So why not just buy a bike at the local department store? Well first I already have a perfectly serviceable mountain bike. I don't ride it because its uncomfortable at best and painful most of the time. To make matters worse as I've gotten a little older my doctor tells me I am developing "spinal arthritis" being hunched over on a bike is unpleasant and bumps in the road are painful. And back pain can last for weeks. So I started riding less. More couch sitting has led to a few extra pounds, that leads to even less riding. I'm not disabled, I can still toss my daughter in the air, but I'm not superman anymore. I want to be that man again. Or as close as possible for my age.
When I was younger I was a crazy bike rider. Even knocked myself unconscious on one downhill crash. Oh the stupidity of youth. Standard weight lifting is something I can't do much anymore so I had to let the gym memberships go. Like that old Queensryce song Best I can I want to meld the man in the chair with the man in my dreams. For the song writer that was to "write for a magazine" For me that is take this pudgy damaged man and loose weight and return some of the vitality and strength of say ten years ago. So how do I meld the man in the chair with the one in my dreams? How do I "Return to Zero"? I bring the chair.
I had seen the old balding hippie with a ponytail riding a recumbent bicycle to the bookstore may times just like everyone else. That's the only people who bought those right? Old guys that look like George Carlin? Young, healthy people only rode road bikes or maybe mountain bikes or course, right? Well one day at a bike shop I sat on a recumbent tadpole trike for grins and the salesman offered a test ride on it. It was an expensive one I couldn't have afforded so I didn't ride one that day, but the idea was stuck in my head. I looked around on the web and found out there are a lot of recumbent trikes in all kinds of shapes, sizes and performance. So eventually I went back and asked to pedal one around one afternoon that I got off work early.
When I got back I took stock of what aches and pains it gave me. Oddly I only had one thing that was hurting, my cheeks were sore. I realized that I had such an enormous grim on my face the entire time I must have pulled a muscle. It was that much fun. And since that meant I could increase my activity level again with this I resolved to save up and get a good one. I started saving up...but what is a "good trike"? If I spent between $1000-$6000 I want to make sure I wasn't going to regret my purchase. So it was time to hit the Google and see what I needed to know to make a decision. I had to find out what are the possible choices? What did someone like me need? What to avoid? Is the most expensive the best? Or something in the middle? Can I ride one of these anywhere I can ride a regular bike of a given variety? Road, MTB, etc.
Well I came to multiple conclusions which I will write about next. But even those decisions were changed several times. All leading to my trike arriveing next week!
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