Advice for Active/Manual Chair Users.

May be teaching some to suck eggs here, but as an active chair user for over 8.5 years, I thought I'd offer some advice. Hopefully some of it a little different to the usual advice.

Note: This is entirely from my own experience and not all of it may apply to you.

1. Moisturise. Your hands go through a lot. Dry, cracked hands covered in callouses are not what you want. Not only can it be painful and lead to infection, but it also reduces grip when you're not wearing gloves. Moisturising your hands regularly is a game changer.

2. Pull, pull, pull!! With constantly pushing, your shoulders will develop an imbalance which will lead to future permanent injury. Working the opposite muscles helps massively to slow this down. Seated rows, overhead press and lat pulldowns are good exercises for this.

3. Learn to do maintenance. Changing a tyre, adjusting brakes, front caster fork/wheels. Carry enough tools to do a roadside repair and if possible a spare inner-tube and a pump (my pump is electric). Pack of wet-wipes for when you inevitably wheel through dog mess is pretty handy too. 😄

4. Learn to wheely. It's not just to impress chicks/dudes 🤣 Learning to hop up/down a kerb, hop the front casters over a rut in the pavement and descend hills safely - going downhill and hitting a rut/hole is bad news, wheelying down is safer. Also, learn to fall. If you go over backwards, tuck your chin to your chest. Plus with experience you can control a fall so you don't hit the ground hard.

5. Taxi fare/back up plan. I once wheeled 2 miles home with a front caster wheel missing because I ignored my own advice (didn't have tools on me and should have used blue Loctite). Didn't have my wallet on me, so that was 'fun' 🤣 You think nothing will happen, but it will.

6. Cycling/weightlifting/wheelchair gloves are hot garbage (IMO). Actually the best gloves I've ever used are 'Showa 380' mechanic gloves. Grippy as a gecko, lightweight and last me for hundreds of miles. Cheap too! Buy a size smaller than you usually do.

7. Tyres/tubes. In my very opinionated (but correct) view, airless tyres should be considered a war crime 🤣 Yeah, I know you worry about punctures but Schwalbe do a great range of tyres with kevlar puncture protection. Also, due to their high pressure, they lose air slowly so top up the air at least once a month. I always recommend minimum of 100psi but I go to 120psi. A tyre low on air will make pushing less efficient, but can also lead to a 'pinch puncture' where going over something can damage it by pinching the tube against the rim. Whilst we're here, Presta valves do hold pressure better, but Schrader valves are easier to get an emergency top-up at a petrol station/friendly mechanic.

8. Stay visible. Not so relevant this time of year, but if out in the dark, you want to be seen. I have some cheap little rechargeable bike lights with rubber straps. You can also get adhesive reflective strips, but no, not for me 🤣

9. Know your limits. Yeah you proper whizzed down that hill, but are you strong/skilled enough to get back up?

10. Chill TF out 🤣 From experience, if you get mad at everyone who makes a stupid comment or 'joke', you're going to live a very unhappy life. Plus that kind of reaction is often what they want. I've educated so much more through humour/banter than rage.

11. Now this is a bone of contention for me as I don't follow this bit of advice, hence why I've put this last. If you're going off the beaten path or offroading, it's probably best you tell someone where you're going. Either verbally or sharing your location on your phone with a trusted friend.

Hope some of this is helpful to someone. It's not comprehensive but I do feel these are important to know. There's so much more advice I could give, but this is already long. Any other manual wheelys want to add advice they feel is important then that'd be much appreciated ❤️