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My desire to share the fun of tricycling with a wider audience had been accomplished to my own, limited satisfaction. By blogging and by my gentle tricycle forum leadership. The forum was thriving and didn't need me any more. Nor did the Tricycle Association. It had little to offer the distant member despite the paltry, annual sub of £10. Many tricyclists are elderly. So I hope they aren't seriously thinned out by the pandemic.
If I die from the 2020 coronavirus pandemic few will remember me. All the things I hid from my online audience will die with me. Cycling and tricycling, in particular, is great fun. Hanging off the side on corners is a very inefficient and a very silly way to get about. But the compensations are utterly worth it. Tricycling offers huge enjoyment despite the extra weight and parking problems.
The tricyclist is always acutely aware of the undulating road beneath the spinning wheels. Every change in camber is a challenge to be overcome. The tricycle has a very limited range of lateral stability. Though it didn't stop me riding along insanely poor, unmade forest tracks and paths where few would dare to walk. The limit was usually when the deliberately low, pedal circle struck the ground. Vehicle wheel ruts will do that to a trike.
You simply would not believe the places I tried to tricycle. Even when loaded down with shopping. If I saw a new turning I would often take it to add it to my range of knowledge. It sometimes got me into serious trouble where I lost my sense of direction under an overcast sky. I have dragged the tricycle by the scruff of its neck through waterlogged bogs and steep forest fire breaks. Where no vehicle has passed in years.
You can carry loads on the rear rack of a trike which would make most cyclists swoon with disbelief. I still think nothing of carrying 6 liters of milk. Now add everything else: The large bags of spuds, carrots and apples. The boxes of 10 eggs, the cartons of cream and several packs of butter. The tins of fruit, soup, beans and assorted bottles. The several liters of organic apple and orange juice. Washing ujp and laundry detergents in all sizes and containers. Different loafs of bread. Frozen fish and vegetables. Always organic produce, if it is available. It is a fine art to load a bag and return home without having anything crushed. I once lost a pack of butter in the bottom of the bag. We won't dwell on the stink after a warm weekend. Milk has similar properties if you puncture a carton.
It took me years to fully develop and finally reach the Overboard 40 liter duffel bag on the trike's rear rack. It isn't perfect but the 40 liter capacity makes a complete and utter mockery of the overpriced, traditional and puny, canvas saddle bags. Though they win on longevity when you fondly wish they'd just die so you can buy something else. For nearly a decade I shopped, for two, entirely on the trike at ranges up to 40 miles from home.Yes, I have bought real shopping at the mid-point of long rides.
The trike was our only means of shopping transport on every, single ride. I don't remember ever doing a ride which did not replenish the larder on the way home. Except for the largest and heaviest loads which always needed the car, or its large trailer. iIt can all be done with a trike.
Bikes are ill-equipped for shopping unless you have a specialized carrier bike. I have an old, original, LongJohn at the back of the shed but have only ridden it a couple of times. It is far too impractical despite regularly seeing even teenage girls riding them on the narrow, winding cycle paths in the city. Modern examples have prams for carrying the children and why not? If oil goes through the car roof the modern LongJohn already offers town delivery services and school child delivery and return.
Our aging car sat unused, taking up space, but was still vital for our rural situation. My CO2 conscience is clear as the Earth's ice caps melt at 6 times the rate they did in the very recent 1990s. Cycle if you must but tricycle by choice. Anybody can ride a bike. Even a robot!
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