12 · SATURDAY, MAY 20, 2017 steps leads from the street to the front door, so Domos uses the back alley to come and go. Even that, however, has steps he has to deal with, and then there are the stairs to the second floor. He keeps a rope on the back of his chair because, as he puts it, it’s not a disabled world. Even when you go places that claim to be ac-cessible, lifts or escalators are often broken. So he maneuvers himself up the stairs with his upper body, then pulls the chair up behind him. “Not everyone can do that, but I can,” he said. “That’s part of the reason why I’m always harping on Danny (Chew). People think I’m tough on him, but I am for a rea-son, because I know what it’s like. People want to coddle him and baby him and do everything for him and I’m like, ‘You guys mean well, but you’re doing the worst thing you can possibly do.’ The worst thing.” Domos’ story is now inextrica-bly linked to Chew’s, for reasons neither of them would ever want. Chew, also of Squirrel Hill, is the cyclist famous among Pittsburgh bike aficionados and known in bike circles nationwide as the Million Mile Man, two-time Race Across America winner and creator of the Dirty Dozen bike race up Pitts-burgh’s steepest hills. He trained Domos for his unofficial attempt at the 24-hour handcycling record last summer at the Bud Harris Cycling Track in Highland Park, during which Domos rode 407.7 miles. Two weeks later, Chew fell un-conscious while on a bike ride, crashed and is now paralyzed from the chest down. As he continues to rehabilitate in Ohio, he and Domos have been in constant contact. Now it is Domos who advises Chew as he adjusts to his new life, including riding a handcycle. One piece of advice? The “gym monkey” weight train-ing stuff, Domos said, is useless. What’s useful is getting on the floor and trying to get on the couch, then back to the floor. Climbing a couple of steps. Going from the couch to the wheelchair. “That’s the kind of stuff you need,” he said. “That’s the stuff you’re going to be using your whole life. What happens if you’re outside your home in Squirrel Hill and you fall out of your chair? What are you going to do? Are you going to lay there helpless until someone hap-pens to come by and help you up? No. You have to be able to do this stuff on your own.” If there’s one piece of advice Do-mos would offer to caregivers, it would be to stop doing everything for the people they’re caring for. “Seriously,” he said. “Make them do as much as they possibly can on their own.” Domos said now that others in the cycling community see how much difficulty Chew is having with a handcycle, they finally understand how difficult the sport is. “I’ve heard people say, ‘That’s a lazy way to bicycle,’” he said. “One of the problems is I make it look easy, but I put a lot of work into it. There’s a lot of work that goes into making anything look easy.” For a while, post-accident, Do-mos got heavily into competitive weightlifting. Later, after he gave that up, a fellow paralyzed athlete introduced him to the push rim wheelchair racing. That, he didn’t like, but the hand-cycle, in which the rider is more reclined and uses a crank, was a different story. His first handcycle arrived the day after the 2009 Pittsburgh Marathon. He entered the race the following year, making his handcycle mara-thon debut, and won. Shortly after, however, Domos CHRISTOPHER HORNER | TRIBUNE-REVIEW was diagnosed with the first of many wounds that would ultimate-ly land him in bed for three and a half years. A scan later showed what he described as a “tree” of wounds where bacteria was eating away at his leg from his posterior to the back of his knee. Domos didn’t race again until the 2015 Pittsburgh Marathon, and he came in ninth. The result was un-acceptable, he said, embarrassing. To this day he vows it will never happen again. “But that’s what I needed,” he said. “It made me better. A little bit of humility is good.” Domos came in second in 2016 before claiming victory once more this year. Next, he plans to travel to Bor-rego Springs, Calif., to attempt the 24-hour handcycling record on an officially sanctioned course. The CHRISTIAN TYLER RANDOLPH | TRIBUNE-REVIEW current Guinness record for the greatest distance covered on a hand-cranked cycle in 24 hours stands at 403.8 miles, set by German Thomas Lange in 2009. Bringing in someone to verify the record in Pittsburgh would be too costly, he said, so last summer’s at-tempt was more of a practice run. He has a film crew working on a documentary on his life and his attempt, called “Attila’s Next Step,” for which they’re currently trying to raise money through a GoFundMe account (visit attiladomos.com if you’d like to learn more). After that, Domos, who has also written a book and last year re-leased a solo music album, will undoubtedly come up with his next big challenge in life. His advice for anyone caring for a loved one or individual with a new life-changing injury or diagnosis? “Obviously, you have to have patience,” he said. “I see some guys like Danny (Chew’s) level (of paralysis) who struggle to tie their shoes, but let them do it. Even if they get frustrated, because at some point they’re going to have to do it for themselves. That’s the biggest thing.” ADAPTING & ADJUSTING After winning his second Pittsburgh Marathon hand cycle race, Atilla Domos’ next major goal is to challenge for the world record for distance hand cycled in a 24-hour period. Domos raises his fist in victory as he crosses the finish line downtown in the 2017 Pittsburgh Marathon.
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