* Donate to CycleAbility via the donation link at the bottom of this page
The CycleAbility Challenge is a fundraiser that gives Maritime children with disabilities the opportunity to experience the joy of riding their own bike.
Each year, founder Joe Robichaud sets out on cycling journey to raise awareness and funds to purchase adaptive bikes for kids with disabilities.
Adaptive bikes can cost anywhere from $2,500 to $10,000 depending on the disability and the adaptations required. Parents of children with disabilities face the unique financial challenge of meeting their child's medical and therapeutic needs before they can even consider the cost of a custom-made adaptive bicycle.
This year Joe will be biking from Sydney to Yarmouth in September, and he needs your support!
It began with a boy…
Do you remember the fun you had as a child riding your bike, and the sense of freedom it gave you? I sure do, because at the age of 12 I lost the ability to ride when I had to have my leg removed. Diagnosed with osteosarcoma, an aggressive bone cancer, I underwent many unsuccessful surgeries, with amputation finally being the only option left. My bike-riding days were over.
Now, 56 years later, I am cancer-free and working with Sportwheels Sports Excellence, with the support of the IWK Foundation, to raise funds to purchase one-of-a kind adaptive bikes for children with disabilities. To date, we’ve been able to provide three adaptive bikes to children identified by the IWK Health Centre.
But there are still so many children waiting to experience the joy of a carefree bike ride.
-Joe Robichaud, CycleAbility Founder
Your support will directly impact a child living with a disability
Aside from the general wellbeing of being active, riding a bike can help with specific aspects of each child’s disability. In addition to the physical benefits of muscle stretching and strengthening, the simple act of controlling a bicycle gives these children a huge psychological boost, as well as greater self-confidence and sense of independence.
This is where the CycleAbility Challenge, with your generous support, can make such a marked difference in the life of a child living with such a disability.