Wednesday, February 14, 2007

More background - first impressions

When I ordered my trike, I thought at first it’s a lot of money to spend on a bike/trike. After putting it together I soon realised it’s not just a tricycle! It’s a much nicer ride than a diamond frame (DF) or upright bike, and much better for many reasons. Although the type of bike one rides is always the individual's choice, unless you've tried a recumbent, you can't know what you are missing!

As I mentioned earlier, I first tried a short ride on a 2-wheeler recumbent over two years ago. I was on my way home on my DF, and caught up with a guy on a recumbent on his way to work, got talking to him about his bent, when he said 'Wanna try it?' So I did, for about 300 yards of pavement to his works entrance. I was hooked from that first moment! Since then the idea of one day owning one myself had remained dormant, until the summer of 2006. I don't remember what caused it to resurface. I somehow found my way to lots of websites of manufacturers, riders' archives and blogs, and eventually decided I'd get a recumbent trike. I remember deciding on three wheels, because of the icy conditions here in autumn and spring (not to mention winter, because I hadn't seriously considered riding in winter before - now I know that I'm much safer on 3 wheels than on 2). Another criterion was that it had to be foldable, so that I could get it in the car and take with me.

That's what I did a couple of weeks after building it. I took the trike to my brother-in-law's, where they all tried it and liked it. The three daughters enjoyed riding it too - almost couldn't stop the youngest! My mother-in-law even tried it, and she's in her 80s!

I’ve been riding my trike to work since it was ready to ride (early October). The only time I've used my old bike was when I went on a ride with my son, so that we could swap machines for him to enjoy the recumbent ride too!

Lunch used to be the highlight of the day (at work). Not any more! My two daily rides put lunch in third place!

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