Interview With a Bike Commuter: Minh Ngoc

Know a great bike commuter? Let us know! Email Jessica at jessica@bikesiliconvalley.org. 

Some people learn to ride a bike as soon as they can walk. Others get their start later in life. Meet Minh Nguyen, a Silicon Valley resident who hopped on wheels just a few years ago and since then has mastered double centuries and fundraising rides.

Minh grew up in Vietnam, and when she was two years old she fell ill with polio. The infection permanently impacted one of her legs, and she spent her childhood watching her siblings play sports while she sat and cheered from the sidelines. A decade ago, Minh was visiting one of her brothers in Cambridge, England, when she had a life-altering injury. “Pulling two suitcases I tripped over something and tore three tendons in my good ankle… one leg was polio impacted—it’s weaker, it’s shorter, it just can’t do a lot of things—so I just sat on the ground,” she said. When she returned to the US, she was given the option of surgery, but decided to undergo physical therapy instead. Five years into physical therapy, Minh had her foot surgery.  The recovery consisted of months of using a wheelchair to get around.

Minh was still in pain, but instead of focusing on her pain, she wanted to help others. Three of her friends were battling cancer and Minh looked for a way to help. Walking was painful for her, so fundraising by running a marathon wasn’t an option. She decided that a fundraising bike ride would be a better option.She started out by riding to the bank and back – a 1.5-mile round trip – and adding a trip to the library and back – a 5-mile round trip. Riding didn’t hurt, so Minh decided to sign up for a Livestrong ride.Unfortunately, the shortest Livestrong ride was 50 miles.

One day, Minh rode to a doctor’s appointment – a 20-mile round trip. When she got home, she called her brother and asked him if he thought she could manage a 50-mile ride. He said yes, but recommended she try training with other people. Minh started training with some friends and went from “huffing and puffing” when crossing freeway overpasses to finishing her first Livestrong ride in 2009, for which she raised over $1,000.The next year, Minh gathered even more people to participate and as a group, raised $6,000.

To improve her biking skills, she joined Almaden Touring Cycling Club (ACTC) in 2011, where she now serves as a board member.Minh soon began to bike to and from work but was too nervous to ride alone. With the help of ACTC, she planned a route to work, which she test drove and led a group ride on before becoming a regular biking commuter. Since her first ride, Minh has tackled the Carmel Valley Double Century and earned the California Triple Crown. At the young age of 60, she biked a double century over the course of 22 hours. She has also done back-to-back century rides in support of the Challenged Athlete Foundation (August 2015); completed Ride to End Polio in Tuscon, AZ (November 2017); and finished Tour of the Unknown Coast in Ferndale, CA (May 2016).

Now 62 years old, Minh is an active bicyclist and persuasive advocate.“What keeps me going is when I’m riding I feel like a two-year-old kid. On my first Bike to Work Day I was like a little kid going through Halloween night!” Minh said.Minh says riding has gotten her more in tune with her body.“Now I’m more aware of my physical limits since I became an ‘athlete’,” she said. “I feel that I’m liberated, independent and there are no boundaries around me. I feel like I can fly!”It has also opened up a new dimension to her life.“For me, as a polio survivor, all my life I was very conscious of my body, during my life as a teenager I wanted to wear dresses or skirts but I was told ‘no, you don’t want to show your leg, it’s not pretty’,” she said. “Now that I’m bicycling, I’m like, who cares? I do what I want, my body is my friend, not my restraint. I’m grateful to have found a new form of freedom that was missing from my youth.”