28-04-2025
Cyclist overcomes spinal injury, rides GAP trail on trip across U.S.
OHIOPYLE, Pa. – As Todd Gladfelter pedals past wildflowers in the Laurel Highlands under a canopy of trees blooming above the Great Allegheny Passage, the world almost feels normal.
The 64-year-old from the Reading area has spent the past 31/2 years battling his way back to 'normalcy' after a fall from a roof left him with a broken neck and an incomplete C3-5 spinal cord injury in 2021. Doctors told him that he'd never walk again.
Gladfelter and his wife, Cindy Ross, weren't about to settle for that diagnosis. Avid outdoor adventurers who met while hiking the Appalachian Trail, they weren't ready to give up their favorite hobbies.
Now Gladfelter, Ross and a group of friends are riding portions of the Great American Rail-Trail to showcase the importance of accessible trails as part of Todd's Road to Recovery program. The 150-mile-long Great Allegheny Passage is one section of the 3,700-mile-long GART, which runs from Washington, D.C., to Seattle.
The GART connects more than 150 existing rail trails, but there are still large gaps along it where cyclists need to ride on public roads. Gladfelter isn't willing to do that, but he and Ross hope to ride up to 2,000 miles during journeys over the next year and a half.
'We're taking the summer off because he can't get too hot,' Ross said Sunday during a 32-mile ride from Ohiopyle to Whitsett. 'We'll come back and do Indiana, Iowa and Illinois in the fall – and maybe Nebraska. Next year, we'll go back and finish out.'
The GAP section isn't just the first portion of the ride – it's also one of the couple's favorites, they said. Ross is riding the GAP for the third time, while Gladfelter had completed it once prior to his injuries.
'It's an unbelievably nice trail,' he said. 'It couldn't get any prettier, especially this time of year. The trilliums are blooming.'
For the couple, there's more to love about the GAP than the stunning views, they said.
'We live right by the Schuylkill River Trail, but I had to spend half the year fighting to get a handicapped toilet put in because he'd have to go to the bathroom and he couldn't,' Ross said. 'They really have that in place (on the GAP). There are handicap-accessible bathrooms everywhere, and the surface of this is fabulous.'
Gladfelter uses a three-wheeled cycle that allows him to sit and pedal. It has electronic assistance that he says helps him ride an extra three to four miles per day.
The group plans to ride the C&O Canal section, which runs from Cumberland, Maryland, to Washington, D.C., next. Gladfelter had to buy a mountain bike trike for that portion of the GART, because the C&O Canal section can have grass on the trail that could make it nearly impossible to ride with his existing trike.
That's not a concern on the GAP, which has a crushed limestone surface over most of its 150 miles. Despite winding through the Laurel Highlands, the path has an average grade of less than 1%, making it an easy ride.
'This trail is phenomenal. It's such a great trail,' Ross said.
'This is my third time doing it, and I forget how much variety there is, from the viaducts and the tunnels to the waterfalls. (On Saturday in Somerset County), we probably rode past 20 different little waterfalls.'
Gladfelter has worked hard to rehabilitate his body, and he can walk up to a mile per day with a cane, a walker and, at times, without assistance. Despite daily rigorous physical therapy sessions – both with medical staff and at home – walking is difficult and often painful for Gladfelter.
'When I'm walking with my walker or a cane, I have to focus on the roots and the rocks, and I'm looking down,' he said during a break outside Ohiopyle. 'My body's stiff when I'm upright. When I'm on a bike, for the most part, my body's pretty relaxed. Something like this, I can look around and I can see stuff.
'It almost feels somewhat normal,' he said. 'I'd rather be on a bike – I miss the maneuverability of standing, moving and jumping off – but this is all right.'
