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Walden Lake Friends Use Handcycles After Losing Legs

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By GEORGE H. NEWMAN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 20, 2008

PLANT CITY - Two friends who live in Walden Lake have been riding together for almost five years - not in a car or truck, or on motorcycles or bikes, but on handcycles, recreational, hand-powered, three-wheeled wheelchairs for those who have lost the use of their legs.

Dwaine Chevalier, a victim of childhood polio, and Ray Hargrove, a Vietnam War veteran who lost both his legs in combat, have found they have much more in common than a debilitating condition since meeting in 2003.

Both men have refused to allow their inability to walk to hold them back. Both have a strong love for family and life. And both have discovered a strong faith in God can help overcome life's obstacles.

They met a few weeks after Chevalier, who was in his wheelchair on a bike and walking trail that parallels West Timberlane Drive, first spotted Hargrove working for a landscape company. "I noticed this guy operating a riding lawnmower, cutting grass on the side of the road. He was a double amputee. Both his legs were gone, but he was operating that big mower like a pro."

Hargrove, 58, worked for eight years for the lawn service company that serviced Walden Lake, Plant City's largest residential community. Miles of roadside right of way and acres of community parks and other common areas meant a lot of mowing, and much of it was handled by Hargrove.

"I notice Dwaine moving along the trails in Walden Lake several times back in those days." Hargrove said. "He had a standard wheelchair. I watched him rotating the tires with his hands to move along the path. If he was interested in exercise I knew I had something he would be interested in."

Chevalier, 70, remembers their first meeting like it was yesterday.

"I was pushing my wheelchair when this guy," Chevalier said, pointing at Hargrove, "pulled up next to me driving a red pickup truck. I recognized who he was. I was just as amazed that he could drive a truck with no legs as I was that he could operate that big mower."

Hargrove, who started riding a handcycle in 2001, laughed at the memory.

"I asked Dwaine if he was interested in getting a handcycle to use for exercise instead of pushing that wheelchair. He didn't know what a handcycle was. So I invited him over to my house and showed him."

Now both men own handcycles and are regular visitors to the walking paths that surround Walden Lake. The 5-foot wide asphalt paths wind through the park, pass by the community golf course and meander through several neighborhoods. Both men ride six days each week but often use different routes and times for their outings.

"I usually ride an hour or two later than Ray," Chevalier said. "And my route doesn't always take me around Mud Lake the original name of the main body of water commonly referred to as Walden Lake. Ray and I will ride together sometimes. But his bike has higher gears than mine, and he's hard to keep up with."

Chevalier lives in an area of Walden Lake known as Forest Park with his wife of 18 years, Carol Ann. Between them they have five children and eight grandchildren. He said Plant City is worlds away from the town he was born in, Springfield, Vt.

"I was raised by my mother," Chevalier said. "My father left us when I was just 1 year old. Three days before my 15th birthday I got sick. The date was Oct. 8. I'll never forget it. I couldn't go to school. My back was killing me, and I could hardly walk. ... My mother was poor, and I didn't go to the doctor for a few days. One morning I woke up and I couldn't move my left leg. They eventually diagnosed me with polio."

Chevalier was overwhelmed by what had happened. Polio, a viral disease, completely changed his world.

"I was a jock in high school," Chevalier said. "I was a good student. Had lots of friends and planned on going to college on a basketball scholarship. I had everything going for me. Suddenly I'm told that I will never walk again. The doctor said I could never play competitive sports. I couldn't believe it."

Hargrove's path to the loss of his legs was just as traumatic.

Hargrove was born in Douglas, Ga., and raised in Dade City. He joined the Marines in 1968 and soon found himself in Vietnam.

"I couldn't have told you where Vietnam was on a bet," Hargrove said. "The next thing I know I was there."

Hargrove's company was sent into the jungle and ordered to stay in the field for months. The mission was to contact and destroy the enemy, he said. While on patrol they would find a defensible area before dark, set up a perimeter and wait for daylight to move again.

"On Feb. 4, 1969, my commander asked for a man trained on a machine gun to fill a spot on the perimeter. The captain called me to tell me where to set up. I was carrying my bazooka and some extra rounds in case I needed them," Hargrove said. "The captain's headquarters was located in an area where people had been walking for about 30 minutes. But the extra weight I was carrying must have set off a landmine, probably an 81 mm mortar that was set up as a booby trap."

The shrapnel killed the captain, a radio man and two Marines, Hargrove said. The explosion blew his legs off to a point above the knee.

"A good buddy of mine, David Bell - we called him Tim - used my belt and his as tourniquets. He tied off both my legs to keep me from bleeding to death," he said.

Hargrove said he wasn't bitter about what happened.

"Don't get me wrong," Hargrove said recently after completing his morning ride. "That war and all other wars don't just affect the soldiers involved. It touches entire families. So if I shrugged it off in my own way, my wife and family still suffered because of it. God asks a lot from all of us. But I am convinced that by his grace we can take everything he can put on us."

Hargrove, who moved to Plant City in 1977, has three grown children and five grandchildren who live in the area and attend Victoria Baptist Church. Hargrove's wife of 34 years, Debra, died of cancer in 2005. "She was the really strong one in the family," Hargrove said. "She really made my life worth living."

Chevalier, who attends the Plant City Church of God on Mud Lake Road, said he also draws strength from his religious beliefs.

"Both Ray and I agree that having a strong faith in God helps us handle the difficulties of life," Chevalier said. "I had a chip on my shoulder and some anger issues that I didn't recognize or understand when I was a young man. But I found the Lord on Jan. 30, 1977, at the Assembly of God in Miami. Life is still trying at times. But it is important to me to stay close to God. When I put my life in the hands of Christ, my life and career changed me forever."

In his younger days, Chevalier competed in the Southern Conference Florida National Wheelchair Basketball Association. He led his team in scoring, was among the top five players in the conference and in the top 20 nationally. He was the first player in the league to score more than 30 points in a game.

"We competed in Miami, Tampa, Atlanta and Chattanooga," Chevalier said. "And we traveled all over the country. We even went to Jamaica to play exhibition games against the national team there."

Chevalier retired from competitive basketball, but he is a member of the Special Olympics Bowling Team in Plant City and bowls Tuesday nights at Family Bowl on U.S. 92.

Chevalier worked with several national moving and relocation companies, climbing from clerk typist with National Van Lines in Miami - where he was named handicapped employee of the year in 1969 by Dade County - to operations manager for Atlantic Relocation Systems in Tampa. During his 48-year career, he also worked in Houston and Indianapolis. He retired in 2006.

Through his friendship with Hargrove, he found another way to remain physically fit.

"When I started using the handcycle, it gave me more mobility and allowed me to travel farther," Chevalier said. "I need to remain active. It would be easy for me to become a couch potato. The paths around Walden Lake help me remain active and physical."

Hargrove said he also likes staying fit.

"I ride eight to 10 miles each day. I go as hard as I can and don't stop until I am drenched with sweat," Hargrove said. "I definitely push myself to retain my upper body strength."

They enjoy riding together or on their own.

"Ray and I aren't out there trying to prove anything," Chevalier said.

"We are just out for a walk in the park, but on wheels," Hargrove said.

Reporter George H. Newman can be reached at (813) 865-4451 or gnewman@tampatrib.com.

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