*LPA CONFERENCE* Bike Friday at the 50th Anniversary Convention, Seattle 2007

EVER SINCE attending the LPA Salt Lake City Conference in 2002 (read that story), the Little People have been one of our favorite communities, largely because we feel we can potentially make a real difference to their lives.

We've made several Bantam Fridays since 2002, 'Bantam' being a name coined by the LPA steering committee themselves. Increased interest in the model indicated that we needed to make a bicycle for even smaller riders than Dan Okenfuss, the 4'6" roadie who rides his Bantam Pocket Rocket and keeps pace with his 6'5" brother.

"Well, I think he lets me," chortles Dan. "I can get a lot of draft off him."

We collared Dan for a 25-mile Bike Friday Club of Seattle Ride on the Saturday on which I drafted him with the new Bike Friday tikit. He'd brought his green Pocket Rocket from Sacramento to show his fellow little people what was possible in the realm of bikes for their needs.

This year, Bike Friday Little People Sales Expert Walter Lapchynski and I made the conveniently short trip to Seattle to show the new Bantam Friday at the LPA 50th Anniversary Conference and conduct more research. We measured inseams - which ranged between 12 and 17 inches - arm lengths, and most importantly, heard about what a difference a bicycle could make to the lives of this community.

"All they get to ride are 1-speed kids bikes, they're not kids, they want a real bike."

And even the kids don't want a kid's bike.

"I bought him a kid's bike, the other kids leave him behind and he just lost interest," said one father.

It was great to bump into familiar faces from our first convention 5 years ago, like Angela van Etten, lawyer and author of 'Dwarves Don't Live in Doll Houses'. She remembered us and repeated her invitation for me to come and visit.

The Conference has grown from just 8 people in Reno, Nevada, 1957, when Billy Barty started it all, to over 2000 this year. The LPA estimates there are over 30,000 dwarves in the USA, and little people come from all over the world to connect with their larger community and gain new insights, tools and techniques for living large with dwarfism.

A decidedly different gene.

Dwarfism is very random phenomenon. They've isolated a gene, but it's a variation that often happens after conception, a 'genetic flip' if you will. Hence, any couple, dwarf, average height or a combination, can produce a dwarf child.

Of the 200 different forms of dwarfism, achondroplasia (a-chon for short) is the most common, our customer Dan Okenfuss is an example. 'Achon' is characterized by a larger head, normal body, but shorter arms and legs.

The SED type, in one of its many forms, is characterized by a short but proportional stature. Although you'd think the longer legs would make riding a bicycle easier, there are often joint problems, confining many little people to wheelchairs. An SED couple of around 4'10" were the only ones able to ride our Family Tandem five years ago.

Primordial dwarfism is a very rare and fascinating variation, producing extremely tiny, fine boned limbs and features. A primordial dwarf's head might be barely the size of a grapefruit. I find them extremely appealing, and a renowned Little People photographer Gary Parker has magnificently captured the frail beauty of this, and other forms of dwarfism.

Then there's Morquio, Diastrophic, Kniest ...

The big problem of too little exercise.

The various physical issues that come with dwarfism make exercise difficult and obesity a big problem. For this reason, our presence at the conference was appreciated to the point of near adulation. We heard over and over again: We're so glad you guys are here.

Little people need exercise, and a bicycle still remains one of the universal activities most people with a sense of balance can manage right up until that last rest stop in the sky. It is the reason many former marathon runners with hip replacements turn to the bicycle. We have many such customers in the Friday Fold.

The problem is getting a bike to fit - and this is where the Bike Friday, with its custom fit and small wheels, is ideally placed to serve this community. However, we soon discovered that the ittle people need 'even littler' bikes - smaller wheels, shorter cranks, very adaptable positioning when it comes to that all important feet-hands-butt triangle ...

Living large against all odds

One thing you notice about Little People is their focus on simply making their lives work. Rather than a sense of setback, there is a focused, often bouyant attitude of 'how can I do this better? Is there a way, a tool or technique I can adopt to help me get by just fine in an average 5'6" world?'

For this reason the traffic around our booth was constant. Bike Friday was the only bicycle manufacturer represented, however, a range of shiny little chopper motorbikes created a buzz at the Expo - not a fitness machine like a Friday, but no doubt a blast for this community that's long overdue!

The week-long Conference program is always jam-packed with events like there's no tomorrow: on and off-site workshops, games, sports, medical clinics, dinners, fashion shows, art exhibits, talent quests, creativity corners, scenic tours and a 'have we got an adaptive product for you' Expo.

It's not just an overpacked program, it shouts loud and clear … little people live life to the max.

In order to know the LPA community more fully, I attended some workshops while Walter manned the booth.

Diana Carda was a straight talking nutritionist who discussed health for dwarfs at all ages and stages, although her advice applied to every sentient being.

"If you get me on an operating table and cut me open I look the same anyone," she said. "There's no more pure air or water, out there." She was advocated supplementation, in particular, glyconutrients, but was careful not to pedal any one product.

Here's the magic recipe to help stave off an untimely demise:

NO WHITE STUFF! – ice cream, sugar, white flour, milk, salt …
Drink PURE water.
MOVE - no matter what size you are.
SLEEP - muscles, organs cells need to rest.
SUPPLEMENT – we cannot get enough nutrition from foods anymore.
EAT ORGANIC - while the nutrients might still be deficient, at least you're not eating pesticides etc.

A workshop entitled 3'5" and Under was led by the exuberant Tekki Lomniki, a fireball femme who had made a half hour DVD movie of her life, complete with fabulous production values and a Broadway-style musical interlude. A copywriter from Chicago, she presided over a particularly tiny audience, some on motorized carts, others perched on chairs, the tops of their heads level with the seat back and their feet nowhere near the floor.

Another workshop, beneficial to the many average sized people in the room, was Peggy O'Neill's Speaking with Confidence. This tiny professional speaker walked us through a 12-step cheat sheet of how to prepare and deliver a presidential speech, the standout tip being "The more you say, the less people hear."

She challenged people to come up front and try out the skills. The first woman to volunteer was a regular height woman who trembled in her shoes as the 3' something Peggy encouraged her from a chair. Another gentleman around the same height as Peggy got up to speak about how he loved being a dad. Bingo! Straight from the heart, he had us all riveted.

'Interspatial Relationships': a lesson in true love

Several 'receptions' took place over the three days in private suites, where people from all over the world could meet others with their particular type of dwarfism.

I attended a particularly unforgettable workshop for mixed couples or 'interspatial relationships' – where a little person is in relationship with an average height person. I felt very privileged to be allowed to sit in the room, after somewhat timidly explaining that I wanted to 'know' the whole community. Since we have dwarf customers, they could potentially have a regular height partner, and can potentially build bikes to fit them both on their next bicycle vacation … many a little person tandem!

The atmosphere in the room was jovial, and hosted by a 5'10 woman with her 3' something tall spouse, married for 22 years.

I once went out with a 6'4" guy and being 5'0" people use to make all kinds of nudge-nudge-wink-wink comments about our coupledom. All couples chortled about this, the inevitable obtuse references regarding intimacy.

"We just tell people straight and they usually don't ask again," chuckled one man, probably 6' tall, who sat beside his beaming 2' tall wife.

A young woman had recently started dating a little person, claiming him to be 'an awesome guy'.

"When I told my mother I was bringing him home for Christmas she well-meaningly wanted email the whole family to prepare them. I couldn't see the necessity."

"Hey, whatever makes people comfy," said her beau.

Little people are in many ways far more comfortable in their own skins than we 'average height' people, who hallucinate about issues, some real, most perceived.

One woman on the taller side of average for a dwarf was dating what she called 'a smaller (5'5") guy' - this drew chuckles from the room and a pained but good-natured grin from her beau.

Another couple related a hilarious story – she was an officer in the military and told us how soldiers would address her to her face, then whisper above her head as if she couldn't see or hear anything 'up there.'

"Boys, I can hear everything going on up there, everything. I can't believe they gave you a weapon!"

This couple introduced their daughter, a regular height little tot on the brink of passing her mother in height.

I wandered out of the room with a sense of something I've rarely experienced in circles of 'average sized' couples – that of complete and utter acceptance of another human being, and a quiet commitment to let the world know it.

Bike Friday and the Little People of America

When not attending workshops, Walter and I were measuring, measuring, measuring. Inseams, arm lengths, heights.

We found that although the average inseam was 16", about the same length as Dan, our Pocket Rocket customer, many had inseams around 13" and would benefit from a bike with an even lower stepover, and 16" wheels. All a work in progress to take back to the Bike Friday factory.

One very fit lady, Darcy, wanted to do triathlons. She is a perfect candidate for a Bantam Pocket Rocket Pro Petite. I can't wait to see her hanging onto the wheel of a Cervelo at 25mph with ease.

Another young man sat astride the Bantam looking pleasantly wistful. "It's been a long time," he said. How long? "About nine years." He was celebrating his 20th birthday.

Little Aly Wilken and her family came up to our booth with her Bantam Friday.

"She could only ride a mile of the trail near our house." said her father, David. "The first day she got her Friday she rode 16 miles."

That's why at Bike Friday, we do what we do.