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Bike builder delivers "little joys" to cyclist with ALS

Stephen Meyers
stephenmeyers@coloradoan.com
Zach Yendra of Fort Collins redesigned his popular “Bootlegger” cargo bike so he could transport former cyclist Mike Cimbura, who now has ALS, on the three-day Death Ride Tour.

Zooming down Lizard Head Pass at 50 miles per hour, Mike Cimbura felt like a happy dog with his head out the car’s window

The cool, crisp wind against his face. The thrill of leaning into the highway’s next bend. That raw feeling of speed on a bike.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, has robbed Cimbura, 51, of these sensations. Over 18 months, the incurable, crippling condition has gradually destroyed the neurons controlling his movements and robbed the father of three of his speech.

Incapacitated, hooked up to a ventilator and wearing a black trash bag to fight the wet cold, Cimbura sat strapped into his front seat on Fort Collins’ most famous bike, the Yendra Built “Bootlegger.” For three days in June, Cimbura was a cyclist again, riding in the Death Ride Tour.

“I never thought I would have a chance to go fast like that,” Cimbura, of Denver, told the Coloradoan via email.

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Going fast is all Cimbura’s ever known. He raced dirt bikes. Then messed around with freestyle BMX. Eighteen-years-old and working at a bike shop, Cimbura was talked into road biking. The sport stuck with him.

He raced on the UC-Santa Barbara team and moved to Colorado where he formed a road cycling team now known as Groove Subaru. The competition was the most fun part of cycling, he said.

“Even on training rides, we all would try to inflict pain on each other,” Cimbura said. “No rest for the slowest rider.”

But ALS knows no boundaries. A cyclist, runner and snowboarder, Cimbura was the epitome of health. He rarely drank, and doctors said he had the blood work of a 35-year-old.

Like former NFL player Steve Gleason, Cimbura’s strong muscles have been stripped away by the rare neurological disease that the ALS Association says affects an estimated two in every 100,000 Americans each year. Life expectancy after diagnosis is about three years.

He can’t breathe or swallow on his own. He eats through a tube stuffed into his belly. Though he can't move, he feels pain; bed sores are a common occurrence. During the three-day Death Ride Tour, it took two people to lift Cimbura into his bucket seat on the Bootlegger and strap him in.

“After 18 months I have been reduced to a blob,” Cimbura said.

Mike Cimbura, 51, of Denver, was diagnosed with ALS 18 months ago and now can't move his body. He was able to ride in the Death Ride Tour with Fort Collins bike builder Zach Yendra who modified his Bootlegger cargo bike.

The Death Ride Tour 

Organized by Barry Sopinsky of Aurora, the Death Ride Tour is an annual 232-mile ride over the grueling, but stunning, San Juan Skyway in western Colorado that raises funds for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the ALS Association.

Cimbura joked in February with his wife, Nicole, that he’d like to do the ride. The wheels of possibility started rolling then.

A call to Sopinsky led to a call to Zach Yendra of Fort Collins-based Yendra Built, and by April the talented bike and furniture builder began altering his Bootlegger cargo bike to accommodate Cimbura for the three-day tour, which Yendra happily agreed to ride.

“(Sopinsky) was super pumped about it. He said we’ve got this guy, he used to ride bikes, he likes to go fast, but now he has ALS and can’t ride anymore,” Yendra said. “I didn’t know anything about trying to get somebody in a bike and knew it’d be a lot of work, but I said let’s go for it.”

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First built a few years ago to haul Equinox Brewing kegs around Old Town, the Bootlegger can carry up to 500 pounds, loaded in the front. Straddled by two wheels in front with one behind the saddle, the Bootlegger is like a backward tricycle, with a 500 to 750-watt motor to assist hauling all that weight.

Yendra knew the bike could easily handle the weight of hauling a person, but the trick was making sure Cimbura was secure and comfortable.

So, the bike was stripped down, the frame reinforced and a race car bucket seat added. Through emails and face-to-face meetings, Cimbura and Yendra developed together the right formula to build a safe, comfortable ride. The front of the Bootlegger basically became a wheelchair seat plopped on top of a bike, with a spot for Cimbura’s battery-operated ventilator.

On June 10, Yendra finished welding the seat insert, and the next day in Silverton, Cimbura was buckled in the seat, ready for a 73-mile ride to Telluride.

Yendra, a self-described “lifestyle rider,” would do all the pedaling on no training other than the 20-mile round trip daily commute to his workshop.

Mike Cimbura, 51, was diagnosed with ALS 18 months ago. Here, he poses for a photo with his children, Aiden, 16, Seide, 19, and Ellie, 13.

“I really saw a lot of myself in Mike. He was working on rebuilding this old truck, he’s a cyclist ... we’re both just a couple of gearheads who love to ride our bikes everyday. I was like, ‘I have to make this work,'" Yendra said.

The pair battled rain and hail storms, failed ventilator batteries and steep mountain passes, but together, Yendra and Cimbura completed the three-day tour in high spirits. On the last day, the duo raced the first 15 miles from Durango to Silverton, hanging with tour’s fastest riders. Yendra delivered the need for speed, several times gunning it down the mountain passes at 50 miles per hour.

As an added treat, Cimbura’s 16-year-old son, Aiden, rode the Bootlegger for a portion of the ride, up Lizard Head Pass. Experiencing those moments with his son was his favorite part of the ride, Cimbura said. His two daughters, Seide, 19, and Ellie, 13, rode in a support van with mom, cheering him on.

“Being able to see their dad experiencing something he loves was a big deal for the kids,” Nicole Cimbura said. “Him and Zach are now already talking about what their next ride is going to be.”

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Yendra envisions a weeklong bike tour with the Bootlegger, something he never envisioned when he created the bike five years ago.

“Giving people the opportunity to go on bike rides like this, it’s really struck a chord with me,” Yendra said. “So often, you see someone in a wheelchair who can’t move, and you feel sorry for them, but you don’t actually think about the little joys their missing. If the Bootlegger could help people go fast and experience that joy, then that's awesome.”

That little joy of feeling the wind on his face is something Cimbura will cherish forever, he said.

"The ride was one of the most exhilarating things I have done since I was diagnosed," said Cimbura, whose goal is to watch Ellie graduate high school. "I want people to know that life can go on if you want it to. My quality of life isn't quite what it used to be, but I still have a lot to live for, and I plan to make the best of it for a while."

Xplore reporter Stephen Meyers covers the outdoors and recreation for the Coloradoan. Follow him on Twitter @stemeyer or @XploreNoCo. 

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