Getting the Good Stuff

 

The pedal-assist motor is at the front. One chainring and 11 gears on the freewheel make this a smooth and easy system.

Today I participated in a promotional event for trikes. My friends Mel and Janet own Recumbent PDX, a shop that specializes in trikes.

As I am recuperating and don’t feel energetic, it was a hard sell to get me to participate. I agreed only after being assured I would have a trike with full electric assist so any pedaling would be greatly enhanced by a motor.

Part of me didn’t want to be the guy who needed the extra help of a motorized trike. My concept of self is the guy who rides a two-wheeled bike, fast or slow, rain or shine, and plods across the land with the dull, single focus of the truly obsessed or religiously inspired.

A significant expertise of the shop is adapting trikes for people with disabilities. Stroke, weak knees or back, partial paralysis, balance issues, all motivate people to consider the stability and comfort of trikes.

In taking with the patrons, I realized no one thinks of themselves as disabled. These are the women and men who once bagged the peaks, sprinted to the finish line, ran the ultra-marathons – the super fit, the gym rats, hammerheads, leathernecks. Now that they are older and suffer the usual infirmities, they need just a bit of extra consideration for another taste of the good stuff – the being outside with the wind in the face and moving fast and close to the ground.

Can’t argue with that.

This time around I will eventually recover enough to ride a bicycle once again. Whatever ideology made me think twice about a motor assist is now out the window.

My illness has underscored that going forward I will use all tools at my disposal to get as much of the good stuff as I can.

Stoke!

The video