Published: July 19, 2008 02:13 am            

PEOPLE PROFILE: Bicycling is a disabled nurse's passion

CAMBRIA — Bicycling is Loretta Robinson’s passion. It’s her freedom from pain and her substitute for walking, which is always difficult.

If only she could find a bike that works with her body.

Robinson, 59, is confined to her home at Cambria Commons since she quit driving last year. Back surgery two years ago nearly killed her, and since then she’s seen the onset of multiple health problems that caused her not to trust herself behind the wheel anymore.

A registered nurse in area hospitals for 35 years, Robinson isn’t one to sit idly in retirement. She stopped working five years ago because of her back — it’s permanently hunched from too many years of heavy lifting — but she still wants to get around. Unfortunately her walker gets in her way, and she can’t go too far on her feet without it.

Put her on the right bicycle, however, and she can go for miles. Astonishing to her doctor, she can pedal like a pro, pain-free all the while.

“People tell me I’m courageous, an inspiration. I don’t feel that way,” Robinson said. “I just love to ride. It’s my life. ... But I don’t want to ride scared.”

Robinson has been an avid bike rider all of her life. As her nursing career progressed, her back condition worsened, but she still rode. After her husband, Jerome, died in 1992, she rode more, working her way up to a 12-mile daily route.

In 1997, Robinson was persuaded to try the Ride For Roswell. She found it to be fun and a worthwhile cause and went back eight more times. As the years progressed, she needed help lifting her 20-speed bike on and off her car, but the cause — and the joy of riding — were worth the price of asking friends and even strangers to help.

Ahead of Ride For Roswell 2005, she recalls, “I couldn’t walk to collect my donations any more, so I went to New Beginnings For Widowed People, the only club I belong to, and asked them to sponsor me. They did.”

That was Robinson’s last Roswell ride, because by 2006 her back was so bad, she submitted to spinal reconstruction surgery. Far from helping, it nearly cost her life.

Robinson contracted MRSA, the antibiotic-resistant staph infection, in her spine, lungs and kidneys, and spent four months in a coma. After two months of post-hospital nursing home care, she went home to the realization that she’s stuck with her walker forever, and she gave away her 20-speed.

She gave it away for an EZ Roll Regal, a three-wheel bicycle with a recumbent seat and more accommodating frame.

Despite multiple adjustments by staff at Burt’s Bikes & Fitness on Niagara Falls Boulevard, however, the Regal never was a good fit for Robinson’s misaligned body. She struggled with the bike for a month before conceding she could not safely work the banana handlebars.

There’s said to be no market for used bikes, but a persistent Robinson managed to persuade Burt’s Bikes to take back the Regal and give her trade-in value on another special bike.

The frame of Robinson’s Towne bike is the heaviest she’s ever had. The seat is low enough for her to sit and still put her feet on the ground, but it’s only a two-wheeler, and the distance between seat and handlebars simply is too great. She has a hard time steering the bike, she said, and the pedaling seems especially stiff.

Robinson last rode the Towne around town last week, when the wide wheels hit stone at road’s edge and she tumbled into a ditch. It was her third fall from the unwieldy machine.

“Luckily I didn’t get hurt, but I hurt my pride. I felt like a bug on my back; I couldn’t get up. Thankfully people stopped to help me, one at each arm pulling me up,” Robinson said, flustered with the memory. “I’m a very determined person, but I’m ready to throw the towel in. I don’t want to fall again.”

Robinson hopes someone can put her in touch with a custom bike maker or figure out how to adapt the Towne to her needs. She’s writing a letter to Burt’s Bikes but worries she already spent the store’s good will when she was allowed to give back the Regal.

“I’m not looking for a handout,” Robinson said. “I’m on a fixed income, but I will pay for a bike that’s right for me. I just want to ride. It’s my passion.”

Anyone who can help Robinson may call her at 731-2535.

        

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