Paralyzed cyclist is ‘cured’ by bike crash and now she hopes to take part in the Olympics
The headline above is really hard to believe. Monique van der Vorst was paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair for 13 years. She had taken up hand cycling after a routine ankle operation paralyzed one leg. While riding her hand cycle she was struck by a car, and became completely paralyzed from the waist down. Then a collision with a cyclist cured her. Her remarkable story is detailed in an article in The Daily Mail.
Blip tubes are a clever design by Urbane Innovations, “that saves waste, saves packaging, and saves the time of explaining tube choices to consumers.” Lofty goals for a fundamental piece of cycling equipment. But tires and tubes are certainly often replaced items on a bike. So any efficiency gained has a large impact overall. Bicycle tubes come in a mind boggling array of sizes. Blip tubes seek to remove some of that confusion and help the environment at the same time.
The Boise, Idaho based cycling component brand, K-Edge Cycling Solutions, was created from a singular and focused ambition. The goal was to help an Olympic cycling athlete secure a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games. To see how this happened and the resulting product we take a quick look to France, Austria, China, and return to the USA for how it all played out.
