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
