It takes Scott Edgar one-and-a-half times more energy just to walk than it does an able-bodied person, and yet the Kurri resident refuses to let excuses stop him from achieving his goals.
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One of those goals is to complete the 13.5-kilometre Wollombi Wild Ride event this Saturday, an event he has had his eye on for the past three years.
In 2011, Scott lost his left leg after a 10-year battle with multiple leg ulcers, meaning he would need a prosthetic limb.
He spent the following 10 months in hospital, but he wasn’t about to just sit and mope about it.
“I’m a pretty driven kind of guy,” he said.
“Nothing really gets in my way.
“As far as my leg goes I had a long time to think about [losing] it.
“I’ve had a few problems with it, but I just get on with it.”
Around 12 months ago, Scott started work as a personal trainer at Genesis Fitness Maitland, which has generally kept him pretty active in the lead up to the ride.
His team Amped Ability, which is also his personal training business, is made up of 10 members from the gym who have entered the Wollombi Wild Ride together.
Scott was drawn to the event after seeing a video of a man taking part in the ride with his young child.
After watching the video a couple of times, he decided it was something that he himself could achieve.
“I thought if he can do it, I can do it,” Scott said.
He thinks the weather may be a challenge as it is forecast to rain, but is looking forward to seeing if he can finish the race.
Despite previously being an avid mountain bike rider, Scott considers the Wollombi Wild Ride to be his first organised bike event, as he feels that before and after losing his leg are very separate parts of his existence.
“It’s kind of like two lives really,” he said.
“You’ve got one with two legs and one with one.”
But he said losing his leg was a wake-up call to the way he was living.
“It used to be work, sleep, repeat,” he said.
“Losing my leg kind of woke me up.
“I have a much better life than what I did.”
His motto with his personal training clients is “leave your excuses at the door,” a motto he lives by himself.
“People with disabilities can have a life with able-bodied people,” he said.
“I just want to be the same as everyone else.”
Scott said he has noticed and experienced a real divide between disabled and non-disabled people, a barrier he is trying to break.
For example, he is trying to get wheelchair sports in to Hunter schools, to change the stigma around disability and create a level playing field for all.
“I’m trying to break down the walls of us and them,” he said.
“There’s a big line drawn in the sand.”
After the Wild Ride Scott is learning to run again at a three-day program in Brisbane in late September, and afterwards he has set his sights on competing the Fernleigh 15 either walking or running.
He wants to thank Paul from H Events and Ted Cycles for their support and assistance with the Wollombi Wild Ride.
