No matter how you landed here, welcome! I have been riding a bicycle since I was five years old, commuting since I was 9 (the youngest my mom would allow to ride to school alone). I’ve competed in road, mountain and gravel races. I’ve raised money for charity, and left blood on roads and trails from New York to Washington to Utah.
Why would anyone ride a recumbent trike – aren’t those for fat old men? Well… maybe, but I don’t think just! I rode my first recumbent trike in my early fifties, because I’d broken a wrist and couldn’t ride a ‘diamond’ (traditional upright) bike. The problem was, it was just plain… fun! Riding a fast recumbent is a lot like riding a go-kart, but it is (usually) human-powered, so you get the benefit of exercise along with the thrill of the ride.
OK so what I’ve set out to do, then, is convince you that a recumbent would make a good addition to your stable. And I’m going to do that by following my transition as I migrate away from diamond bikes and focus almost exclusively on recumbents. I’m going to show you:
- Recumbents are a hell of a lot of fun
- Recumbents can be as fast as a normal bike
- You can ride a recumbent for a much longer time – both on your Saturday ride, but also your life
- Recumbents can go just about anywhere a diamond bike can go
- Recumbents can be as safe, if not safer, than normal bikes
What’s a recumbent bicycle? It’s a bike which places the rider in a recumbent or laid-back position. In most cases, the rider’s weight is spread out across a wide, deep seat. In many cases, the rider’s weight is also born by a back. My Catrike 700 is one of the most extreme recumbent bikes, with a 23-degree angle of recline:
The 700 is a dedicated speed trike – on local rail trails, I keep up with or pass most recreational cyclists. It has a rigid frame and high pressure tires, and many think the ride must be rough. In fact, given the bike’s long wheelbase the ride is actually quite smooth (on pavement). This is never going to be a gravel bike, by any means, but it is my go-to for long endurance rides (outside of training for a gravel ride, as I’ve been doing in 2023).
This is my last season racing gravel bikes competitively, but I’ll be moving to endurance riding, and leveraging my Catrike 700 recumbent speed trike for that. As budget permits, I’ll be adding a gravel bike replacement to the stable, and will start in on long gravel rides. My heart lies in exploring the backcountry, which is why this site will emphasize “gravel riding” quite a bit. I’ve got a lot of riding planned in the future, including rides such as:
- Crusher in the Tushar: my final gravel bike race before I retire from diamond bike riding in 2023. I’m racing this one last time to prove at my age I can still do hard things!
- The HooDoo 300: an endurance ride through Southern Utah, which I’ll be doing (supported) on my Catrike 700. This will be my first ride over 110 miles and I honestly don’t think I could ever do it on a diamond bike, but… On my Catrike I can ride till my legs fall off. As along as I’m awake, hydrated, and well-fed, I don’t have to stop due to back, wrist or neck pain.
- National 24 Hour Challenge: it doesn’t fit into my training schedule this year, but I’m hoping to ride the N24HC in 2024. This ride measures how far you can ride in a 24-hour period.
- General Touring
- Tuweap/North Rim: while the National Park Service operates a “North Rim” park in the Grand Canyon National Park, the fact is, it isn’t the true north rim. It’s an offshoot. South along 65 miles of dirt road, starting near Kanab, UT, lies a primitive campground on the real north rim of the Grand Canyon. As an avid landscape photographer, this has been on my bucket list for years!
- Utah North-South: riding dirt roads and trails the length of Utah, north to south.
- Pony Express Trail: the original Pony Express trail follows a series of back roads and dirt roads across Utah, just begging to be explored
- The Empire State Trail: the State of New York has wrapped up a massive trail system which can take riders from Manhattan to Niagara Falls.
- Private Salt-to-Saint: as a resident of the Salt Lake City area, but a big fan of St George, I am planning an unsupported multi-day road tour from Salt Lake to the greater St. George area, following backcountry routes on Utah’s West Side.
All of these rides are doable on a diamond bike, but why not do them in style and comfort? Follow along on my blog and my YouTube channel as I introduce the recumbent trike, track my training for the Crusher, and start to transition to the recumbent full-time.