing people around!  Caroline even went to a Buckingham Palace Garden Party in the summer because of everything she has achieved on her road to recovery!  She's come such a long way but click here and read her amazing story for yourself .. Perhaps having the trike stolen just before Christmas was a happy accident otherwise perhaps she would not now be riding a two wheeler?  It can also now be revealed that Caroline will also be riding a trike as a Torch Bearer in the run up to the London Olympics ..

The new ethos of these conferences is simply this .. we are all losing funding with the cut backs so now is not only people networking, new ideas, clubs etc. getting the support they need to set up but also fundraising by hosting the event to pay for any repairs for bikes out of warranty, replace or enhance their existing fleet.  In short, we all need to support each other but please bring lots and lots of business cards so that you can expand your own network. Then when it is your turn to host the event through your club, you will have the contacts you need to set it all up.

I would like to give you another little reminder of why we are all aiming so high .. This is about a young man's dying wish and very much a part of **Chrissy's story.  Chrissy who you will meet .. Chrissy as in this amazing article, written days after Nathan's death when thankfully my daughter was with her .. These pix got sent out to Chrissy as encouragement .. My personal thanks go to the team making this possible .. Rob and David Henshaw - Directors of Quest 88, Martin Griffiths - Quest 88, Michael Denu - Draisin GmbH, Martyn Jeynes of  the Co-operateive Funeral Care, Jude Ekins of Cornish Cuisine, Freight Agents ISJ Global at Heathrow and his colleagues who had it cleared and forwarded in Chicago, finally last but by no means least, John Burnow - All Ability Cycles LLC in that order., one without any of the others and it simply wouldn't have worked!

     
Chrissy's bike waiting to be shipped to her ..

This was Chrissy's very humbling response to the email .. Greetings all .. I am overwhelmed!  Excited.  Amazed.  Grateful.  Blessed.

A couple of weeks before Nathan died he asked me to "pedal the kids."  Nathan needed total care.  He was very ill at this point.  That day he had suffered 14 hours of steady seizures.  When they stopped, the ICU doctor thought Nathan was trying to tell him something so he retrieved a communication device.  Nathan plunked out one letter at a time - "pattal kds".

Early today (18th January 2012)  this ICU doc called to see how I was doing.  He reminded me of this message.  I honestly had forgotten about it and most of that night.  We had been in a terrible war for 9 months.  He asked if I had any idea what the message meant.  I told him about the bike (the Draisin Plus), the big box it needs to get here in, it's trip to Iowa, my going to England in April.  He said "oh, pattal kids - pedal the kids - you are going to pedal the kids on a bike."  He paused, cleared his throat and whispered, "Nathan wants you to laugh again.  He wants you to play with others.  He wants you to be happy."

Well, this totally knocks my socks off.  How can I ever say thanks?  I intend to do that with my life.  I was a nurse at Gillette Children's Hospital in St Paul, am involved with Special Pals, Special Olympics and Unlimited Foster Kids.  Can you even imagine how many kids I am going to find to bless with rides?  Incredible, I can hear them laughing now.  What better way to raise awareness of the beauty of all people than through fun.  Hummpff, that sounds like me!

Yes, I still have the van. (We are planning on a lecture tour with the bike in the back in a couple of years' time, along Route 66 across the States from one end to the other and now have a friend from the UK thinking about cycling it as a fundraiser at the same time.)  I don't know if the bike fits inside it of course.  Somehow I will get it in? (Picking it up from Iowa)!  Amazed and thankful.  You are my heroes.   Chrissy.

PS I have been doing ER respite for the county and was asleep when you called today.  Sorry I missed you. Seems families have crises in the middle of the night.  Both my girls are coming at the weekend.