{"id":868926,"date":"2026-08-23T20:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T20:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/868926\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T20:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T20:48:11","slug":"inaugural-biking-is-for-everybody-event-celebrates-adaptive-cycling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/868926\/","title":{"rendered":"Inaugural Biking is for EveryBODY event celebrates adaptive cycling"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORTLAND \u2014 Brenda Santoro can no longer ride a bike on her own. The 65-year-old was an avid hiker and biker before a multiple sclerosis diagnosis changed her life 20 years ago.<\/p>\n

But thanks to biking nonprofit The Portland Wheelers, she and her friend, 76-year-old Jennette Morse who was diagnosed in 2020, go on lots of biking adventures. <\/p>\n

With helmets atop their heads, Santoro and Morse sat gleefully on the front of wheelchair trikes Sunday at the Wheelers\u2019 inaugural Biking is for EveryBODY festival in Portland\u2019s Back Cove. <\/p>\n

\u201cMS can be very isolating,\u201d Santoro said. \u201cThis gives me the opportunity to essentially do biking and to be with other people and Portland Wheelers are just a fabulous group of people. It\u2019s just been a blast,\u201d Santoro smiled.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s event featured a slew of adaptive activities with the mission to prove that biking can be accessible to anyone, no matter their physical ability. With electric bikes, recumbent tandems and elliptical-style trikes, the event had an experience for everyone.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Oliver Penney, 8, of Portland rides a recumbent trike on a course set up by the Bicycle Coalition of Maine during the first ever Biking is for EveryBODY Festival in Back Cove. (Staff photo by Derek Davis)<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think it\u2019s really important for us to show people that for whatever their body needs, a bike is available,\u201d Portland Wheelers Executive Director Pete Ryan said. \u201cLike these things are just amazing, like where bike technology is at this point, where people don\u2019t have to make do anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wheelers have about 130 active volunteers year-round, and had about 40 throughout the day on Sunday leading workshops and answering questions about equipment. In partnership with Martin\u2019s Point Health Care, the event was made completely free. Ryan said he\u2019s grateful that volunteers and partners shared a common goal to remove barriers.<\/p>\n

Showing people what they\u2019re capable of is an incredibly special opportunity, said volunteer Allen Kropp during a speedy wheelchair trike ride on the Back Cove trail. Longtime volunteer Matt Hollyday added that he \u201cjust can\u2019t quit it,\u201d grinning at Morse, who he frequently takes on rides.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jen Morse, 76, of Scarborough, left, and Brenda Santoro, 65, of Portland are steered around in a detachable wheelchair bikes by Polly Weidhas, left, and Mike Tranfaglia during the first ever Biking is for EveryBODY Festival, put on by the Portland Wheelers organization in Back Cove. \u201cThey are absolutely incredible\u201d, Morse said about the Portland Wheelers organization, with whom she has been riding with for the last two years. Morse will ride twice a month with them and gets to explore around trails in Portland, South Portland and Scarborough. (Staff photo by Derek Davis)<\/p>\n

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Sunday\u2019s festivities also featured a meet-and-greet with two-time Paralympian and world champion cyclist Clara Brown. For her, the bike is a \u201ctool of freedom.\u201d Seeing so many people turn out for an event like Biking is for EveryBODY warmed her heart, she said.<\/p>\n

Brown found cycling later in life after a traumatic accident at a gymnastics practice left her seriously injured as a 12-year-old. Following her years-long rehabilitation, she found Portland\u2019s Cycle Mania, where she bought her first bike; one that could accommodate a right-arm impairment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fell in love immediately,\u201d she smiled, dressed in her national team bib with USA blue mascara. \u201cIt\u2019s cool to look around and see trikes, recumbent trikes, upright trikes, tandems, kids\u2019 bikes, all sorts of things. I\u2019m just excited to interact with everyone and see how the bike has helped them find their freedom,\u201d she said before leading a bike parade.<\/p>\n

Ryan said he\u2019s eager to see the event grow. Watching people realize they can bike is like magic, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think today my life is probably better than it\u2019s ever been. I wouldn\u2019t be the person I am today if I didn\u2019t have MS, so it\u2019s a positive thing,\u201d Morse said, adding that events like Biking is for EveryBODY are a big reason why she\u2019s been able to accept her diagnosis.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Elite cyclist and Paralympic medalist Clara Brown joins a bunch of youngsters to lead the parade at the first ever Biking is for EveryBODY Festival in Back Cove organized by the Portland Wheelers organization. The parade was named Lulu\u2019s Ride in loving memory of Lila (Lulu) Kerman, who was a large part of senior living communities that partnered with Portland Wheelers, helping residents experience the joy of cycling. Lulu\u2019s family donated two brand-new adaptive trikes to help launch the organization\u2019s active participation program. (Staff photo by Derek Davis)<\/p>\n

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By 1 p.m., dozens of bikers of all abilities were lined up at the informal start of the parade, dubbed Lulu\u2019s Ride to honor adaptive biking volunteer Lulu Kerman, who died last year.<\/p>\n

With John Williams\u2019s \u201cOlympic Fanfare and Theme\u201d playing through a speaker strapped to a carriage-style bike, Brown and her fellow cyclists took off along the trail, showcasing their limitless capabilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORTLAND \u2014 Brenda Santoro can no longer ride a bike on her own. The 65-year-old was an avid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-868926","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\/868926","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=868926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}