Alf Todd's passion for peddling has created a new chance at freedom for people with disabilities
It’s actually two stories but, put together, they speak to the spirit and resilience of a remarkable Langford resident.“I’ve always loved the freedom and the feeling of moving down the road,” said Todd.
Four years later, Todd and his son were joined by his youngest son, who was similarly 10 years old by then, and the three of them set out to repeat the feat. They cycled down the coast to San Fransisco on a trip that took them only 11 days.Now that spirit could easily have been the whole story but for the fact that, in 2007, Todd was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
“We did another ride with about 18 riders with us and raised some funds for Parkinson’s research. She called us Parkinson’s peddlers,” said Todd. “Then a couple of years later we rode from Port Hardy to Victoria. We had about 18 riders with us then too.”“When I got off the bike at the end of that last trip something said to me that I needed to make a pedal power wheelchair,” said Todd.
In the end, though, the pair developed a remarkable machine that Jeff named the Extreme Rhino pedal wheelchair.They’d moved from steel to aircraft-grade, tig-welded, powder-coated aluminum, complete with hydraulic disc brakes, and a differential that allows for sharp turns and a tight turning radius."She was a young girl here in Victoria who was severely handicapped. But she got on and took off. It was an amazing transformation and quite emotional,” Todd said.
Todd, who now relies heavily on a cane to walk, demonstrated the truth of that statement by mounting his own peddler and zipping around his driveway and street in front of his home with the joyful abandon of a six-year-old on their first bike.
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