This is just the beginning…

The beginning of Josie the Paralympian. The beginning of evolving the bicycle industry to include all bodies. The beginning of a new cycling discipline without boundaries and limits: gravel.

Before the making of ‘Go Josie’, self-proclaimed mad scientist Josie Fouts was ‘normal’: she worked a 9 to 5 job that was underpaid, she prioritized finishing her work over social events, and she commuted by bike 28 miles in a day. She did it all with only one hand.

Even after quitting her dream job to train full-time as a cyclist, she still considered herself ‘normal’ entering able-bodied stage races, crits, circuits, and training without adaptations: staying in the big chainring or riding 1x, only using the front brake, and no prosthetics.

This short film highlights a pivotal point not only of Josie’s cycling journey, but how the bicycle is helping her understand herself on a deeper level.

When Josie sees what other paracyclists — Katie Walker and Leo Rodgers — can do with customized prosthetics and custom bikes to fit their unique bodies, it empowers her to accept her true physical form too: she’s anything but normal.

By building a gravel bike from scratch, she realizes being too stubborn to ask for help will get her nowhere fast. And that with customized adaptations to her bike, she can reach her full potential. Bicycles are changing Josie’s life, one ride at a time.

#GoJosie

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