Watch out Circuit of The Americas, Freedom is on the track.
8-year-old Levi Kleen hit the Circuit of The Americas Formula 1 track on his Freedom Concepts bike, while cyclists cheered him on.
“It’s this massive track with like this huge incline Hill and these crazy turns,” said Vicky, Levi’s mom, “they opened the Circuit of The Americas, for $5 You can go there, take your bike, and you can ride on the actual Formula 1 track.”
Vicky said her son is obsessed with racing, NASCAR and F1 along with the Cars movies which keep his attention for hours, making this experience extra exciting for Levi.
Levi, on his adaptive bike, enjoys racing his cousin and going for rides around their neighborhood and local bike trails.
“He loves speed, and he loves being able to move the way other people do,” said Vicky.
Levi has Spastic Diplegia Cerebral Palsy which mostly affects his legs, and Cortical Visual Impairment which is a neurological vision processing disorder. This means Levi uses a walker or wheelchair and AFOs.
Vicky describes Levi as incredibly smart and academic. She said he loves people and always seems to attract a crowd.
“While watching him on his bike I cry regularly for joy, because I see him being independent,” said Vicky.
She said when she looks at the bike from a therapy and caretaker perspective, she sees many benefits for her son.
“I see the exercise, the patterned motion that he’s repeating over and over as he does those legs, the stretching and mobility and the long-term gains,” she said, “That’s the thing with Levi, if he’s having fun therapy’s not work. If he’s having fun, he’s getting all this extra benefit because it’s patterning this motion in his brain and in his body. I’m just rejoicing on every level because we’re getting so much more than just the joy of a bike out of it.”
Vicky said she has seen a better range of motion in Levi’s legs since he got his bike, and that his muscles and joints are loosening up.
“The bike riding and being able to do this pattern movement, it almost mimics walking, she said, “he wants to stand, run, walk and jump that’s his goal. That’s what he prays every night.”
“This is like PT on wheels in our backyard, Levi got on it and has never looked back” she said.
The bike is equipped with the ON/OFF Reciprocator which allows the bike to go from direct drive to free wheel.
“We can go longer distances, longer paths or longer rides and he can say “I need a break” and we don’t have to stop everything or transfer him to another chair,” said Vicky.
Levi’s bike was funded through a partial grant from Athletes Helping Athletes, and the hard work of family and friends to fundraise the remaining cost.
“It was so nice because we had a whole team of people that were cheering us on, that we’re spreading the word and for them to see this coming to fruition. It didn’t just bless us, and it didn’t just meet Levi’s needs. This impacted so many people, and it involved so many people, it was our community, our family, our people came together to make this happen,” she said.
