A group of cyclists living with Parkinson’s disease is riding across the Prairies this week to raise awareness about the benefits of exercise and community support.<\/p>\n
The Parkinson Canada Spinning Wheels Tour includes three groups travelling across the country. One group is riding from Western Canada through Saskatchewan to Winnipeg, while other groups are travelling through Eastern Canada and Newfoundland.<\/p>\n
Cycling and Parkinson’s<\/p>\n
Phil Rainer, one of the cyclists taking part in the tour, said the ride is an opportunity to highlight how cycling and fitness can help people living with Parkinson’s.<\/p>\n
Rainer was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2017 after spending about 30 years as a recreational competitive cyclist.<\/p>\n
“I found that once I got diagnosed, it limited me a little bit, but I still kept with it,” Rainer said.<\/p>\n
He said cycling has helped him maintain his balance and fitness while keeping his symptoms at bay.<\/p>\n
Rainer said his symptoms have remained relatively stable in the years since his diagnosis.<\/p>\n
Tour crosses the Prairies<\/p>\n
The group began its Prairie portion of the ride in Lethbridge, Alta., and was heading toward Swift Current on the third day of its journey.<\/p>\n
The cyclists are scheduled to continue through Saskatchewan before travelling into Manitoba.<\/p>\n
The tour is designed to raise awareness about Parkinson’s while also encouraging people living with the disease to remain active and connected with others.<\/p>\n
Li Jiang, another cyclist involved with the Spinning Wheels Tour, said funds raised during the ride support Parkinson’s programs in the communities where the money is collected.<\/p>\n
“Some of them go to the fitness and community programs,” Jiang said.<\/p>\n
Related Stories:<\/p>\n
Building community<\/p>\n
Rainer and Jiang encouraged people living with Parkinson’s to connect with others, even if they do not participate in cycling.<\/p>\n
Jiang said people do not have to ride a bike to benefit from the support offered through the Parkinson’s community.<\/p>\n
“When you know you’re not alone, it’s so important to go through this journey,” Jiang said.<\/p>\n
Rainer said Parkinson’s can change a person’s life but does not have to control it.<\/p>\n
“That it does change your life, but it doesn’t manage your life,” he said.<\/p>\n
More information about the Spinning Wheels Tour, including ways to donate, is available at spinningwheelstour.ca.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A group of cyclists living with Parkinson’s disease is riding across the Prairies this week to raise awareness…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":862777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-862776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}