merlinextraligh

Interesting article in today's NY Times. Traditionally disabled runners have competed in marathons using racing wheelchairs. Handcycles (racing wheel chairs with handcranks, gears, and brakes) are becoming more popular than traditional push wheel chairs, and causing quite a stir. I found the article interesting because I had always wondered why wheel chair racers didn't use cranks.

Handcycles are faster, which creates animosity amongst some of the traditional wheelchair competitors (with stories of handcylclists run into the curb; if they only had frame pumps they could reneact the Breakingaway scene). Also the handcyclists are so fast that it creates issues in outrunning the road closure.

One school of thought is that Handcyclists should compete in bike races, rather than running events. It would seem that this could work for TT's. However for crits, and probably road races you'd have to have a special category run seperately I would think. I don't think even an elite handcyclist could hang with a Cat 5 pack very long, and the difference in handling, and position on the road would not appear to be a safe mix. (Definitely wouldn't want to be the guy drafting the handcyclist, as you know if you've ever tried to draft a recumbant.)

Anybody ever seen a bike race with handcyclists included?

botto 

there were a fair amount of them at the Maratona dles Dolomites.

Kind of an amazing sight, seeing them go up mountains, in a field of 8,000+ cyclists, if you ask me.

ROJA

I would say they are heroes.

stea1thviper

wow this is really good stuff. any online links to this article perhaps?? =)

merlinextraligh

That's impressive. Does the Martona dles Dolomites have a cut time? Just curious what sort of pace they'd have to do to finish.


I deal in my work with lots of folks with comparatively minor injuries that focus on how their lives have been ruined. So I'm always impressed by people with real obstacles to overcome that achieve great things.

botto 

While it's not as extreme as I believe the E'tappe is, seeing as the course is closed to traffic, they direct the people who are way off pace to the shorter route.

I would assume that the disabled particpants do the Sellaronda.



Here's a pic pulled from the Maratona site. Not 100% which equipment this guy is on, wil have to read the NYT article.



I passed one guy, and gave him my Complimenti, which was pretty much what everyone who saw him did.

You're a lawyer right?

My brother, who's one of 3 lawyers in the family, once made a comment how every time it snows, someone thinks they've won the lottery if they've slipped and scraped their knee.

Talewinds

Take a look at triathlons. During the "bike" portion, handcycles are used, but during the "run" portion, traditional wheelchairs are used. That answers it for me. I don't know why handcycles are permited in marathons, handcycles were designed to replace bicycles, sounds like an oversight in event organization.
That being said, there's no extent to how much I'm humbled by those folks.

thewalrus

https://www.varnahandcycles.com/

The guy who builds these also built the world record holding HPV fully-faired recumbent bicycles, the Varna Diablo and Mephisto.

Mo'Phat

I'd say the distinction comes in gearing. A handcycle has gears, thus the mechanical advantage is akin to a geared bicycle. A traditional wheelchair isn't geared, and is the closest to having no mechanical advantage as you can get...like running.

Granted, different hand placement on the wheel can help your mechanical advantage in a traditional wheelchair.

They're simply in a different category, like recumbents, fixies, etc.