Deutsch   English   Français   Italiano  
<vqnjel$1ht5m$1@dont-email.me>

View for Bookmarking (what is this?)
Look up another Usenet article

Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org>
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech
Subject: Re: Riding safety with Alzheimer's?
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2025 15:52:37 -0500
Organization: Yellow Jersey, Ltd.
Lines: 78
Message-ID: <vqnjel$1ht5m$1@dont-email.me>
References: <m33vg0F6rprU1@mid.individual.net> <vqis9v$dmmj$2@dont-email.me>
 <m38s7qFt8gsU1@mid.individual.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Injection-Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2025 21:52:42 +0100 (CET)
Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="d742e98f6899c968af77be876c5be79e";
	logging-data="1635510"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18KEW+TXvV1bt2VpD8nLVs+"
User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird
Cancel-Lock: sha1:LM7gL5kDu9nINQ6hFBDoFiIMOZI=
In-Reply-To: <m38s7qFt8gsU1@mid.individual.net>
Content-Language: en-US
Bytes: 4213

On 3/10/2025 2:18 PM, Joerg wrote:
> On 3/8/25 5:53 PM, AMuzi wrote:
>> On 3/8/2025 4:43 PM, Joerg wrote:
>>> In my volunteer work I sometimes deal with folks who have 
>>> dementia, in this case Alzheimer's. Today we did a very 
>>> long walk together. He is athletic and used to be a 
>>> powerful high-mileage road bike rider so no problems in 
>>> the power and endurance domain. The disease has 
>>> progressed to the point where he would become disoriented 
>>> on the roads or maybe ride into freeway onramps and such. 
>>> So he needs a companion. No problem, that would be me. 
>>> When I suggested that his (otherwise now quite passive) 
>>> eyes began to gleam.
>>>
>>> Like in this paper he has lost the ability to shift and 
>>> since we live in the hills this means trucking our bikes 
>>> into the flatlands where you can remains in the same gear 
>>> the whole ride:
>>>
>>> https://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/news/cycling-dementia/
>>>
>>> We would stick to bike paths, preferably ones with a low 
>>> amount of traffic and definitely not many pedestrians. 
>>> About 20mi from here we have an almost perfect one that 
>>> is about 15mi long and has no posted speed limit:
>>>
>>> https://www.usbr.gov/mp/ccao/images/fsc-new.jpg
>>>
>>> I will also switch out his pedals from clip-in to flat 
>>> MTB pedals, don't want to risk him not getting a foot out 
>>> and fall (he is >70). I always carry a first aid kit.
>>>
>>> My question is, what else should I prepare for? Searches 
>>> on the web didn't reveal much, other than that cycling is 
>>> beneficial in slowing the progress of such diseases.
>>>
>>> We'll see how the first rides go. If very well then there 
>>> will be other questions, such as whether there is a road 
>>> bike bike with automatic transmission. Maybe based on 
>>> Di2. They offer it but AFAIK only for electric MTB and 
>>> maybe it can be adapted to non-electric road bikes:
>>>
>>> https://velo.outsideonline.com/ebike/shimano-introduces- 
>>> automatic-di2-shifting/
>>>
>>> Of course, if the guy turns out to be a lot faster than I 
>>> am and leaves me in the dust that could present a very 
>>> different problem :-)
>>>
>>
>> I am not an expert.
>>
>> If you want to shift the bike alongside you, set it up 
>> with SRAM and mount the mini-lever pod on your bike, not his.
>>
>> https://www.sram.com/en/sram/models/EC-AXS-POD-D1
>>
> 
> That's an idea. Looks like it may be Bluetooth, that would 
> bridge 10-20ft.
> 
> I'll see how the first ride goes, how secure he still is on 
> the bike.
> There is one short but fairly flat wide bike path near where 
> they live so we can walk the bikes over to there. Then an 
> airpark a few miles farther with huge wide roads, and if all 
> goes well that Folsom South Canal trail where we'd have to 
> truck the bikes to. I could ride there but too dangerous for 
> him since it's on regular roads.
> 

As always, I'd give it a go and see how you two interact for 
a ride or two before changing hardware.

-- 
Andrew Muzi
am@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971