The Incredible Bike That’s Rocketing a Paralympian Toward Glory

(calm music)

[Krige] I never would've thought after losing my legs

I would do hundreds of marathons.

[Narrator] Krige Schabort's gearing up

for his ultimate competition.

His sixth and final paralympic games in Rio.

He's originally from South Africa,

but he'll be competing for Team USA.

It's the last stretch in a journey that started decades ago.

I lost my legs in the military in 1987

when I was 24 years-old.

I was a runner at school and I was a swimmer, rugby player,

you name it.

I did it all.

[Narrator] After the accident,

he searched for a new way to compete.

That's when he found hand cycling.

Now with one last chance

to score a paralympic gold medal,

he's banking on the latest in cycling tech

to give him a boost.

[Krige] I'm not young anymore.

I do see over time that I've needed smaller things

to give me that little extra edge.

[Narrator] So he turned to Chris Peterson,

the founder of Carbonbike.USA,

Our bikes are all carbon fiber,

the frame, the fork, the cranks,

and that really helps reduce the weight.

For example, the bike for Krige Schabort,

he's a lightweight guy, being a double amputee.

If his bike is super stiff, it will bounce down the road

and the whole bike being made out of carbon fiber now,

it's a few pounds lighter than his old aluminum bike.

The thing he really's looking for

is to be stable in the corners

and be able to accelerate quickly.

[Narrator] As the sport became competitive in the 90s,

racers shifted from sitting upright

to a more aerodynamic position,

but there's still room for the technology to advance.

[Chris] Hey, the games are over, the games are over,

and we need to start making better bikes for the next games.

New materials being developed,

whether it's just other composites besides carbon fiber,

and that's stuff that we're looking at also

to see if we can make it lighter, better,

maybe less expensive.

It's an evolution.

There are so many different bikes nowadays

on the market,

and it almost come to a point where all of them

are on the same play level,

but then you have the smaller things,

that really makes a difference to an athlete

that wanna go that next step.

It's my final year as a paralympian.

I will still compete and have fun with it,

but not at this level.

This has been a great journey for me.

There's another journey ahead.