Back on a Bike

As a writer for a national healthcare magazine, I interview a lot of people—prominent doctors, professional sports coaches and athletes, former Olympic competitors—and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve lost my cool.

Interviewing professional mountain bike racer Tara Llanes for a story on her rehabilitation following a bike crash that left her paralyzed from the waist down was one of those times. A champion and a charmer; a knockout who could knock 'em out. My cool didn't even put up a fight before it up and left--and I hadn't spoken a single word to the woman yet.

Turns out I had nothing to worry about. Quick-witted, fascinating and full of life, Tara answered my questions about her road to recovery with brutal honesty and a bit of humor. “I would forgo the whole walking thing as long as I could ride my bike again,” she told me, half-joking.

That’s why I was thrilled to see her on a bike again last week. It might not have been her bike—but it was a bike. And she looked like a champion riding it.