I still remember the thrill I got when I graduated from a tricycle to a bicycle and how it felt when I no longer needed training wheels to stay upright. It was quite the accomplishment.
Over the years, I have had a number of bikes.
One of my favorites was a three speed bike I got from the Western Auto store in the Davis Plaza (now the “Dollar General Plaza” just north of Main on 19). I rode it everywhere, including with my scout buddies on a 50 mile bike ride for our cycling merit badge. We left my house on River Road, went through town and picked up Moon Lake Road at Congress and Mass and rode all the way to State Road 52. We then retraced our tracks, went down Grand Avenue to State Road 54 and rode it all the way to US 41 and back. At the time, Moon Lake Road turned left on what is now Little Road and right at what is now Ridge Road, going out past Hidden Lake to where Moon Lake Road starts today. All the roads were lightly traveled and two lanes. No way on earth would I suggest to a group of scouts that they should make that trip today!
My next bike was one of the two Raleigh ten speeds that Carolyn and I bought to celebrate our 1st Anniversary. We rode around Plant City and then Gainesville as I worked on my Masters Degree at the University of Florida. While in Gainesville, we started an avocado tree from a seed and it got up to three or four feet high. One night, somebody stole the avocado tree off our back porch and left the two unlocked ten speeds sitting there. Go figure. The ten speeds lasted quite a few years, until our son discovered how to jump curbs and do other stunts, pretty well finishing off both bikes. I got a “Walmart bike” and rode it for a few years, but it was very basic and not particularly fun to ride.
Fast forward to 2000. My kid brother Russell talked me into doing the Dublin Marathon with him. It was 42 degrees, raining, and winds gusting to gale force at the start of the race. Eight hours and fifteen minutes later, I staggered across the finish line. I promptly swore off long distance running and bought myself a new bike. It was an aluminum Trek 1000. The 1000 was a great entry level road bike and I rode it for several years before trading up to a Trek 5200 carbon fiber bike.
Why trade up? The 5200 was lighter and came with a triple chain ring up front and a nine speed cassette in back. Why so many gears? I’d started doing century (100 mile) rides with Russell and the Team In Training group. One of the century rides we were looking at was one that went all the way around Lake Tahoe, with an “out and back” to Truckee. There are several steep climbs on the route, including one that was something like 12 miles without a break. I was inspired to get to the top when I was passed by a fellow making the climb with one leg. I figured, if he was going to make the climb, I wasn’t going to wimp out. Russ and I finished that ride, plus more century rides than I can count. I was a regular rider on various club rides with the Suncoast Cycling Club and did several triathlons with that bike. My riding buddies and I checked out a number of trails, as far north as the Gainesville – Hawthorne trail, and as far south as the Naples area. Three of us even went on a three day “Coast to Coast” ride that started at the Atlantic Ocean in Ormond Beach and ended at the Gulf of Mexico in Tarpon Springs. All told, I put close to 20,000 miles on that bike over the years.
As work and my duties as mayor of New Port Richey took more and more of my time, my bike started gathering dust. In recent years, I only rode it a few times. I did pull it out and rode it a bit after we moved to Golden Acres a year and a half ago, but I wasn’t comfortable riding it. I simply wasn’t as steady on it as I had been years ago.
With three of the grands liking to go on bike rides, I decided last month to get a new set of wheels for myself. Astro Cycles, located in the same shopping plaza where I bought that three speed from Western Auto six decades ago, had a sale on recumbent trikes. I traded in my 15 pound carbon fiber bike for a recumbent trike weighing three times as much! Talk about coming full circle. A recumbent bike or trike generally has a very large seat and seat back instead of a saddle. For any of you who have suffered with a racing saddle, I can’t even start to express how much more comfortable a recumbent is. Think living room recliner on wheels.
I’m having a blast with my new wheels. The trike won’t go as fast as I could go on the Trek, but I will take comfort and stability over speed. Given how little riding I’ve done over the past several years, I’m very much out of shape and have to keep after the grands not to get too far ahead of me. I suspect I will be able to better keep up after a bit more time on my trike. My trike only has seven speeds, so I suspect it would be miserable on those climbs around Lake Tahoe. With no mountains in Florida, that shouldn’t be a problem. If I can make it over the overpasses on the Suncoast and Pinellas trails, I’ll be just fine. The best news is that I don’t worry about falling off the trike. I still wear a helmet and I’ve even got an orange warning flag flying above me so the cars can see me. Three bikes and my trike won’t fit on my bike rack, so we’ve been riding the less traveled roads around our home in Golden Acres.
Where will we go from here? We rented a little utility trailer a few weeks ago and took the bikes and my trike out to the Starkey Park one Saturday. We’ll do that again and, if we do it often enough, we’ll spring for a trailer of our own. I am sure that the grands would enjoy some of the other bike trails in our area. I’ve started collecting a fresh set of tools in case someone gets a flat while we are on a ride.
The weather is getting better by the day. If you haven’t been on a bike in a while, stop by Astro Cycles and talk to Brad (the owner) about what sort of bike or trike might be right for you.
Happy Riding!
Rob