A little bit of RAGBRAI inspiration

MANNING — Jill Hodges is experiencing her first RAGBRAI a little differently than most, she’s cycling with one leg.

The 45-year-old California native lost her leg to bone cancer when she was 11-years-old, but that change did not stop her from continuing on an becoming not just an ordinary athlete, but a tri-athlete.

Hodges said her family gave her the confidence and strength to keep at it, even after a long adjustment period.

“Not until college did I really feel comfortable, (with the leg loss),” she said. “They (her family) just wouldn’t let me say I can’t.”

Hodges also enjoys , swimming and running. She plans to participate in an Iron Man later this year.

She is also a member of of the Challenged Athletes Association, an organization that helps get disabled athletes back into sports, she said.

“Being involved makes me feel like I can do anything, I just have to tweak it,” she said.

Hodges is on a team of nine cyclists for RAGBRAI. So far, she’s enjoyed the Iowa landscape and people the most.

“The scenery is amazing, just incredible,” she said. “The people are so friendly, out there waving at us, bring us water and letting us put our bikes in their yards.”

Hodges took up cycling in 2004 and rides her bike with her one, incredibly strong right leg. Her leg is so powerful that her companions said they do not feel a need to take it easy on her.

“We treat her just like the rest of us,” Michelle Sullivan, a close friend and team mate of Hodge’s said. “We don’t have to cut her much slack, she stays up with us.”

–Kathryn Stinson

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