A trail-side conversation with Edie Perkins about handcycling, access, and the peace she finds on Vermont’s rail trails.
LISTEN:
Edie Perkins has been an avid cyclist for many years. When an accident left her paralyzed from the chest down in 2017, she began handcycling. Since moving to Vermont in 2021, she’s come to love taking her handcycle out on the scenic trails she can access from her home in South Burlington, and sometimes ventures further afield. In this story, Edie talks about her love of handcycling on a visit to the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail in Hyde Park.
TRANSCRIPT:
I couldn’t have picked a more perfect day to come out here. It’s early autumn. The sky is about as blue as it gets in Vermont. The trail goes through woods, which are really beautiful. You can see ferns growing and all sorts of trees, and then you emerge into cornfields on both sides of you, and views of the mountains in the distance.
My name is Edie Perkins and I live in South Burlington, Vermont. One of my favorite things to do for recreation is ride my handcycle through the beautiful farmlands that fill up Vermont.
Hand cycling is the equivalent of riding a bicycle for somebody who doesn’t have use of their legs, or who wants to use a bike by propelling it with their arms.
Today, we are at the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail at Hyde Park in a nice parking lot, with a good entrance to get onto the trail.
Exploring new places with my hand cycle can be– it’s always exciting. I love to see new places. It can also be a little frightening because I don’t know the roads. I don’t like riding where there are a lot of cars, or I don’t like riding if there isn’t a wide enough shoulder.
There are so many things that able-bodied people don’t understand about accessing the outdoors, which is understandable. It can be as simple as parking, accessing bathrooms, and just the terrain – the width of the path, whether you can get on it in a wheelchair, or if you need some other kind of mobility device. There are just so many things that you wouldn’t think of.
I used to be an able-bodied athlete. I was a runner and a cyclist, and cycling has always been a huge love of mine. It’s also how I got injured. I was on a bike ride when I got hit by a car and became paralyzed from the chest down. And it was the first thing I wanted to do as soon as I got out of rehab and got back home. My cycling teammates bought me a bike – a hand cycle – and I started training for my first race, a half-marathon. And it quickly became my new love.
There’s the thrill of being that low to the ground and moving at a good speed, especially if you’re going down a hill or around a turn. I love the feeling of pushing myself hard so I can feel my heart beating and the wind on my face, and pushing my arms and feeling them burn a little bit. I love all of that.
I often find myself in a very zen state when I’m out on a ride. My mind can either wander or go no place at all, and just take in the sounds and the views. All of that is something that I constantly strive to access.
Read Edie’s detailed review of the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail.
This story was produced by Anna Van Dine for the Vermont Trails and Greenways Council. Anna Van Dine is an audio producer based in Vermont. A native of the Mad River Valley, Anna has worked as a reporter at Vermont Public and as an independent podcast producer. Her work documents the ways in which the past happens in the present.
