The fact that Michael Trimble lives a normal life is by itself quite impressive.
The 27-year-old man was born without arms in Ukraine, where he lived in an orphanage for the first years of his life. An American couple in Pittsburgh adopted Trimble when he was 9 years old.
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Trimble -- whose condition was a result of the Chernobyl disaster -- eventually graduated from college, found a job that lets him telecommute from home, and now lives on his own. But there was one thing he wanted: a bike.
Having ridden a bike in school once, Trimble knew the basics, yet couldn't find any bike shops willing to "roll" with his unique requirements. Eventually, he befriended Michael Brown, a custom bike frame fabricator in the city, who agreed to tackle the challenge.
"All we had to work with was a short 5” stump on [Trimble's] left side and his will to try anything," Brown writes in a blog post on his website.
So he fashioned a bike -- sans handlebars -- designed to be steered via a long bar with a U-shaped attachment at the end. Armed only with the modified bike, a shirt with the sleeves tied off, and a hefty hockey helmet, within 30 minutes Trimble "got the hang of it and was riding on his own and even making turns."
"It was so much fun. It felt like teaching my little child how to ride," Brown told the Gazette of his experience. "Mike was so happy, you could not get the smile off his face."
Trimble's Facebook page is now dotted with the various times and distances he's ridden, all tracked via an app on his iPhone. Under a post noting "10.16 miles in 54 minutes!!" a friend notes, wryly, "taking 'look mom, no hands!' to yet another level."
WATCH Trimble's first bike ride, below:
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