July
7/31/2024.
I watched several videos about manual wheelchair users, how to do wheelies, how to climb up/down stairs and so on. I watched this video below. In this video, around the time 3:00, you can see they are holding hands and keep moving together. A wheelchair lady and her able-bodied husband.
This made me think "Oh, that looks very easy. Holding hands and walk/wheel together." What do you think?
It was tricky to me. I don't want to pull him hard because it might make off-balance for his maneuverability on wheelchair. I guess we both need to practice for it. It's like a wheelie practice or a wheelchair-dance practice. It's very interesting.
You never know until you actually tried it.
Entry#286. 7/30/2024. TT story PART2. Continued from 7/25.
I learned about an individual Time Trial bicycle race after watching Netflix Tour de France series. Then my husband and I bravely signed up for a local TT (Time Trial) race.
I was so excited to be there and enjoyed the whole atmosphere at the parking lot in Air Force Base in Dayton until the BIG POPPING sound.
It happened when we were doing warmup cycling/pedaling at that parking lot.
That POP sound scared me tremendously. It was from my husband’s handcycle. It was from one of the wheels/tires. NOOOO. No way. Please don’t tell me it is a flat tire, don’t tell me it is a puncture. Because we had to be at the starting line for the TT race IN 15 MINUTES! I was panicking completely. Guess what I told my husband at this moment?? “Okay. Sorry. Let’s go home.” (!)
I told him “It’s okay. We can come back next month.”
I was that bad. My husband’s handcycle’s front tire tube bursted somehow and the inner tube came out from a rim. It looked an unusual and strange looking indeed. But it was kind of a flat tire situation. As a cyclist, in this situation, you need to change a tube by yourself quickly, then you can still get in the race.
So my husband did that. He was (as always) calm and gave me the orders (what to bring from our van). He started fixing it right away. It was a quick action. Amazingly he was ready for racing at the starting point not much delayed. I was surprised and impressed. The event time keeper guy was very generous and understood our situation. We kind of cut the line and took off on the course.
I was still panicking at the start. There was no way to calm myself down completely. However the time keeper gave me the cue “3, 2, 1, GO!” And I started pedaling.
10 mile cycling, fighting myself, just keep looking up and keep pedaling until the end. My very first TT experience. I was passed by MANY cyclists. I think I passed twice(!)
It was supposed to be “fun new challenge” even though it was supposed to be hard.
To me, with that panic time of a puncture (tire tube explosion), it was an interesting race indeed. I was still thinking and hoping for my husband’s completion of the race.
We did it!!! We finished 10 mile pedaling as fast as we could. I was not fast.
My husband got 67th place out of 82 attendees. I got 70th place. I was satisfied and enjoyed it after all at the very end.
It was quite a CRAZY experience indeed. I learned a lot again.
You should laugh. We will do it again next month. Because we want to train more and want to beat our own times. That’s the spirit of Time Trial, so I learned. (Well, I have to confess though. I’m not so sure if I can make it to get my PR. Hmmmm.)
Photo: After all is done. With wonderful generous STAFFS. I’m grateful for their support.
And right before a puncture happened.
7/28/2024.
It was such an exciting 1 hour 37 minutes in this morning. Our son and his best friend competed a sprint-triathlon race near Dayton. It was their very first experience of the official Triathlon! My husband and I couldn’t make it to be there to witness it with our own eyes. (It was too early for us to arrive there after our morning routine.) Fortunately his best friend’s mother (who is my best friend and wonderful mentor) was there for them. She did a “Live Broadcasting” for me sending photos from the race.
This Triathlon was the race of (swim—>bike—>run. This order.)
Swim 750 meters
Bike 12.4 miles (20 km)
Run 3.1 miles (5 km)
As usual, I have several thoughts about it to write here. I’ll do it later.
Today we celebrate their BIG accomplishment. Yes, celebrate HUGE! Congratulations, boys!!! We are so proud. Wahooooooooo!
7/27/2024.
My husband is a kind of person who prefers to think ahead and prepare for several possibilities (plus having plan B most of the time). When we went to car-shopping after his injury, he wanted a minivan that had removable middle seats. Because he wanted to put a handcycle inside a minivan to transfer. (You know, some minivans' middle seats are not removable at all.).
It has been working pretty well for transportation of both handcycle and bicycle, so far.
We introduced a handcycle to a paraplegic friend a while ago. He purchased his own handcycle. We all are pretty happy about it. However he has only a sedan car. His handcycle ride always starts from his house.
He needed a transportation for his handcycle this time because he wanted to take it to the bike shop for adjustment. So here we are. We transferred his handcycle from his house to the bike shop using our van. We know how handcyclist life is like and wanted to help him.
A great part of this "transportation service" was that we went cycling together right after some adjustments was done. (We are truly thankful for a quick fix by our local bike shop mechanics!!).
Handcycles are sometimes tricky to maintain/store/transfer but handcycles are treasure for paraplegic people. That's true.
Entry#285. 7/25/2024. TT story PART 1.
My husband and I are getting into handcycling/cycling world and we both are loving it very much. Although we had no idea what Tour de France was like until my husband found the documentary series in Netflix. Have you watched it? (You would love it!)
Then we were glued to the show right before the season 2024 Tour de France (6/29-7/21) and enjoyed watching the real races on TV very much.
Before knowing the race system, I had no idea about the Time Trial (TT).
After we learned about Time Trial races, my husband introduced me this race info called “Blue Streak Time Trial” at the Air Force Base in Dayton. And he casually said “We can register and try it. It’s only $10 for each trial.”
What?
It is a 10 mile individual cycling race. The website says “This time trial rider’s dream course” and “Cyclists will be released at 30 second intervals.”
Yes, we registered for it and drove to the base on July 9th. You can easily imagine. I was excited but was nervous more.
At the parking lot, we saw “real” TT athletes gathered around. I got more nervous, you know? They looked fierce and serious (of course they were!) plus their “machines” looked professional indeed.
Have you heard the term “Human Powered Vehicle =HPV”? It is a recombinant bike with a cover. It looks like a rocket machine to me. We saw two of them there. Do you see it in a photo below??
And we thought we’d better do warmups just like others were doing around us. We circled pedaling in the parking lot. I felt good, you know? I was thinking “It’s gonna be fun, it’s gonna be nice.” Yes, I was all smiling. Then guess what?
We heard a loud (very loud) explosion sound “POP” or “POW”!! from my husband’s handcycle tire!
What?? I was panicking. We got a flat tire now? 15 minutes before we start?? I was panicking.
To be continued to PART 2.
Videos below. Examples of Time Trial races. You can see how we start, too.
Entry#284. 7/24/2024.
I’ve written about adaptive mountain handcycles before. It’s a type of handcycles, but it’s totally different from a road type handcycle.
It’s the same idea of “Mountain Bike vs Road Bike”.
My husband had his very first Try-It event in July 2022. It was an eye opening experience for both of us indeed. SeeEntry#65. 7/19/2022
https://gomrstgo.webador.com/july-2022
His second season happened in August 2023. SeeEntry#147. 8/12/2023.
https://gomrstgo.webador.com/august-2023
Then he had another chance to ride on Adaptive Mountain Handcycle recently! We are so lucky and thankful/grateful. These crews are my husband’s “team”.
I still have many things that I want to tell about adaptive mountain handcycling. But at first, I need to “report” what I did (!). Unintentionally I fell from a bridge while I was following my husband’s entire crews on the course in the woods. (Note: It was an obstacle course included a bit Black level part.).
What I think I do.
(Note: My mother in Japan only reads my husband’s Facebook post in “Google translated to Japanese”)
What my mother thinks I did.
What people think I did.
What I actually did. The video below looks very similar what happened to me. The actual bridge height was about 4 feet from the ground.
I lost my balance on the bridge because I looked down at bridge surface (you never look down when you cross bridges biking). I felt I was falling. Next moment I was standing next to my bike upside down on the ground. It was kind of a magical moment. So I laughed out loud. I got just scratches, that’s it.
You know? I was not a main part of this program at all. I was supposed to play a role as a helper. Well, I got quite a good laughter from crews. I think I did good at least.
Entry#283. 7/23/2024.
Have you tried Rental Kayaking somewhere (rivers or whitewaters)? A long time ago, we as a family of 3 did it several times, in Colorado, Kentucky and Indiana. It was always fun and nice floating on the water/river. At the very first experience of rental kayaking, I was amazed about the rental shop system/service. They do have a shuttle bus service, of course they do.
There are two ways to start.
1. You park your car at the starting point. You get a kayak and start paddling going down to the river. A shuttle bus gets you at the finish point and take you to the starting point where you car is parked.
2. You park your car at the finish point. A shuttle bus takes you to the starting point (climbing uphill). You get a kayak and start paddling. Your car is waiting for you at the finish point.
Either ways, I was amazed how convenient for everyone and the whole rental system worked out perfectly. (Yes, shop people always need to transfer many rental kayaks/canoes from the bottom of the revier to the upper part of the river. That’s quite a heavy tough duty indeed.)
As an able-bodied person, it’s no problem to get into a shuttle bus no matter what. I even haven’t think any trouble with it.
videos: examples of shuttle bus service.
Okay, then how about a wheelchair user? (There are always differences between a manual wheelchair and an electric wheelchair. I write about my husband’s case, a manual wheelchair, this time.)
I want to tell this though. There are paraplegic people who enjoy kayaking/canoeing out there. I’ve heard about them. So it’s definitely possible, I assume. But, you know me, I just have to imagine it beforehand for myself. Just in case. (Always just in case.)
Question. “Getting into a shuttle bus” part.
A store person might say “Go ahead, get in a shuttle bus.” casually. My husband might be able to get into a passenger seat (only this seat) from his wheelchair. Otherwise (maybe) 2 big adults need to carry him into a bus. Maybe. (To be honest, we’ve not tried this style transfer. Carrying my husband somewhere with human powers only.)
After he “successfully” rides on a bus, I should carry his wheelchair with us.
In this case, there might be several problems happening possibly. Extra spaces for a wheelchair in a shuttle bus are always available??? Will we have extra strong adults’ help? What if a shuttle bus won’t accept a wheelchair???
Question. “Leaving behind a wheelchair at the starting point”
and
“Needs a wheelchair at the finish point” part.
My husband prefers keeping sitting on his wheelchair (with a special cushion) before/after transferring another seat. It’s safer for his body/skin system.
If he gets on a kayak at the starting point, his wheelchair has to be moved to the finish point somehow. How?
If he leaves his wheelchair at the finish point before stating to kayak, my husband needs to be carried by 2 helpers; to a bus and to a kayak from a bus. I’m not sure how much possible for this though. To me, it’s risky and I’m not so comfortable.
Now you can see how I think/worry about my husband’s kayaking challenge at the public event. Can you?
Especially Ohio River Paddlefest 2024. We are a part of program provided by The Bridge Adaptive Sports. We are relying on them very much.
We will see how we do.
7/22/2024.
My husband will attend the BIG event called Ohio River Paddlefest 2024 on 8/3.
https://www.ohioriverpaddlefest.org/
I attach a video from the past. It looks a huge event, doesn't it? It's gonna be fantastic if my husband would join over 2000 kayakers/canoers. I still have several questions though. Because as a wheelchair user.
7/20/2024.
This group picture of the day is just fabulous and EPIC, I believe. Details are coming soon.
7/19/2024.
After you and your husband took turns to drive back home for 9 hours and parked your van in your driveway, then something caught your eyes, you would be smiling so huge. Yes! My magic-lily (surprise-lily) was blooming during my trip to Atlanta.
Funny part is (always the same) that I am the only one who notice this happens in my family. Why cannot they see this wonderful surprise flower??
7/17/2024.
Look! We are in Atlanta.
7/16/2024.
The Street Mural update:
The new place, the new mural. Found a chunk of free time to wander the town. Hillier than I expected for wheelchair. Did you know that?
Entry#282. 7/15/2024.
We are staying in the new-ish hotel in Atlanta. Long story short. In the middle of speaker/talk/presentation session which my husband was on duty as a chairman, the emergency alarm and announcement plus flashing lights went off. I froze.
Anyway it was a false alarm (fortunately, really). Several of researchers (including our friends) stayed with us in case of extra extra hands for "carring him" and "carring a wheelchair".
I don't have a certain protocol for this emergency situation. Not yet. We should have. So that we could ask for a help to people around us. I put some videos here for my future planning. There are still many things I need to figure out.
Video1. I want to practice this with someone. This could be the best possibility to take my husband out using stairs for the emergency.
Video2. If only, if university could set up this Evacuation-chair in the building (permanently), that would make me feel safer. How do you think? It's not that easy for a real life to say "we want that"... I know.
Entry#281. 7/14/2024.
My husband is one of the conference committee members/organizers of SDB 83rd annual meeting in Atlanta. The opening day is 7/14 and the closing/last day will be 7/17. We (yes, I am "attending" as well) are driving to Atlanta. The travel with SCI is always challenging and sometimes tricky. I've never been to Atlanta. Let's see how it goes. Good luck to all participants.
P.S. I want to discuss about how to use a roll-in shower with wheelchair. I'm still curious about it even though we have used our roll-in (wheel-in) shower in our house from the beginning of our SCI life.
photo: a very wonderful comfortable accessible hotel room in Knoxville, TN this time. We brought in our blue shower-chair by ourselves.
7/13/2024.
I saw an Oriole drinking my hummingbird nectar/juice from a hummingbird feeder last month. I’ve not seen him since then. Sad. It was really a rare case, after all. I was really lucky. Wish he could visit here more.
Can you easily recognize and spot an Oriole’s nest on a tree branch?? I don’t think I can. I didn’t know about an Oriole’s nest. Do you see some of Orioles’ nests on a tree in your yard? See a video below. It is interesting to know how they make their nests.
This bird is surely interesting to watch. Miss him very much.
Entry#280. 7/12/2024.
I am a tiny human in the big world, sometimes feeling I am powerless/uselss for the world. (Yes, sometimes I do.) Many times, I am amazed and impressed to know about amazing people who do great things for communities and people. After our SCI (spinal cord injury) life has started, I noticed more and more about it than before. It’s really great to know these facts to me.
I had heard of the name “Bike MS”, but not much knowing the details.
I had heard of the titles “Run for cancers”.
Now I understand about these events and ideas better than before.
I am not so sure whether Japan has similar events or not. But I see there are fundraising/charity cycling/running events many places in the world (the States, UK….)
I wrote about “Justine and Francis” their charity cycling journey in Nov 2022. November 2022 Go to Entry#95.
They finished “2 bikes 1 wheelchair 3000 miles Across the USA” in 48 days! (Do you remember them?)
https://www.parcours.cc/blogs/news/francis-rides-across-america
They DID raise some awareness and get people talking about disability & sport.
They raised £165,000 (= about $214,000) for Get Kids Going! (with an exclamation mark) which encourages disabled children and young people to participate in sport.
They surely gave people encouragement and power of possibilities. Wonderful. I still love what they did in 48 days.
Our beloved non-profit organization “The Bridge adaptive sports and recreation” also says their mission is to increase awareness and promote opportunities for individuals to participate in adaptive sports and recreation in order to improve their quality of life.
“Increasing awareness” part is important indeed because my husband often mentions about that as well. I am learning!
Then I had to learn about Mr. Joe Motz. Have you seen TV news about him?
Motz Moves
https://themotzgroup.com/about-us/motz-moves/
We, my husband and I, met him in person!!!
Joe Motz (Founder, The Motz Group) will paddle a canoe 3,000 miles, sharing his journey, his passion for The Bridge, and inviting others to propel the ripple effect of this splash-worthy cause.
His (and their) goal is to raise a total of $300,000. All funds are contributed directly to The Bridge Adaptive Sports & Recreation.
He is doing a solo-canoeing (right now) for about 4 months!!! 4 months!
Then I learned more about Mr. Joe Motz. He did another big charity challenge already in Nov 2019 at his age 65! 90 days and 6500 miles cycling.
He raised awareness and $314,000 in support of people who have Parkinson’s disease.
Title: Cincinnati Man Returns To Tri-State After Nationwide Bike Ride
See? Way too amazing. When I finally met him in person on his first day of his big canoeing journey by the Ohio River (at the starting point in Little Miami river), I was super excited. Shouting “It’s honor to meet you.” at him, we shaked our hands.
This event was for sending off him and wishing a best of luck to him.
Mr. Joe Motz was joined by a flotilla of about 30 others including three Bridge athletes in adaptive kayaks, paddled with Mr. Motz for the first 4 miles of the 3,000 he will complete in total. Yes, my husband was one of them! You see how lucky he was.
I want to write about the details “how the day of paddling with Joe looked like” later. Because both starting and finishing parts (including preparation parts) are different from able-bodied people totally.
Lastly I put a link of the donation site which you can follow all updates about his journey.
https://www.cincinnatigives.org/story/Paddle-For-A-Purpose
7/10/2024.
Okay, now, look at these. I have to clean them up.... Yes, I will. You know? It's heavier than it looks.
Entry#279. 7/09/2024.
I wrote about my fears a bit before. I have several “fears” related to Spinal Cord Injury life with my husband. Another one is “What if a real tornado comes in town?”
Even before his injury happened, we have always lived in a house without a basement. We used to stay in the safest room in a house. And in the worst case scenario, we told ourselves “ask our next door neighbor to get in their basement”. That was our thinking.
And now, with my husband’s wheelchair, a basement isn’t an option anymore. Can you imagine? Well, it could be only if two big men carry my husband, carry him.
I still need to think about it seriously eventually because there could be a possibility of real tornado even in this town.
I searched some info and found some websites and “safe-rooms”. Did you know we could purchase it? I didn’t know. However it is too expensive. (We all know that, don’t we?)
At least it is a good resource of the ideas for our own safety indeed. If only we could “build” our own house (from a scratch?!), we could add a plan of these kind of “above ground” saferoom….. If only. Still I need to keep thinking of our safety anyway. And yes, This is one of my “fears” which will be stick with me. That's our life now.
Photo 1. Tornado storm shelter (Saferoom) installed in Garage
Photo 2. Above Ground, Handicap Accessible Tornado Storm Shelter
Photo 3. Wheelchair Accessible ESP Safety Shelter
7/08/2024.
Street Murals update; I found a new mural in Indiana. I'm liking it very much. I think I need to make a "collage" of murals since I found good amount of them already. How do you think? Of course, each mural photo has to have humans in it.
7/07/2024.
I am a 'bad' Japanese mother because I gave up several Japanese traditions. I used to stick with them very much when our son was a tiny boy. I need to resume Japanese styles sometime. I know I do. July 7th is Tanabata. たなばた 七夕. Here is a video.
Entry#278. 7/07/2024.
I have several "fears" since my husband and I have started this new-normal life, a paraplegic life. I need to write about derails sometime.
One of them is "I need to handle things without our son's help, after he starts his own new-life chapter somewhere." I knew this as a parent, in general. What I mean is "I rely on him for his knowledge and strength/muscle work very much." More than I imagined. So I need to think about it realistically. My body is small. There is a limitation for certain jobs. I have to ask for a help without any hesitation, get a help from my neighbor.
For example. My garage door broke after getting dark. The big spring split up half. It's Sunday night. The door stayed open. My husband suggested to try to hold the door and bring it down slowly. The door is heavy. The worst case: the door just falls down to the ground and everything breaks/crushes. Awful.
With our son's help, we managed to slide it down safely. I was relieved. See? Without him, I think I would need to get a neighbor on this kind of situation in future. Because we don't have any relatives around us. I might need to reply on my wonderful neighbors.
photos. 1.a good spring. 2.a broken spring.
Entry#277. 7/05/2024.
Our son is in the middle of “floating stage” or “seeking his possibilities” after he received his bachelor degree in biology (with Art minor) from Miami University. I am hoping his job hunting goes forward even though it might take some more time than he expected.
A good part (to myself) is that I still can learn something new from him. He shared some info about MCC: Montana Conservation Corps. Have you heard about it before? I haven’t been in Montana nor Idaho. This organization has several projects in both states related to conservation (of nature, forests, parks and more). I watch several videos to learn some.
Just because he will be off to that area joining field crews as his seasonal job. That’s a pretty much exciting news to me. He will give me more opportunities to learn something new. I have to send a cheer to him as much as I could. One condition though. There won’t be any cellular service, and internet connection for his 3 months staying period. We will see. Youth power would be invincible, wouldn’t it?!
7/05/2024.
In the morning after some storms and rains, you noticed something unexpected "white" in your garden. You call your whole family right away and report this "big" news, of course you do.
Like I said before, I gave up growing daylily and treelily (hosta, too) in my garden because of deer. However sometimes a survivor surprises my eyes very much. Ta-da!!! It's a white tree-lily. (I forgot an actual real name. I am bad.) It was a nice surprise in the wet evening.
My yards have different colors each month.
March. Yellow (Daffodil)
April. White (Lily of valley)
May. White, yellow, purple (Iris)
June. Midnight Blue (Larkspur)
July. Pink (Coneflower and Bee Balm!)
Entry#276. 7/03/2024.
I have many thoughts I want to share about the big kayaking event we attended. At first, I put several photos here.
Entry#275. 7/01/2024.
You must laugh. I’m going to write about a chocolate milk, a comparison between Japan and the States. Have you wondered that Chocolate Milk is universal stuff or not? Well, it’s already funny here, isn’t it? When I worked at an elementary school as a lunch/recess monitor around 2009-2010, (it was a chaotic job indeed) I learned about a choice of milks in students’ lunch menu. White milk, chocolate milk and pink milk. When I was a kid in Japan (I was born in 1973), all elementary schools had school lunch systems. Students didn’t bring packed lunches at all. They had White milk every day. Everyone had it.
Here is an article titled: Japan Milk. All you need to know about milk in Japan.
You might be surprised a bit when you discovered some facts about Japanese. Especially “lactose intolerant” part.
——-
However, around 80% Japanese people are actually lactose intolerant to different levels that they are not able to fully absorb the nutrients from milk properly, which may cause stomach-ache and indigestion.
——.
I need to go back to “chocolate milk” topic. I don’t remember whether chocolate milk was popular in Japan or not in 1970s and 1980s. Things I remember are, we had coffee-milk and fruit-milk. Soy-milk was also seen often.
This photo is from an article website. It’s a photo of a vending machine at hot spring place called Onsen おんせん.
Top brown color bottles are coffee-milk. Bottom yellow-ish color bottles are fruit-milk.
So….. I don’t think we had chocolate milk much at that time. We had coffee-milk more than chocolate one. Interesting? (Yes, it contains caffeine obviously. But these coffee-milk were sold targeted at children, I believe.)
When I discovered about elementary school lunch milks in the States, I was eager to try/taste them, chocolate milk and pink milk. So I did. I liked it very much then I kept buying it almost everyday at my work.
Then I discovered something new when I became a big fan of School Cross Country runners. They drink chocolate milks after running!! Did you know that? (Maybe everyone knows.)
When The GOBA cycling event happened (seelast month writing Entry #274.) they also told me that they needed a chocolate milk right after our long pedaling. And this time, I couldn’t agree more.
Do you love a chocolate milk??
An article:
https://en.japantravel.com/guide/onsen-in-japan/21866
In Japan, one popular post-bath custom is to drink milk, with many onsen and sento selling it. Take this opportunity to try a refreshing bottle of fruit gyuunyuu (“fruit milk”) or coffee gyuunyuu (“coffee milk”); they taste better than you'd think!
One more:
https://enjoyonsen.city.beppu-jp.com/travel-tips/milk-after-onsen/
Go back to last month.
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