Transcript

Dirty Freehub

This is the Connection. A dirty free hub podcast connecting gravel cyclists to where they ride through short stories about culture, history, people, places in lands.

I’m Kira Corbett and on today’s episode we have Sky Cheney, who is an adaptive cyclist and outdoor athlete based in Bend, Oregon. In October 2017, Sky was mountain biking the famous porcupine rim trail in Moab, Utah, when a crash sent him over the handlebars. He landed on his head, breaking his back and sustaining a spinal cord injury along with seven broken ribs, a fractured sternum, and a fractured menobrium.

Today, Sky is back in the outdoor things he loves, just finding different ways to experience the same freedom, challenge, speed, and grit in all of his sports. All right. Well, thanks, Skye, for being here. I appreciate it.

Gravel Champ: Skye Chaney

Yeah, you’re welcome. Thanks for having me.

Dirty Freehub: Kira Corbett

Yeah, so you’ve ridden everywhere from Whistler to Arizona to your home trails in Bend. What keeps pulling you toward new places to ride?

Gravel Champ: Skye Chaney

So I grew up in the country with the upbringing that was just to get in before dinner and before dark, that kind of thing. So I was always playing and exploring, so the vibe never left. And so I always am seeking new sights, sounds and smells, pretty much just hardwired that way.

Dirty Freehub: Kira Corbett

I bet. Especially being up from dusks to dawn, I hear you’re always finding different ways to experience the same thing that cyclists are chasing, like freedom, the grit, the challenge, the speed, all of it. and most of all, a really good day outside. Tell me a little about your riding now and what those experiences are like.

Gravel Champ: Skye Chaney

Now it’s like a, it’s another level of preparation that’s needed to be successful on adaptive bikes. And it ain’t like throwing a, a spare tube in your bag and you can walk out, things go wrong. So making sure I’ve got all the necessary gear and tools is critical. So like you’re constantly going through and double checking and double checking and making sure when you’re going on solo missions. so yeah, everything’s up a level or two from what any description says based on that, especially solo. I do about 75% of the time solo, so it’s, I’m pretty, uh, self-sufficient and, yeah, I don’t know, man. It’s, it’s a whole different game when you’re, when you’re on adaptive.

You got wires and throttles and double spare tubes and you just don’t wanna get caught out there. So, I got some adaptive riding buddies that I’m comfortable riding with. So, going back to like the good old days of two bikes and you’re just chasing people down the hill, it’s fun to chase them around the trails.

So honestly, there’s more rat adaptive riders than I think anybody would think. So as we get older and we get tired of getting hit by every, ledge drop or route or rock check, you know, I think people are slowly transitioning into more long distance gravel, road riding.

Dirty Freehub: Kira Corbett

Yeah, totally. And it’s like, I used to be a runner and like coming from running to biking, it already seems like there’s so much more mechanical things involved. So that’s a really good point you bring up. It’s like just another, level to add to it.

Gravel Champ: Skye Chaney

Yeah. Yep, indeed.

Dirty Freehub: Kira Corbett

Yeah. Well, take me back to kind of right after your accident. What was the moment you realized that you can get back on the bike and what did that first ride feel like?

Gravel Champ: Skye Chaney

Well, honestly, I never had any doubt that I wasn’t gonna ride again. at the time I didn’t really know what that meant though. didn’t really know anything about spinal cord injury or anything like that. So just kind of figure it out as you go. But, I was fortunate enough to have rehabbed at Craig Hospital in Denver and they got all sorts of like get out back in the real world devices and, and therapists and whatnot.

And so, the resources that they had, they got me on a, really low profile, street racing cycle, trike. And that was a pain in the butt because it was so low to the ground. So transferring to the low ground back to the chair and having to lay down to ride, I wasn’t really into that. Um, the, I think maybe a few weeks later they got me into a reactive adaptations [00:04:00] bike, which is like more of a traditional two front, one rear, and your legs are forward and I’m pedaling and we went to the mountain bike trails out in Boulder, Colorado, and it was like, okay, how can I order a bike? Let’s go. So it was pretty much full throttle from then.

Dirty Freehub: Kira Corbett

That’s pretty cool. I bet you were like stoked to be on the mountain bike trails
too, out there.

Gravel Champ: Skye Chaney

Absolutely lovely. the trails down there were a little bit interesting because we went in the beginning, it’s like Boulder County Park, I think like that. So, but, but they got trails for like, older people. They’re very calm, cool and whatnot. So we’re ripping them up. But I did go back to Denver and Boulder and ride up in some of the more remote stuff it’s pretty gnarly up there. Definitely. A little bit different riding style than bend, for sure.

Dirty Freehub: Kira Corbett

Yeah, what’s your riding setup actually like? Can you walk me through a little bit about your adaptive bike specifically and kind of some of the things it takes to [00:05:00] get dialed in for gravel and mountain biking?

Gravel Champ: Skye Chaney

Yeah. so I got a, it’s a trike and it’s a Delta style. I don’t know if there’s any trike nerds out there, but it’s one in the front, two in the back. It’s 29ers and I got shocks and it’s got, I wouldn’t call it a suspension, but it’s called a suspension from the factory. It’s a lasher. anyways, it’s got a e-assist.

So it’s your typical, you know, you pedal and it kicks in kind of thing. it has a emergency throttle override, so if I get stuck somewhere and I can’t get pedaling, I can throttle if I need to. that’s pretty much the bike. I sit with my legs forward and the, the bullhorns are right in front of me and, and whatnot, for the pedals.
So I carry just, two spare tubes, patches, every single electrical part imaginable on that, a toe strap. if I’m going deep, I carry a spare tire, got zip ties, duct tape. I mean, anything you can MacGyver something back together to get you back, I got it. And I always have that. So, I [00:06:00] got an earbud in one ear usually, listen to some music.

it also helps connecting to your phone in case your phone bounces out, you lose signal, you’re like, “Where’d your phone go?” And you like gotta go circle back and get it. So it’s kinda nice. I go pretty fast, with 29ers on the way around and with, it’s got a pretty good system.

I got a big battery, so I could probably roll, oh, easy 60 tough miles. And if it’s easy, I could probably pull a sentry off. I haven’t tried it yet. I’m hoping to. Yes. so, I keep a Garmin in reach with me all the time, just in case I need a satellite out or there’s no reception. Other than that, I don’t drink a lot of water, so I’ve got a little water bottle and that’s basically about it really.

And if people come with me, usually I’m packing some of their stuff because it’s easy for me to keep on my bike to keep the weight off of theirs and whatnot. So it’s about.

Dirty Freehub: Kira Corbett

I mean, you’d be a great person to ride with, with all the extra like equipment that you carry.

Gravel Champ: Skye Chaney

Right.

Dirty Freehub: Kira Corbett

Yeah. Tell me about a ride that didn’t go as planned, like whether it’s [00:07:00] mechanical or some terrain. I mean, if you’re riding 60, 100 miles sometimes, I feel like you’ve got to have a something.

Gravel Champ: Skye Chaney

Yeah. Okay. Well, uh, I mean, there’s been a few interesting situations that I was with somebody and we’re like, “Oh boy, I can’t do that.” And so trying to spot down certain things was super sketch. I mean, it’s like nobody goes over or otherwise everybody gets really hurt. but I think the biggest one’s solo.

It was a couple years ago I was riding, try to do Bachelor to Town every year, so like on the single track trails, which goes into some double track, back to single track whatnot. So I, was like, “All right, cool. I’m gonna, go pull this off solo real quick.” and it was Bluebird. I get up in the mountain, park at Dutchman, and I, and I about get 30 minutes.

I get up Flagline and I start dropping down into Swampy and, and all of a sudden it just a big crackle, rackle thunder. And I’m like, “Oh boy.” So, you know, I’m kinda riding and I stop and I kinda look back towards Bachelor and it’s just dark.

Oh.

“Uh-oh.” And within like five minutes, it’s a full on, just Gusher downpour. And it did not stop. and I’m an electric bike, right? It’s not like it’s meant to get wet. It can kinda get wet, but not like full on. it’s like you may as well just go jump at a pool. So I’m riding down the trails, you know, and I’m, I’m looking back and, the trail’s a creek.

It’s literally a rushing wall of water coming at me. And I see two riders just ripping down and I’m like, “All right, Swampy.” And they’re like, “Yeah, we’re going too.” And so I chased them because I couldn’t see my phone and I couldn’t really remember which trail broke off the Swampy quick enough. So anyways, that was horrible because I literally though I was gonna get stranded.

The bike was gonna shut off in the middle of the trail in the middle of the rain and I’d be just screwed. So I ended up making it back to Swampy and I, and I phoned a friend for help. and that was it. And I literally five minute drive back down Century, it was Bluebird. So it was just like a I mean, you’re out there.

Assuming people do come by, that’s fine. You could probably, you know, hit your ride or have somebody go call. But, yeah, it was an all electronic phone, bike, everything and it’s, you don’t, you have gear for that kind of stuff, but not like that. It’s, that was just crazy. And there’s been a couple other times where I’m like way up early in the season and I’m chasing the snow line and I get a flat because you’re kinda going over snow drifts and sometimes there’s a bunch of broken sticks under there and next thing you know, you’re like, “Uh-oh.” So, yeah, and changing flats isn’t like ideal, on the bike.

And that particular time I had a fat tire on, and so it was like impossible to get off. And so I’m like, “Uh-oh.” I was able to get out on a text, to a friend of mine who works for Coda, and he does trail work, and I know he does the, Whoops sections and whatnot. He happened to be working at the top of Pine Drops, and I was literally at the top of Storm King, before it goes into Whoops.

So he came and got me in like 10 minutes and, uh, showed me the path out because I couldn’t see through all the snow and whatnot. So that was the time I was getting scary because the sun was about to drop and it’s like, ah. So all those times like that, you know, about the whole exhilaration and why you do it, kind of going back to I think maybe your first question is, is you like that excitement, that adventure to keep continuing forward even in a, a state of, you know, I can’t, I just can’t walk.

I don’t consider myself handicapped or paralyzed. I just, I just can’t walk. So, you know, just making everything work in a different way, you know, you can still do the same thing. It’s just a little bit harder. So
and if it’s like in those summer storms, those
can be wild for for rides.

I have never experienced something like that unless I’m like in monsoon season down in Mexico or something. It’s like every four o’clock, you know, you get storms and you kind of know it. That was just this is like happening on me right now. Uh-oh.

But I feel like the, it’s exactly you’re mentioning about like just kind of a, the earlier question. It’s like those are the rides you remember, the experiences you remember because you’re like, you know, you go for rides probably a decent amount and like, it’s another ride, but something like a big rainstorm and [00:11:00] then, you know, flats, they’re always just like memorable experiences, I feel like.

How did I end up in this position? I mean, I guess I could have probably prevented some of it, but Yeah, it’s part of the fun.

Dirty Freehub: Kira Corbett

Exactly. Yeah. if a rider with a disability or injury is standing kind of at the edge of deciding whether they wanna dabble in gravel riding, wondering if it’s even for them, what’s the one thing you’d tell them to just try it?

Gravel Champ: Skye Chaney

Huh. I mean, as a wise tail or whatever, over there, that trail beyond the mountain, there is an adaptive rider ripping it up. So go because you can. It’s basically kind of all I have to say. mean, there’s so many different personalities and, people with disabilities and what level their disabilities are and whatnot.

So it’s hard to really say, comfort them all. So that may, I mean, I, I just came up kind of a little quote. I think that would be the best, some sort of inspirational motivation.
I mean, that’s a good one. And it’s so true. I mean, there’s all kinds of riders in the trails, especially around Bend too.

Yeah.

Dirty Freehub: Kira Corbett

Yeah. Do you have anything coming up next for you? Like any cool routes or events or trails [00:12:00] that you’re dying to do?

Gravel Champ: Skye Chaney

Well, um, broke my back in Moab, so every year, I go to Moab. you know, that’s kind of where my new life began. So, that said, it’s a magical place. That’s kind of all I got in the works coming up this fall and just to dig into a lot more new gravel rides.

Dirty Freehub: Kira Corbett

That’s awesome. Yeah, Moab’s a wonderful place to go ride.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Gravel Champ: Skye Chaney

I hope to get lost in Europe sometime, like in Italy and write something like that. But, uh, yeah, no, that’s, that’s about it.

Dirty Freehub: Kira Corbett

Well, thanks so much, Skye. I appreciate it.

Gravel Champ: Skye Chaney

You’re welcome.

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