This is Charles. He lost his arm in a train accident. Charles doesn’t let that get in the way of riding his bike, or racing CX. Right now, he’s at training camp for the Paralympic Cycling team.
Baller
Photo Source: Jeffrey Jakucyk.
He is harder than you.
Page 1 of 11
November 12th, 2011 at 9:58 am
Man… I am in awe.
November 12th, 2011 at 10:27 am
Hard as coffin nails.
November 12th, 2011 at 10:38 am
I am humbled…
November 12th, 2011 at 11:16 am
insane ambition!! I like it :)
November 12th, 2011 at 12:20 pm
i’ve got tons of respect for this guy, I can’t imagine how hard it was to learn to ride and RACE with one arm. As a person whose only one armed riding experience consists of the occasional 2 blocks back from a c-store with a hot cup of coffee in one hand, I always congratulate myself for not wiping out because every little crack in the road is amplified times 10 and the ride feels like a circus act about to explode, but compared to what he’s doing that’s nothing.
November 12th, 2011 at 12:38 pm
Total Monstah!
November 12th, 2011 at 1:56 pm
I’m not worthy
November 12th, 2011 at 2:50 pm
Shouldn’t he be riding a cannondale lefty?
Sorry…
November 12th, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Massive respect. I’ve been on crutches this week,cos I hurt my ankle, and it has given me jge respect for people permanently living with a disability. Simple things are made so much more difficult.
November 12th, 2011 at 4:04 pm
hands down baller,,,
November 12th, 2011 at 4:44 pm
Awesome!
November 12th, 2011 at 4:47 pm
He’s a sexy mofo too.
November 12th, 2011 at 5:39 pm
Wow
November 12th, 2011 at 5:50 pm
legit crusher!
November 12th, 2011 at 6:33 pm
I have spent may days riding and racing,both mountain and road with “Scooter”. Nobody complains when he is along for the ride.
November 12th, 2011 at 10:54 pm
I wanna see film of him in CX action. It HAS to be awesome, right?
November 13th, 2011 at 12:52 am
Good to see Pelkey over here.
Put a bar plug in that thing or you may lose something even more important in the man dept.
Somebody forward this to Pactimo to see if we can get this guy a jersey made just for him. They don’t like me anymore, or I’d do it.
November 13th, 2011 at 5:44 am
might just be the most ballingest baller to ever have balled on this ball we call earth!
total baller!
November 13th, 2011 at 11:06 am
Im gonna crawl back under my rock now. Thanks for humiliating and demotivating me even more…
November 13th, 2011 at 12:37 pm
Check out that guy’s package!
November 13th, 2011 at 1:04 pm
I think the fact that he lost his arm in a train accident makes him 3x harder than originally thought. Next best option would be in a foiled attempt to overthrow a nation of pirates & steal all their booty.
November 13th, 2011 at 1:05 pm
Holy crap. Balls to the fucking walls.
I am weak and worthless.
November 13th, 2011 at 1:48 pm
No suspension fork and only a front break. Mad respect for the bike handling skills on this guy. I would indow all over the course.
November 13th, 2011 at 2:47 pm
Similar:
http://italiancyclingjournal.blogspot.com/2011/11/alex-zanardi-wins-nyc-marathon.html
November 13th, 2011 at 5:10 pm
Does he really only ride a front brake? There’s gotta be a way to mount a second lever with a shortened blade so he can grab both at once or just the full lever for the front only.
November 13th, 2011 at 6:22 pm
…’bout as bad-ass as it gets…on the dirt no less…fuck !!!…
…glad i didn’t feel sorry for myself when i dislocated my shoulder last week or i’d feel like a total wuss…
November 13th, 2011 at 6:59 pm
It would make sense to rig two brakes on the same lever. All you miss then is dynamic front/rear brake balance.
November 13th, 2011 at 8:13 pm
@25
http://www.paulcomp.com/duplexlever.html
November 13th, 2011 at 8:27 pm
Baller!
November 13th, 2011 at 8:36 pm
I have both brakes and shifters all on one side. I tried the mono lever and it sucked. the mono lever stands the bike straight up when you try to corner with any speed. I did race 24 hrs of snowshoe with just a front break because I tore my back break off after a beautiful crash in the lower rock garden/ downhill.
November 13th, 2011 at 10:50 pm
Dude, if you’re looking to compete, you might want to ditch the DC jersey for the photo. You never know who will see it. :)
November 13th, 2011 at 11:00 pm
sorry no
November 14th, 2011 at 1:28 am
@bikepunk +1
November 14th, 2011 at 3:28 am
Huge inspiration, thank you Charles.
November 14th, 2011 at 5:51 am
He rides with all controls on the left side. Grip shift front derailleur with rapid fire rear. Manipulates both front and rear brake with 2 levers. At least that is how we had it set up in the past.
November 14th, 2011 at 6:26 am
Rich, I set up my road and cross bike like my mtb. I have sram xo shifters stacked. the grip shift just didnt hold up for racing and now I can shift without compromising my grip.
I have drank the DC cool-aid the jersey stays! well at least until I give it back to Judi.
November 14th, 2011 at 7:21 am
Hydraulic disc would be the way to go…you could setup a proportioning valve with a lever and get any ratio of front/rear bias from one brake lever.
November 14th, 2011 at 7:47 am
with the hydraulic disk the stopping power creates big problems when trying to handle the bike. I used to run hayse hydraulic and I would get thrown off the bike. next time you are on a bike with coaster breaks try stomping the shit out of the break and hold on with one hand. then visualize trying to shift and control the bike. my fingers are all fucked up and I relay am only using two fingers to control the bike.
November 14th, 2011 at 8:14 am
Very cool setup. Something I have never considered when building bikes. I learn something new every day around these parts.
November 14th, 2011 at 9:33 am
damn
November 14th, 2011 at 9:41 am
i frequently rode with a good friend in phx who had one hand, missing his lefty. more often than not he set the pace and i tried to keep up.
November 14th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
John G. Rienhart, played on two little league teams with him. THE BEST pitcher/hitter in our league. The coach for our team quit when the league refused to let him play the next year in the majors.
Beth H may remember him he used to live on top of Mt. Tabor, rode for Klien in the early-mid 80′s.
I bet he can still tear your legs off and then knock a home run with’em.
November 14th, 2011 at 5:26 pm
I watched Charles race on the 2nd day of the UCI3 in OH, the guy had me inspired the whole time! I saw take a digger and got right back up…def my hero!
November 15th, 2011 at 4:59 pm
Out here in the Seattle area there’s a guy who cycles with one leg. Not even a prosthetic clip-in carbon version, just one leg. He has two ass cheeks to sit on his bike but pushes a massive gear and sort of humps up and down. He dropped me, just on the bike path but he was moving. I heard he lost his leg in a moto accident and didn’t want to stop riding. Both of these heroes make me feel stupid for bitching about 29th place this weekend.
November 16th, 2011 at 4:17 am
…kenny foraker, an old friend out of so-cal & who i haven’t seen in years, rides with just his one leg & a bungy cord setup on the opposite side as a crank return…
…tough ass motherfucker used to race the kamakazi downhill at mammoth…
…kenny’s enthusiasm would put a smile on your face & sometimes, even leave you with a tear in your eye…
…got another friend, steve, up here who rides both road & dirt with a carbon fiber lower leg…
…gotta say, all these cats represent some major fucking heart…
November 16th, 2011 at 9:46 am
charles – lets just say you and dominic can share the jersey. :)
yep, charles can pretty much beat me up every hill we’ve ever climbed, and he weighs a good 50lbs more than me. good father, good husband, good heart.
November 25th, 2011 at 5:03 pm
[...] the porn days”), a Cincinnati native but lives in Chicago and is moving to Reno next week. Charles rode his CX bike. Ryan, who road his 9′er. And I rode the Raleigh CX bike. The weather was [...]
November 26th, 2011 at 2:35 pm
Sheldon Brown wrote an interesting article about ditching your front brake. It’s on the Harris site. I could look up the url if I wasn’t on may way to the fridge for another beer.
November 26th, 2011 at 2:36 pm
Sorry, meant rear brake. Might have to rethink getting another beer.
Nah, it’s Saturday night. I’m goin’ for it.