Tami Jayne Jackson

Writing Samples ~ Employee Newsletter Feature

Mountain Biker Climbs Steepest Mountains While A Bilateral Amputee
Published by: Seattle Public Utilities Newsletters

written by news correspondent: Tami Jayne Jackson

Once a week during the winter and three times a week during the long days of summer, mountain biker Jay Humphries propels his 27-speed up a fire road on Green Mountain, which is located on the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington State. The fire road makes a 1,200 feet vertical climb over a range of nearly six miles and it takes Humphries a full hour and fifteen minutes to reach the top.

"I’m breathing pretty hard when I get there and it’s not because of the elevation," he admitted with a chuckle.

Humphries pedals his bike with two prosthetic limbs. He became a bilateral amputee after a landmine incident eleven years ago.

At the time, he was a 20-year-old paratrooper and part of the allied security force sent to the Kurdish region of Northern Iraq, following Desert Storm. While on patrol, he stepped on a buried land mine. The explosion severely damaged both of his legs, which had to be amputated above the right knee (AK) and below the left knee (BK). The incident also left him totally blind, at first.

Months after rehabilitation and surgery, Humphries regained sight in his right eye, which has a corrected vision of 20/20 with glasses. His left eye remains clouded over with the haze of blindness.

Having survived such a traumatic experience would be devastating for nearly anyone. Yet unlike most, Humphries refuses to let any such obstacles keep him down.
"I wouldn’t consider myself ‘disabled’ with just a BK amputation. It wouldn’t stop me at all," he said. "My AK side is what limits my abilities and I keep finding new ways to get past even that."

Once Humphries pedals to the top of a mountain, he catches his breath and then picks out a hiking trail to ride back down to the bottom.

"Riding down for me is the reward for such a punishing workout getting to the top," he said. "Green Mountain is very steep in spots. It also has a lot of drops and obstacles on the trail down so it is a very fun ride."

Motivation for the Maneuvers
Humphries has been riding a bicycle "just to get around" since 1998. His initial inspiration for cycling longer distances came from wanting to walk his dog Bailey, a St. Bernard.
Humphries was living in the desert of Eloy, Arizona, at the time and while he rode a generic off-the-shelf bike, he and Bailey easily traveled 4 or 5 miles on a regular basis together.

"I wanted to ride a bicycle because when you are an amputee you really miss being able to cover distance under your own power. You are not able to walk too far on prosthetics before you wear yourself out. In contrast, on a bicycle, you can go as far as you want; get a good workout, enjoy being outside and go to places where you could never walk," he said.

All Tools for the Adventure Can Be Found "Off-the-shelf"
THE BIKE

When Humphries goes mountain bike riding, he typically goes it alone. While he says that a reliable full suspension bicycle can be found for around $1,200, he is always upgrading his ride with new components.

"The bikes that have become available these past 10 years have full suspension, which allows me to travel terrain that was just too harsh for riding with a standard rigid frame bike. I rely on the bike’s shocks to take a lot of the impact that typical cyclists would absorb with their knees," he said.

Regardless of where someone buys a bike, Humphries urges amputees to talk to a good bike shop.

"Getting a good bike is extremely important because it will last longer," he said. "I have spent a lot of money on mountain bikes but I ride a lot and am very hard on a bike."
The Bike’s Seat

"When I was first beginning to ride I was very tempted to buy a big fat granny seat since with an AK amputation it is not possible to pedal while standing. All of my riding is done while sitting down. I can stand up on the pedals while coasting, but not while pedaling. The problem with wide seats, however, is that they bump into the socket and you can’t pedal right."

To address this predicament, Humphries purchased a well-made narrow seat from a reputable bicycle store. It took him some time with trial and error before he found the exact seat that would work best for him but he insists that all AK amputees would be much better off by using a seat that’s on the narrow side.

Humphries also emphasized how important it is to wear an appropriately fitting socket - especially for the AK side -- because lost suction in the socket will cause the prosthesis to fall off. Along these same lines, he suggested that mountain bikers should take their bicycle with them when they go to their prosthetist to be fitted with a new socket.

"If you don’t bring the bike to the fitting, the prosthetist will have you walk on it and it will feel great but when you go home to sit on your bicycle, the seat may conflict with the socket and bump you off," he said. "Also, the foot must be internally rotated enough so that the heel does not interfere with the crank as you pedal."

THE Bike’s PEDALS And humphries’ Shoes

For his BK leg, Humphries invested in an "egg beater" bicycle pedal. Basically, it is an off-the-shelf "clip-less" pedal that looks like a bare pedal shaft with a small 4-sided locking mechanism, which is secured with a torsion spring wrapped around the shaft.
Along with the clip-less pedal came a cleat that Humphries bolted to the bottom of his standard mountain biking shoe. Both of his shoes and the clip-less pedal can be purchased from a typical recreational store, such as R.E.I.

To begin any ride, Humphries secures his left foot to the egg beater pedal by stepping directly onto it with the cleat. When he presses down with his foot, he can hear and feel the mechanism snap. That’s when he knows that he is connected to the pedal. It’s a hand-free maneuver and that’s what makes the clip-less pedal so desirable to Humphries.

"To get out of the locked pedal, I rotate my leg 15 degrees and it releases," he said. "The clip makes it easy to get in and out. For a BK, this is the safest and best way to go! For an AK this type of clip wouldn’t work, though, because you have to be able to rotate the foot to get out of it."

Humphries went on to say - that years ago while he was still attending The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. - where he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering -- he didn’t want to wear special shoes to class. So he wore conventional shoes instead and pedaled with traditional pedal straps.

"It wasn’t as safe riding that way because if an obstacle would have suddenly appeared I wouldn’t have been able to get my BK foot off the pedal quickly enough. Now, with the clip-less pedal, if I’m rolling and see something coming, I can easily get my BK foot out of there," he said.

With his left BK foot secure to the clip-less pedal -- but before he fastens his right AK prosthesis to a regular pedal with a standard toe strap -- Humphries begins pedaling the bicycle with his BK side.

Then, as the bicycle coasts, he reaches down with his right hand and puts his AK foot into the toe clip before tightening the strap. The second leg takes a little more effort and coordination to latch onto the pedal than the first.

"If at all possible, I try to balance myself against a tree, then I can start riding with everything already locked in," Humphries said.

THE Prostheses

As an engineer, Humphries is also a product evaluator and has put many different prosthetic products through sports activities. For riding his mountain bike, he says wearing the Seattle Systems Black Max Short (prosthetic knee) with a CaTech stance unit is great because of its ability to flex to 135 degrees.

"To ride a bike with an AK amputation, you really need a knee that has a lot of flexion, and little resistance; I switch the stance unit into swing mode when I ride," he said. "If you try riding with a knee that does not have a lot of flexion it is almost impossible to pedal because the knee will hit the stops as your foot travels over the top of the pedaling stroke"

Along with the Black max-short, Humphries currently wears the new high performance foot that is soon to be released from Seattle Systems. It’s called the "Cadence HP ."

Humphries said that main thing to consider about choosing the best prosthetic feet and components for mountain biking is that, at some point, you are going to have to get off the bike and walk.

"There are almost always some sections of the trail where I just do not have enough torque to make it up the mountain, so I have to push the bike up through the trickier spots," he said.
The prosthetic components that Humphries employs offer some articulation for walking on uneven terrain. He said that amputees should always be mindful that the bike could become disabled. In addition to bringing extra inner tubes and bike tools on a trip, to minimize the risk of becoming stranded – cyclists should also be prepared to walk should the need arise.

More Tips for AK (Above Knee Amputation) riders

Responding to a question about how to manage his health when participating in sports, Humphries had this to say: "Whenever I’m riding my bike, I pay attention to my body and I don’t ride to hurt myself. It’s important to know your limits. Don’t push it too hard, at first. Instead, always do what feels comfortable and work yourself up to longer and more difficult rides."

Methods to His Gladness

When I’m riding a bicycle, the force that gets me going is my BK side. You need at least one biological knee to stop, get off and start back on the bike again," he said. "That’s the knee I drive with, really."
At the same time, Humphries admitted that thirty percent of his pedaling power comes from his AK side.

"My AK limb is definitely not just going along for the ride. I’m actually pedaling with it," he said.

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In addition to riding mountain bike, Jay Humphries skydives.
"Skydiving is one thing but you cannot do it every day. You cannot do it in weather like this," he said as the wind blew rain so hard that it bent trees and covered the parking lot with a mixture of pelting rain and dead leaves.

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