Rambling: The Tricycle Has Arrived!

Woohoo! The tricycle is here! Actually, it's been here for nine days, I'm just a little late in the arrival announcement. It looks exactly like its picture. I accessorize it with this lovely helmet - I fell in love with the 1960's linoleum pattern.

It turns out that while, yes, you never forget how to ride a bicycle, that knowledge doesn't altogether translate to a tricycle. So I'm still learning. That third wheel, and the plane made by those three wheels, changes things.

For example, you don't steer by leaning, you steer entirely with the handlebars, which was unexpectedly difficult to accept. I almost drove smack into three parked cars the first day, and had to ride in sine waves up and down the bike path for a while before my muscles, rather than just my logic circuits, started to master the obvious fact that you go in the direction that you turn the handlebars. And corners are risky - a modest speed is required, because you really don't want to lean and lift one of those wheels. And when the road tilts sideways, you tilt sideways. And you have to remember that a space wide enough for the front wheel isn't necessarily wide enough to ride through.

The good part is that I can sit still, with both feet on the pedals. For some reason, I really enjoy pulling up to a stop sign and stopping, without having to put a foot on the ground and do that little balance dance. And I can ride just as slooooowly as I please, without tipping over.

And, of course, there's all that cargo capacity. Enough for blankets and books and bottles of Coke and water bottles, for a luxurious day in the park. Or a bunch of groceries. Or, theoretically, plants.

I'd forgotten how much fun a cycle was - I haven't really ridden one in years. When I was a teenager I used to ride around mindlessly for hours, and I'm looking forward to doing that again. (And also hauling fried chicken to the park. I do have my priorities.)

Image: Wikimedia Commons.