I have spent about 30 minutes each day for the past week trying to learn to ride a bike. I have fallen a couple of times; weaved all over the road; run totally out of steam going uphill; and wondered if I will ever master the damn thing.
It’s not just any bike. It’s a BikeE (that is a manufacturer, not an E-bike) LWB OSS recumbent. “LWB OSS” is recumbent bike-speak for Long Wheel Base, Over Seat Steering. “Long Wheel Base” means that the pedals are behind the front wheel rather than in front of it. “Over Seat Steering” means that the bike has handlebars like a conventional bike rather than a steering mechanism below the seat. My new baby has a 16-inch front tire, a 20-inch rear tire, and 27 gears.
My test rides of a few USS bikes – under seat steering – were a joke. Since there’s nothing to hang on to, I couldn’t even get on the bike, much less ride it with any semblance of control. The bike with conventional handlebars at least gave me a sense that this adventure had a chance … even if only roughly equivalent to that of a snowball in hell.
Here’s how I got to this point. A few years ago, I did a fair amount of bicycling. Two things got in the way: 1) the headwinds were sometimes so strong that I had to pedal to go downhill. 2) a neighborhood dog loved chasing me and nipping at my ankles. (I hate the f-er!) The idea of falling off a bike in my 70s held no appeal whatsoever. All I could think was, “That would REALLY hurt!”
The thought of a recumbent tricycle intrigued me. I couldn’t fall off, and the aerodynamics might help to counteract the headwinds. I was right on both counts, and I loved my recumbent three-wheeler. I rode with dog mace to prevent the nipping (though fortunately, I never had to use it) and cruised for hours on the desolate, scenic back roads of my little Lake Champlain island. Then the downsides started to appear. The bike was heavy and slow, which was a nuisance, but not necessarily terminal.
The riding angle of the bike proved to be its fatal flaw. Country roads in northern Vermont are well crowned – high in the middle and low on the shoulders – to help rain water flow, prevent ice build-up, and assist plowing. On a two-wheel bike, when the road bed has a side angle, you just adjust the angle of the bike and you are always sitting straight up. On a trike, you ride at the angle of the road. That is great on a flat road or a bike trail, but not on a crowned country road. Regardless of your direction of travel, your weight is always on your right buttock. After about three years of riding, my butt screamed, “ENOUGH!!!!” I gave myself a case of sciatica that lasted all summer long. Alas, I have not ridden the trike since.
But bicycle riding is just too good an activity to give up easily. After 76 years of reasonably strenuous living, there’s not a part of my body that doesn’t have the capacity to rear its head and reveal types of pain that I never knew existed. Biking is the one physical activity I can do that never hurts (except for one case of sciatica, that is).
Plus, when I told my cardiologist that I walked a lot, he said, “Not good enough. Get an exercise bike.” So I bought a recumbent Schwin. I ride that bike for an hour or more – 15-20 miles – damn near every day and have done so for years. After a few years of basement pedaling, I am growing tired of the scenery … and too much news in the age of Trump can be nauseating.
Time for another change. I can ride the recumbent exercise bike forever (and have done a bunch of 50-mile rides and one full century). Why not try a two-wheel recumbent? It’s low to the ground with a comfortable pedaling position. I can keep myself upright and not worry about sciatica.
I started going to bike shops to learn about recumbents and maybe take some test rides. I didn’t go to just any bike shops, but big, well-stocked, totally knowledgeable bike shops. Nothing! Not a recumbent in stock, and not a sales person or tech who could give me a real information. I was shocked.
I had an ace up my sleeve. My old high school good buddy from Atlanta, Myron Skott, had contacted me a couple of decades ago. He was biking down the east coast from Maine to Key West along the then-new East Coast Greenway in 2004, and he stayed with us as they passed through Boston. He rode a really nifty recumbent and loved it. In fact, he has been riding the same bike for 21 years!
Myron has become my recumbent bike guru. I learned that there are two bike shops in the northeast that specialize in recumbents: The Bicycle Man in Alfred Station, NY, and Mt. Airy Bicycles in Mt. Airy, MD. One is a 7-hour drive away; the other, a 10-hour drive. Off to Alfred I went.
The Bicycle Man was everything you want a bike shop to be: lots of information, plenty of bikes to test ride, utterly passionate, knowledgeable, and low-pressure sales folks. I arrived at 3:00. They close at 6:00. I left with a new (used) bike in the back of the car at 6:15. Had I arrived at 10:00 or noon, I expect I still would have stayed until their 6:00 closing. I am a pretty good talker and have way more than my share of questions. Lee and Stewart were every bit my equal. You guys were great!!!!!
And that brings me back to now. I am riding my new bike every day. After a half-hour or so, I’m spent. There’s just no gas left in the tank. I can now mount the bike on the first try about 75% of the time, and I can almost ride it in a straight line. I am nowhere close to being able to make a short-radius 180˚ turn. There are 4 little hills in my immediate neighborhood (and virtually no cars since most of my neighbors have made their seasonal move south). I can now handle two of the hills most of the time. Yesterday, I made to within about 20 feet of the top of one of the bigger hills. (The day before, I only made it about halfway up.) Today, I made it to the top with ease!. Now I have the 4th hill to conquer: longer and steeper.
Once I master my immediate neighborhood, I’ll hit more back roads. A mind-blowing vista sits atop a good-sized hill two miles from my house. On most days, I should be able to make the ride without passing a car. I hope to make it to the top of that hill and take in the view before the snow flies. Then I’ll wait for spring. There are miles and miles of bikeways and rail trails around me. I hope to explore every mile of all of them.
If only I can learn to ride the damn thing!
Lee The Bicycle Man in Alfred Station, NY with my new toy
myinnersociologist 