About a month ago, at the age of 37, I got my first EVER customized biking leg. I'm lucky enough in New York to be close to a fantastic prosthetics company, A Step Ahead, and one of their specialities is catering for active amputees who want to participate in all kind of sports. See here for more info on some of these amazing athletes.
The biking leg is basically a lot lighter than a regular 'walking leg', and it is less built up around the groin area, to enable me to crouch down on the bike, to get out of the wind. Being an amputee, having less power is one obvious disadvantage on a bike, but another one is when your artificial leg cuts you in all kinds of uncomfortable places during a long ride. Imagine taking a cheese grater to the old clock weights over the course of a few hours, and you'll get the idea.
Finally, this leg has been adapted so it can clip into the bike. It has taken a while to get used to, but gives a lot more power than the cages I was using before.
I got my Specialized tri-bike, at a generous discount given to A Step Ahead athletes, from Bike Works on Long Island. Expensive, but worth every penny!
Yesterday, I biked down from Garrison, about 50 hilly miles north of NYC, along the Hudson river. I was riding into a headwind all the way, and by the time I got back I was pretty tired. It was my first long ride of the year, though, so hopefully with a new more long rides I'll start to build up some endurance.
