Specialized mountain bike stolen from man with disability

Nathan Mann’s life changed forever when he was mountain biking in Issaquah’s Duthie Hill Mountain Bike Park two years ago.

The then-31-year-old from Graham had an accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down.

Now, “everything that I do is at least twice as hard as what able-bodied people do,” Mann said to KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson.

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Mann and his family — he has an 11-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old son — have always loved the outdoors and enjoy nothing more than being active in nature.

“This just stripped away most of that,” Mann said. “I mean, I can’t go to most of the places that I would on my bike in my wheelchair.”

However, a unique invention allowed him to get some of that athletic freedom back. Mann had a custom arm-powered bicycle, on which he would lie on his stomach, that let him continue to go biking in the scenic woods and hills of Washington with his daughter and son.

“The customized bike allowed me to get out and be free and ride my bike with my family,” he said.

Thanks to the mountain bike, Mann and his children even went on a biking trip to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming this summer.

“Our family kind of revolves around the outdoors, and the bike was how I got out and revolved with my family,” he said.

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But last Friday, Mann’s world turned upside-down. Mann went out to his carport — where he keeps the mountain bike chained to a 1,900-pound lock — to get ready for a bike ride with his kids … only to find his beloved bicycle missing.

“I was just dumbfounded and in shock,” he described.

The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office told Mann that the thief or thieves likely used ratcheting bolt cutters, which “cut just about everything like butter,” Mann said.

Mann begs everyone in the region to keep an eye out for a hand-pedaled bicycle that is green in the front and back and black in the middle.

“I just encourage anybody, that if they see it, please call 911,” he said.

If it is not located, the customized mountain bike cannot be easily replaced — it cost $14,000, an expense so large that Mann is still paying interest on it.  Mann’s family set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for Mann to have a new customized bike.

For Mann, the bike represents not only his passion for outdoor sports, but also his willingness to live life to the fullest and refusal to let his disability get him down.

“I’ve tried to not let my wheelchair change my life,” he said. “I’ve done everything that I can to stay active, stay outdoors, and show my family that this is only a speed bump, it’s not a dead-end road sign.”

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