Alberta man who lost leg in freak accident relearns how to mountain bike

A one-legged man from southern Alberta has spent the summer riding mountain bike trails again, after losing his right leg in a freak accident earlier this year.

• Watch a video of Hadley mountain biking with one leg

Matthew Hadley, a former professional athlete from Canmore, Alta., had his right leg crushed while hiking in the Utah desert in March.

Abasketball-sized rock tumbled from a cliff and tore through his limb, destroying tissue, muscle and shattering bones in multiple places.

The amputation of his right leg was a huge loss for Hadley, who hadcompeted on the Canadian national mountain bike team.

But nine days after Hadleywas released from hospital, he spotted an exercise bike at his physiotherapy appointment.

"I hopped on it for 20 minutes, and I could pedal. And I was like, 'Wow, if I can pedal, then I should try to mountain bike,'" he told theCalgary Eyeopener.

He returned home that same day and,with the help of his wife, Catherine Vipond, and his brother, he began to cautiously ride his brother's bike up and down the street.

"Being outside on the first ride, the feel of the wind in my face, it was the first thing I'd done for almost two months at that stage. That was fast, and it just felt awesome," he said.

Cycling without a prosthesis

Since then, Hadley has kept at it.

His prosthetic right leg comes up too high on his torso for him to be able to complete a full pedal revolution, so he rides without it now, he said.

But with just one leg, getting onto and off of his seatproved his biggestchallenge, he said.

"Normally you'd slide your bum forward off of the seat and then put your foot down, but I can't do that," he explained.

Hadley has discovered how to use the lever on his dropper seat post to quickly lowerthe saddle about eight inches so that his left foot can touch down safely.

To mount his bike, he has to kick off the ground, lock his foot into the pedal and clip in, all witha single, fluid motion.

"It was quite a bit of Catherine running beside me in a grassy field to figure out those moves," he said.

Now to tackle winter sports

Some might wonder where Hadley finds the motivation and determination to keep pushing himself physically. He believes it's a combination of his athletic conditioning and the people around him.

"My background of mountain bike racing at the World Cup level certainly enforced that into me. You'll have injury or sickness along the way, and you have to get back up and keep pushing," he said.

"It's been built into me for a long time. I just had to draw on all those resources and a lot of family, friends and community supportto push through the harder times and keep going."

Mountain bike season is wrapping up now, but Hadleyhas no plans to hunker down indoors this winter.

With the help of the Rocky Mountain Adaptive program, he'llsetout to master downhill skiingwith one leg, and cross-country skiingwith his prosthetic limb.

With files from theCalgary Eyeopener.