Landon's New Bike

When Landon was 5-years-old, he was a healthy, vibrant little boy who, like many boys his age, was learning to ride his bike without training wheels. However, as fate would have it that particular year, a powerful storm passed through his hometown of Monmouth, IL, causing a live power line to fall to the ground alongside a bunch of loose brush. In a split second, Landon’s innocence & curiosity lead him away from his family’s watchful eye, and he touched that live power line, rendering him motionless & unresponsive. The miracle is that Landon survived. While he had burns over his body & lost his right arm, he was alive… and he’s our inspiration.

Yesterday, an enthusiastic 9-year-old Landon got a brand new bicycle from us, the first since his accident. Watching his mother start riding her bike again, Landon wanted to do the same. As the old adage goes, “If you don’t succeed the first time, try, try again.” And that’s exactly what Landon did. On an old bike out of the family’s garage, Landon retrained himself on the grass in the backyard. Balancing, making right-hand turns without a right arm, and simply getting back up after falling many times over, Landon eventually learned how to gain control of his bicycle.

Landon’s new bike is a Trek Mountain 200, a sleek, 7-speed black frame bike with black decals and a new black helmet to match. The bike is also a great fit because being 7-speeds, he only has a rear shifter to concern himself with, and that is already mounted on the left-hand side of the handlebar. Of course, as Landon gets older and chooses to ride a bike with more speeds, we can install an internal hub that has shifters for both the front & rear gears all on one side of the handlebar (opposite of standard bike designs where the shifters are on both sides of the handlebar). We also had to address the brakes as standard designs have these sit on each side of the handlebar (i.e. right for the rear wheel, left for the front). What our mechanics did for Landon was install a special brake lever on the left-hand side of the handlebar that has mounts for two brake cables (for both the rear & front wheels). Since each brake cable can be individually adjusted, this allows for controlled stoppage of Landon’s bicycle without applying full, equal force on each wheel with the slightest brake lever squeeze. But our work was the easy part.

It takes a lot of courage & will to pursue the very things that are so easily taken for granted. Having a severe injury would give many of us pause as to what our purpose in life should be, not to mention the daunting prospect of meeting subsequent challenges with a positive attitude. Landon is our hero for getting back up, being a role model, keeping very active, shooting us a big, joyful smile, and making the most out of his life and a second chance. Thank you, Landon for letting us be a part of your world. Best rides little man!

~ Bickel's Cycling & Fitness