"So be it."
September 6, 2016 8:29 AM   Subscribe

Danny Chew, who's been working nearly his whole life toward bicycling a million miles, has suffered an injury that may have left him paralyzed from the waist down after drifting off the road during a dizzy spell in Ohio.

Chew founded the Dirty Dozen, a bike race covering thirteen of Pittsburgh's craziest hills (including the 37 percent grade of cobblestone-covered Canton Avenue), and won the Men's Solo Traditional Race Across America in 1996 and 1999 (finishing the race six additional times).

His long-term prognosis is still not known, but Chew is not giving up on his million-mile goal, telling a friend just after the accident, "I'll just have to finish my million miles on a hand cycle. So be it."
posted by Etrigan (18 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
The Dirty Dozen ride sounds insane and kind of terrifying; I had a hard time with the steeper grades on RAGBRAI reaching 10%, so I can't imagine being able to go up 37%, and riding down something like that would be even worse because of my acrophobia--I'd have to walk it down, slowly.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:50 AM on September 6, 2016 [2 favorites]


Canton Avenue, a cobblestone monster with a 37 percent grade.

37% and cobblestone! That's some other kind of crazy. Don't do that on a wet day. Any road bike with skinny tires is going to struggle on that.
posted by bonehead at 9:08 AM on September 6, 2016


The Dirty Dozen ride sounds insane

If I'm ever back in seattle at the right time I'll ride in and plan on coming in very last place at The Dead Baby Downhill. But whew, I bike a bit, have done my share of inadvisable stuff, had one suv interaction, but what is it that keeps some folks from just slowing down a bit and taking it easy sometimes. Ride slow, careful, long time.
posted by sammyo at 9:11 AM on September 6, 2016 [2 favorites]


Damn. This just sucks. I've never met Chew but he seems like a good guy and the DD race is a great thing for PIttsburgh.

I happened drive down Rialto Street a few days ago and was semi-terrified in a car going down; I can't imagine going up it on a bike.
posted by octothorpe at 9:16 AM on September 6, 2016 [5 favorites]


I hope he recovers fully, but either way I hope he gets together with Martyn Ashton and they cycle some of his remaining miles together.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 10:04 AM on September 6, 2016


Some footage of the Dirty Dozen race from local documentarian Rick Seabak.
posted by librarianamy at 10:07 AM on September 6, 2016 [5 favorites]


"I'll just have to finish my million miles on a hand cycle. So be it."

I absolutely love this. He rocks.
posted by mochapickle at 10:14 AM on September 6, 2016 [18 favorites]


So, this guy was born in 1962. His miles chart shows 15k in 1978 - when he was 16 - and at least 15k every year since 1981. You're gonna need almost 50 miles a day, every day, to get that. Not really looking to go through his daily chart but I have to ask ... how does he support this? Does the man work on top of all this? That much biking sounds like an all day every day sort of thing.
posted by kafziel at 10:37 AM on September 6, 2016


A fit cyclist could probably maintain a speed around 20 mph, minus a bit for stopping at stop signs, traffic lights ,etc, say 3 hour per day to ride 50 miles? Suppose he has a full time job with a 25 mile commute, he could be doing that five days a week before and after work, plus some riding on the weekend. An hour and a half of travel time each way is not totally out of the question, especially if it's replacing time spent on other activities like commuting to work or going to the gym.
posted by rustcrumb at 10:52 AM on September 6, 2016 [3 favorites]


how does he support this? Does the man work on top of all this? That much biking sounds like an all day every day sort of thing.

From TFA:

Mr. Chew lives largely hand-to-mouth, and does not work outside of organizing the Dirty Dozen and some odd, biking-related jobs, all to free him up for his million mile goal. He still lives in the home where he grew up with his mother.
posted by thelonius at 10:53 AM on September 6, 2016 [5 favorites]


In my best shape, I was putting in 50 or more a day. It was taking anywhere between 3 and 5 hours. You can do a couple of centuries on the weekends, too. I stopped when I destroyed my knee, but I imagine I would still be riding 10-15K/year and holding down a job while I was at it...if I could actually put that kind of mileage in.

A million miles is beastly. Hope he gets back on the bike soon, even if he has to use his arms.
posted by Chuffy at 11:34 AM on September 6, 2016


"I'll just have to finish my million miles on a hand cycle. So be it."

Last month we watched my brother-in-law and sister-in-law finish the Pan-Mass Challenge: a two-day, 192-mile ride across half of Massachusetts to raise money for cancer research. (Contact me if you want to pledge for them after the fact: they're bad-ass bicyclists who will always welcome a donation!)

One of the other finishers was riding a hand-cycle, and the thing that struck me most was: dang, I thought his forearms would be much larger!
posted by wenestvedt at 12:00 PM on September 6, 2016


Figuring 50 miles a day for 360 days a year (18,000 mi/yr), that's over 55 years.

Still, it's the idea not the journey.
posted by bonehead at 1:29 PM on September 6, 2016


According to his web site, he has averaged over 19,000 miles per year since 1978. That works out to nearly 53 years to complete 1,000,000 miles, i.e. around 2031 when he would be 68, if he could keep that up.

Hopefully, his condition isn't as dire as it appears now. You can donate to help pay his medical bills here.
posted by haiku warrior at 3:55 PM on September 6, 2016


Hopefully, his condition isn't as dire as it appears now. You can donate to help pay his medical bills here.

I also hope they figure out why he was dizzy as that also seems concerning. Living "hand-to-mouth" is not really conducive to good all around health when you're in your 50s.

Stories like this make me realize how truly risk averse I am, as the only ballsy thing I've done lately is buying used electronics on eBay. I have a steady middle class job, and I tap dance for an hour a couple days a week. I love that there are people out there like Danny who live their lives on their own terms, and I wish him a speedy recovery and those million miles however he gets them!
posted by bluefly at 4:34 PM on September 6, 2016 [2 favorites]


Agreed that the dizzy spell is worrisome. He is two years older than me and I would probably be dead today if I had not had a stent installed shortly after my 50th birthday. Living hand to mouth also isn't conducive to eating well, and a diet rich in cheap carbs is not good for the coronary arteries.
posted by Bringer Tom at 5:42 PM on September 6, 2016


One of the other finishers was riding a hand-cycle, and the thing that struck me most was: dang, I thought his forearms would be much larger!

There's a guy who sometimes passes me in the morning commuting on his handcycle, and he has incredible, Popeye-style forearms. I would not want to arm wrestle that man.

Chew sounds like an interesting person and I hope he recovers and can continue his quest.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:29 PM on September 6, 2016


Hope he can reach his goal. The last article I read about him had this gem: when he put a new chain on his bike he saved the extra links. When he had enough extra links saved up he had a free new bonus chain. An interesting guy, quests like his are remarkable.
posted by fixedgear at 5:30 AM on September 7, 2016 [2 favorites]


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