Family cycling without limitations

       Two Winter Garden bike racers decided that riding with their children was so much fun that they thought everyone should do it.  We understand that it is not always easy to get your family involved in your love of cycling, but do what it takes to make it happen anyway.  We ride tandem bicycles with child carriers, pull kiddie trailers or trailer trikes, or in Dennis’ daughter’s case with Rett’s Syndrome, he has had to build leg braces and back supports to keep her on the bike.  For 11 yrs now Dennis has adapted his bicycles so that Breanna could enjoy the freedom of flying down the road.  She no longer can stand to be perched on the saddle of an upright bicycle for long these days, so he pulls her around in the comfort of a recumbent trailer trike with her legs going round and round on the pedals which he adapted to a fixed gear to exercise her legs even though she is not capable of pedaling herself.

      Dennis Sutherlin and Rich Benton decided to use their experience from on the bike and their professions to begin a new kind of bike rental business partnered with Orange County that will cater to special needs children and adults. Adaptive Cycling will be located directly on the West Orange Trail at the Winter Garden Trail Head so that once the family is ready to roll together, they have 28 miles of paved trail to whisk down.  Dennis is a custom metal fabricator who has and will build foot platforms, leg braces, and back supports to aid positioning on the bikes they we have available.

      The unusual selection of bikes and trikes are a sight to see and something you are not likely to see in any shop.  We have tandems with periscoping seat posts that fit a 5 yr old up to an adult 6’ 2” and a tandem with a recumbent seat on the front so the passenger gets the best seat.  We have 3 wheel trikes that will pull other trailer trikes for the added stability.  A tandem that looks like a big beach cruiser with the kid seat in front of the captain who wraps their arms around the child to steer, and Bree’s favorite is the trailer trike that can be hooked up to any bike or trike.  This is just to start and we hope to have hand cycles and other adaptive specialty cycles added in the near future. 

      Having first hand experience at the difficulty of trying to enjoy the beauty of the outdoors on places like the WOT, Adaptive Cycling will be able to help families with disabled children and adults including, but not limited to: Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Amputees, Paraplegia, Quadriplegia, head injuries, Multiple Sclerosis, Spinal Bifida, Muscular Dystrophy, stroke victims, those with visual impairments, and birth defects.  Naturally, all children have a blast riding with their parents on this equipment as well.  Maybe that’s why we call it “Adaptive Cycling; a family cycling center.”