Shifting into High Gear: One Man's Grave Diagnosis and the Epic Bike Ride That Taught Him What Matters

<p><i>Shifting Into High Gear</i><b> </b>charts<b> </b>the course of Kyle Bryant's transformation as he journeys on a recumbent tricycle across the United States in the throes of Friedreich's ataxia, a life-shortening and disabling disease. Full of humor and reflection, it's a heroic journey of a man driven to reframe the language of disease through action and service.</p><p>As you travel with Kyle during two cross-country bike rides through the American West, Texas, the Southern States, and finally to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, the grueling rides become a compelling backdrop for a series of lessons and ruminations which embrace an alternative worldview and provide practical solutions to everyday problems. A thrilling adventure story, yes, <i>Shifting Into High Gear</i> is also ultimately about helping readers reinterpret the conditions of their lives and learning how positive thinking, purposeful connection, and deliberate actions can help anyone reach beyond their limits and live a bolder and bigger life no matter what the circumstance.<b> </b></p><b></b><p>Deeply passionate and compassionate, Kyle uses his amazing story to teach readers how to replace the handicapping language of "disability" with the agency to build a thriving and hopeful life. He bravely exposes the shadow-side of using disabling language and asks us to commit to a collective goal of understanding disease and its emotional impact and embrace the disabled population as <i>equal individuals. </i>In telling his story, Kyle's desire is that instead of viewing disease as a deficit, we would see it as another state of being—simply as a life which strikes out on a different path.</p>