Hi, I was wondering if someone could help me find the name, and possibly contact details, of a man who wrote about electric bikes in the last issue of MS Matters please (the Paralympic edition). He inspired me to give my normal bike another go and, by strapping my right foot to the pedal so it won’t misbehave, I’ve been able to go for some short rides. I just wanted to thank him for giving me back a bit of freedom that I had thought was lost forever. Many thanks Becky x
Try simonlord54@me.com.
A question: I have found the trickiest bit of cycling, and the reason I’ve stopped for over a year, is getting my left foot up to the pedal and getting my feet down on the ground again quickly. How have you managed that, or isn’t it a problem for you? I realise as I type that if I slowed down and got going more gradually, maybe I could cope - is that what you do? I have an electric bike so in theory I should be able to potter around.
Any help greatly appreciated!
B x
Thanks Whammel, I’ll e-mail him tonight. Hi B, it’s my right leg that’s affected so I get on the bike, hold the brake on with my left hand and use my right hand to lift my right foot on to the pedal. Then I lean over and push my foot into the strap (I found the fabric ones from Halfords much easier than proper toe-clips), pull my right knee up until the pedal’s at the top and then start off. Sounds much more cumbersome than it feels but probably quite funny to watch! I’ve just had to learn to put my left foot down when I stop, a bit of a challenge after so many years doing it with the right foot. The main difference with how I used to cycle and now is definitely the taking it easy, starting slowly and not going for any medals, completely against my nature but I am learning to enjoy coasting on the bike rather than feeling that I should be pedalling every second and going as fast as I can. I’m sure there are a lot more things that I’ll learn as I do it more but so far it’s proving to be much more successful than my ill-fated attempt to restart running a couple of years ago, resulting in me being totally out of action for about two weeks. Maybe I’m learning something! Becky x
Hi Becky, thanks for that. I wish you luck with your coasting cycling career - surely that could be a new olympic sport, ‘coasting cycling’? Sounds a bit like an extreme sport! 
You’ve inspired me to maybe give it another go, despite takinga look at an electric trike a few weeks ago.
Bye
Bouncy x
Another question, as you’re getting on the bike and have one foot on the pedal and one on the ground, are you leaning against something like a wall or post? Otherwise, how do you not topple over?