On Labour Weekend last year, at Elevate camp in Matamata, I saw a newcomer in a strange sort of wheelchair: one that is operated like a bike. I thought about asking this person where she got a wheelchair like that- but she was way too fast.

A bit later I saw a different person in the same sort of chair and I noticed they seemed to be letting other people have a go in it. So I piped up, “Can I try your wheelchair?” Koko, who imports COGY to New Zealand, said, “Yep, sure!” So I got my first go with COGY.

After transferring from my wheelchair into COGY, and having the pedals fastened to my feet by Koko, I set off down the driveway with my buddy. We got to the km/h sign, with me straining my leg muscles against a slight gradient in the road, before we decided to turn around and come back. By the time I had rolled/ pedaled back, my quads and ankles were both had it. I didn’t need to walk that night.

About that time, Koko surprised and excited me with her suggestion that she could let me trial COGY for a month, FREE. I beamed. She quickly qualified her statement. It wouldn’t be until about January 2018.

We have been keeping in contact by email. Today at 2pm she turned up where I live with COGY. I had lots of fun navigating corners. Koko raised the back of COGY, remedied my foot drop and strapped my knees apart. She is really good at working out problems. She said I am good at steering COGY. 🙂

The owners of the hostel put on cake for afternoon tea. 🙂 (You must have seen I had a visitor!)

I needed a drink of water afterwards. I think I will sleep well tonight after using all those different muscles!