I’ve not been feeling well the last few months, as the symptoms of multiple sclerosis have been having their way with me more than I’d like.  To be honest, and in complete contrast to the wild-gorgeous of a VTX in a field of flowers, I’ve been feeling wildly awful.  So, not much riding.  At all. *sob*

I’ve also been feeling I should offer you an apology for not posting in months.  The challenges my health issues present me with on a day-to-day basis are on a “sliding scale,” such that given where my body is MS-wise directly effects how much energy/pain/focus I have in any given day. I keep wanting & meaning to post here, sometimes I even manage the skeleton of a draft of a post, and then I just don’t have it in me to finish.  This blog – and all of your good company – means a lot to me.  I don’t think you’ll ever really understand how much your comments & emails of support & encouragement uplift me.  The mere Like-ing of a post makes me smile; it feels like a warm & welcome pat on the back.  When you re-Tweet & re-Post on Facebook, I feel like I’ve been high-fived & Woohoo!-ed most enthusiastically.  My world gets so “small” when I cannot get out in it, so this blog & social media become one of the few (vital) ways I have of connecting with others, of feeling a part of –  instead of feeling alone, and separate from.

Which is all to say, I so very much appreciate your readership, and I do hate that I’ve not been able to carry out more of my half of that partnership – the “writership” part – for (too) many months.  Please, hang in there with me.  Things have to turn around soon.  (right?)

Feeling MS-craptastic is a real bummer when you’ve got something as shiny & perfect as the ICE VTX looking up at you, begging, Let’s go outside & play!  I have been tinkering, though.  Among other things, I bought & installed the newly designed (as of this model-year) ICE neck rest and I can already tell – just from a ride around the block a couple of times – how nicely it feels, and that this version, like the ICE-genius engineering that went into bringing us from the 2013 Vortex to the 2014 VTX, is a major design-leap forward.  The neck rest also gives you a good way to move the trike around without having to grab onto the seat’s back, and you can get a light mount which affords what I think is the just-right-height placement (for being seen) of a taillight.  That’s THREE great reasons for having the neck rest.  We’ll call that a Win/Win/Win.  Or, as the (in)famous philosopher Charlie Sheen would call it: “Winning!” X 3 :0)

In other news, have you been thinking, Dang, I’d really like to see some photos of that sleek new ICE VTX in some Texas wildflowers? If so, boy-howdy, do I have just the kind of pics that you’re looking for!  Feast your eyes on the rest of the ICE-VTX-in-wildflowers photos HERE.  (sheesh, trying saying that 5 times fast)

You can read Bryan Ball’s excellent review of the 2014 ICE VTX here, on the review section of Bent Rider, including some very nice pics. If you want more VTX-ness – and, really, who doesn’t? – Travis Prebble of Recumbent Journal recently posted some eye-candy shots of the new VTX on RJ’s Facebook page.

As always, I recommend Bent Rider as the best recumbent source of information I know.  I especially love the forums, where you can meet other riders of two & three-wheeled recumbents, and learn just about everything there is to know about recumbent cycling. Especially helpful if you’ve just discovered three-wheelers and/or recumbents in general and want to know if one will work for your cycling needs.  Then once you decide that, Yes! a recumbent is what you want, the next question is, Which one?  Then you’re really gonna be glad that the Bent Rider folks are as nice & patient & eager to help as they are, so that you can ask as many questions as it takes to get you from the idea of a trike to the sweet, blessed reality of one.

My trikin’ buddy Steve Greene has a fabulous Rider Stories section on his site, Trike Asylum, and he adds more tales of trikes & riders every day.  (now there’s a blogger who never neglects his readers)  He’s also got a lot of photos & rider feedback on a huge variety of trike makes & models, including the new ICE VTX.  I really love reading about everybody’s trikes, all of the riders’ adventures, and most of all about people overcoming challenges great & small to get out there & RIDE.

I’m happy when anybody gets out to ride, it’s just that being enabled to cycle translates into a universe of freedom, independence & confidence for those of us who struggle with our bodies & health issues.  The discovery of recumbent trikes has transformed my life, and I want as many people as possible to experience that kind of revelation, that kind of world-made-new/body-made-whole-again feeling.

In addition to Steve Greene’s blog, you can read all about his many far-flung journeys in more detail in book form.  He’s got 5 titles to his credit on Amazon.  Check ’em out!  You might even recognize another recumbent triker you know in one of his books.  Not that I’m mentioning any names.  Or promoting the specific book that I’m featured in. ( … oh, noooo … )  But, if you just happened to be looking for that particular book, it happens to look a lot like this.  (just sayin’)

 

 

Steve does a lot to promote awareness of recumbent trikes & of cycling as a whole.  He believes in 3-wheels not only as the perfect way to pedal, but also as the best way to navigate our world in general.  A lot of cyclists care about cycling as a way to have fun, to commute, to travel, as a way to get & stay healthy (especially by way of adaptive cycling for people with health/disability issues).  He believes passionately about leaving less of a “footprint” on our planet, and I’m not sure I can think of anybody who practices what they preach in that regard more than Steve.  Heck, the guy doesn’t even own a car; he takes himself everywhere by pedal-power! If that’s not committed, I don’t know what is.

Steve’s passion & commitment to pedaling inspires me, and I’m grateful for the information, support & encouragement he shares with others.  His blog was one of the first I found when looking for information on recumbent trikes, and he was incredibly helpful to getting me from someone who dreamed of riding again to actually on the road.  There’s only one bad thing I can think of to say about the guy, and that’s he’s living my traveling-the-world-by-trike life!  Okay, not such a bad thing – it’s not like he “stole” it from me.  But still, I’m sooooo envious that pretty sure if you closely you’ll see a tinge of green to my skin.  What I’d give to have a body with enough dependable health to attempt even one of the kind of cross-country trips Steve has gone on.