Before I leave for a ride, I stare at my electric bicycle: a breathtaking turquoise frame with gentle curves and a wide pillow of a seat. This was an expensive model, but my friends didn’t care. They didn’t know what to do or say when I got sick with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), so they pooled their cash and bought me an electric bicycle with a top-of-the-line motor and a battery with a 55-mile range, hoping that I could hold on to at least one part of my old life.
“You will get through this, you are so resilient, you are so strong,” they wrote in the card.
I let out an exasperated gasp as I struggle to maneuver its 65 pounds out of the house, bashing the handlebars into the wall and jamming the front wheel on the bottom sill of the door. Over the past year, my muscles have atrophied, and it’s moments like these that force me to recognize just how much strength I’ve lost.
Read more at: https://www.outsideonline.com/culture/essays-culture/chronic-illness-e-biking/
