SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
There is a growing movement to increase the number and variety of trails made for adaptive mountain bikes. Nestled in the Green Mountains of Vermont are four new miles of gnarly climbs, twisting curves and adrenaline-pumping drops. The entire system is built to be universally accessible and something its creators believe to be a first in the nation. Vermont Public Radio's Elodie Reed paid a visit.
ELODIE REED: It's a summery evening. The sun turns gold and filters through the trees on a hill in Bolton, Vt. Near the top of that hill, 39-year-old mountain biker, Greg Durso, gets ready to fly down a steep slope.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Ready?
GREG DURSO: Yep.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Dropping.
DURSO: OK.
REED: A few minutes later, Durso cruises along a fern-lined path before careening around a corner underneath a jump.
(SOUNDBITE OF BIKE WHEELS SPINNING)
REED: Just ahead of him, a series of younger riders launch themselves a dozen feet in the air. And this is the point of this newly completed trail system called the Driving Range. All mountain bikers, whether on two wheels, like the younger riders, or on a three-wheeled adaptive bike, like Durso, have access, though Durso warns that prospective riders shouldn't confuse access with ease.
DURSO: People think of adaptive mountain biking, and they think it's - you know, they think ADA first, and it's kind of the exact opposite of what we're doing. This is mountain biking, so we want the trails to be hard.
REED: He got into adaptive mountain biking seven years ago.
DURSO: And it's, like, become basically my new favorite thing to do.
REED: He rides a prone position bike.
DURSO: I kneel. I have my chest on a chest plate. And my hands are out in front of me, so it's more headfirst.
REED: Durso bought this bike with the grant from the Kelly Brush Foundation, which has helped nearly 2,000 people with spinal cord injuries across the country purchase adaptive equipment. Bikes like Durso's can otherwise be prohibitively expensive. Another barrier is finding trails that can fit those bikes. Durso ran into this issue on a ride a few years ago.
DURSO: I was on some really narrow bridges that looked pretty sketchy, and...
BERNE BROUDY: Every time we got to a bridge, the group would stop.
REED: Berne Broudy was there too. She heads up the board for a local trails organization.
BROUDY: People would get off their bikes, would help Greg across the bridge, which was maybe, like, 6 inches too narrow for him to actually just make it on his own.
DURSO: It was like, hey, like, this is great that it almost works, but, like, it wouldn't be that crazy to actually make this work, right?
BROUDY: But I was like, we can have an impact here. Like, we can change this.
REED: After that ride together, Durso and Broudy, along with a couple hundred volunteers, several nonprofits and 256 acres offered up by a Vermont landowner, started building the Driving Range in 2022.
DURSO: That's truly amazing.
REED: Earlier this summer, volunteers put the final touches on the trails. At one curve, people smooth the ground by whacking it with shovels. Then Durso took a spin on his adaptive bike.
DURSO: Like, I'm going to start here. Then I'm going to cut, right? So I should be good.
(SOUNDBITE OF BIKE WHEELS SPINNING)
REED: Broudy says this is how they built the trail system - by having Durso test-ride everything.
BROUDY: Greg is the most critical volunteer, probably, to this project.
DURSO: It's an honor for me just to be here and be part of this and build something that, like, I know, like, actually has my hands on this.
REED: There are efforts across the country to expand adaptive mountain biking access, including a jump trail in Arkansas. But the Driving Range creators believe it's the first trail system in the U.S. made universally accessible from its inception. And Durso says it's freeing to know he can now show up to these trails and ride, no problem. What's even more important to him, though, is the community the Driving Range creates.
DURSO: She's got to have - you've got to have a smaller...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: I couldn't see.
REED: Allie Bianchi tells me something similar during a post-trail-building barbecue. She injured her spinal cord two years ago on a mountain bike but still loves the sport. And as she tries out adaptive riding, she says she appreciates the Driving Range for all the supportive and knowledgeable people here.
ALLIE BIANCHI: Having the space to be able to, like, know that I can get back out there on the trails is really exciting.
REED: Bianchi says she's happy to be out doing the thing she loves.
For NPR News, I'm Elodie Reed, in Bolton, Vt. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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