Hi everyone!
I had a life changing accident whilst eventing (horses) in 2007 leaving me paralysed.I lost all movement and sensation from the chest down so it turned my life upside down.
I have rebuilt my life- getting married and having two girls, a new career as a speaker, voluntary fundraising (now reached £660k) and found new sports.
One of those sports is motorcycling. The Bike Experience is a charity that gets motorbikes back on their bike after an injury or illness. I got an invite to ride a motorbike. My initial thought was "this is crazy- the only part of the bike I can feel would be the handlebars and how would I balance?!" However I decided to give it a go.
It has gone on from there. I have sat on the floor a fair few times, and it has been somewhat challenging and still is! In 2017 I got my ACU (race licence) on my second attempt, and now comes my next challenge. Motorcycling is so physical- plus my arms , shoulders and neck do extra work as I have no strength in my core muscles. I am riding a lap of all the tracks in the British Superbike series, starting at Silverstone on 9th September. I will keep gaining experience on track days, and hope to raise lots of money to help others. Then after that I hope to have the endurance challenge of a lap of the TT course. It was going to be the 2018 challenge but the organisers want me to gain more experience. Once they feel I am ready then hopefully I will get to do that in 2019 or 2020.
The bike has hand control gears , velcro on my knee to stop them flapping and toe clips to stop feet sliding. I have someone launch me and some poor person has to trust me as I ride towards them as they catch me.
It will be a huge personal challenge but my aim is to raise as much as I can for Nicholls Spinal Injury Foundation(to help cure paralysis), The Bike Experience (to get people on bikes) and The Matt Hampson Foundation (to help injured sports people) .Any support is appreciated .
Many thanks
Claire x
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