Profiled in the NYT, here: "At 65 and Legally Blind, ‘Sister Shred’ Has Never Met a Slope She Wouldn’t Ride/Kris Nordberg still loves rolling through rock gardens and shredding powder on her ski bike — sometimes, in a nun costume."
She has pseudoxanthoma elasticum, a progressive genetic disorder, and "riding with her head turned to the side, she can use her peripheral vision to make out people ahead of her on the trail and shapes and colors."
When she encounters a particularly tricky section of a trail — for instance, a rock staircase with jagged boulders that could snag a front wheel and send a rider over a bike’s handlebars — she sometimes asks strangers for guidance. She carries a bright orange strap and politely asks other riders if they could use it to mark the path of least resistance.
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19 comments:
Either this will end badly or our standards for legally blind need to be revisited. The nun costume's cool, though it's also cultural appropriation. Somebody should alert the Times' cultural sensitivity council about this.
If she ever does go over a 2000 foot cliff we all console ourselves that she died doing what she loved.
Remember how nothing ever hurt Mr. Magoo?
Big Mike said...
If she ever does go over a 2000 foot cliff we all console ourselves that she died doing what she loved.
how about... She got what she deserved?
Assuming she lives through the crash, i assume that she's vaccinated? because i wouldn't want her medical treatment denied.
You know? How they deny medical treatment to people that refused vaccines? Because that meant that 'they brought it on themselves'?
When she needs expensive medical treatment... For riding while blind... I wouldn't want vax statuts to get in the way of the treatment she needs.
@Althouse, remember how Mr. Magoo is a cartoon?
Good for her. Do what you love. She is a brave lady.
What's with the nun outfit.
She sounds like a Catholic bigot, like many of the commenters here.
Try it with a burka next time.
Legally blind is much different from totally blind.
George could squint to 20/20 vision.
The nun suit invalidates it for me, that makes it about the public display. If she was just interested in riding for its own sake, the nun suit would not be necessary. That makes it, "Honor me because I am crazy."
If she gets injured, can she get medical help? Or is she told that she did it to herself and the health system should not help her
Like many want to do to people who are not vaccinated
If she ever does go over a 2000 foot cliff we all console ourselves that she died doing what she loved.
If she ever goes over a 2000 foot cliff after a stranger has provided "guidance" in the form of marking a path of least resistance, the plaintiffs' bar will eat that stranger for lunch...
I quote an elderly professor at my college, chuckling over my scabs and bruises after I had a bad bicycle wreck: "Those who ride bikes will fall off." I'd have hit him with my fiberglas-casted arm if I could have raised it above my head. My nemesis was a dachshund who suddenly turned broadside as I sped by him.
Here's wishing good rides to the woman with poor vision, and happy trails for as long as she can manage them.
"Those who ride bikes will fall off."
i know Nothing about bicycles. But, the saying for Motorcycles is
There are riders who are going down,
There are riders who have been down,
There are riders who are going down, again
Lots of activities have a similar aphorism:
There are two kinds of pilots: those who have landed gear-up, and those who will.
There are two kinds of divers: those who have run out of air at depth, and those who will.
There are two kinds of gun owners: those who have had an unintended discharge, and those who will.
There are two kinds of voters: those who have regretted a vote, and those who will.
etc. etc. ad infinitum.
I'm not legally blind and i have no desire to ride a bike along "Knife-life cliff edges". Ok, so you ride you bike there, and you don't die. Do you win a prize?
Big Mike said...
If she ever does go over a 2000 foot cliff...
She never saw it coming...
I don't know anything about ski biking. Are the other riders going slowly enough and pausing enough that you can politely interrupt them to ask them to stop what they are doing to help you?
How scary is a cliff that you can't see?
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