One of the goals of Anyone Can Bike is to offer free, use of our bikes for group rides. We want anyone who wants to try to ride a bike, be able to ride a bike. With the development of eBikes and now eTrikes it can happen.
I like riding a two wheeled bike, but it’s really not for me. It’s only fun sometimes, then my back hurts afterwards. I’m not, in “cyclist” shape nor will I ever be. I just don’t have that type of commitment to a sport. But I do like pedalling my ELF recumbent eTrike.
I get moving, commute and do errands in it. It’s about a 50-50 split between my car and my ELF. The daily question is, which will I take today? 20 miles in a day is nothing in a eTrike, but its still a really good workout, especially with the hills around here. It’s a workout that would never happen otherwise.
Not only is it good for me physically, it’s fantastic for my brain. After every ride I’m relaxed. Yes, even after pedalling in trafic. We have few useful bike lanes in Southern California. But after every ride there’s a feeling of accomplishment and pride. Not to mention, I’m being eco-friendly. After all the trike charges the electric assist battery from the solar panel on the roof. Kinda cool right!
Just recently I visited a bike shop that sells trikes. I quess business is just ok for them. They just recently downsized and now they sell skatboards too. But while I was there the owner spent a great deal of time explaing how recumbent trikes really operate. Then it was an hour of test rides on the different types he had in the store. I had too much fun that morning. Here’s a plug for them Bike Vault in San Marcos, California.
It was that morning, that I solidified what I wanted to do. Just about anyone can ride a bike/trike. Maybe that’s my purpose in life. As my late Mom would say constantly, “Go outside, it’s nice out there”.
So what does this have to do with anything. Well, our first 100% donated recumbent trike is being loaded up in a trailer in Texas, as we speak. Sadly the shipping costs had to come out of my pay the house taxes fund, but it’s so worth it. Now, we have 3 1/2 ELF’s. Yes a half of an ELF. We drove to Arizona for it. It had been somewhat abused. Then we borrowed a few parts from it to fix my ELF “Shelby”. We’ve manage to repair the massive body damage, that alone is amazing. Now, it’s time to replace the parts we borrowed and put her back together. We call her “Miracle”. It will take a miracle to get her back on the road.
But in Texas there’s a little, very old ELF that has few miles on it. It’s the second one every built. Kickstarter #2 and her name is GEOrgie. We couldn’t decide between Geo because it’s been geographically, a pain to bring it to San Diego or Georgie Girl after the old song. Not to mention it’s the name of the gentleman who gave it to us, George.
So, if anyone out there wants to help out, we would like 3 more plain recumbent trikes or maybe eTrikes. That means we would have 7 handicapped accessible trikes for flat ground beginner group rides.
Imagine a wheelchair bound mom or dad who can now ride a bike with his/her family every Saturday morning. How cool is that!
As I wait for pictures of the Geo being loaded in the trailer, I’ll just say, If you know of anyone who has a trike they don’t want, we’ll take it. But oh my goodness, I have to pay my property taxes first before I can ship another ELF or trike.