Being Stabilised

Moving on four wheels has been quite a change, some for the good, some for ill. This is a bit of a list of things I have discovered when travelling around. Most of these apply to trikes too but I’ll stick to my own experiences and talk about 4 rather than 3 wheels. 
 
Getting going on a newly stabilised bike is not the easiest! You have more wheels, right? What could go wrong? First up is the weirdest, you have to unlearn some of the ways you ride a bike before you can learn to ride with stabilisers. Corners. Lean in, right? Wrong. Lean in and the inner stabiliser makes contact first and pushes you the wrong way. This is really odd. You have to learn how to lean out and actually turn the wheel, something you probably stopped doing much without realising. Anyway, after a nervous few weeks I got the hang of it. Someone more coordinated than me probably would manage it much more easily.
 
Then there is what to look out for. Suddenly camber matters. A lot. If the ground is sloping you skim over it with nary a thought on a bike, but now it means everything. Like it or not the uphill wheel is making contact with the ground and this probably will push you onto the downhill wheel. You have to be ready for it. Short stretches of camber are even worse as they can pitch you really sharply in unpleasant directions. And any undulation, ramp or deformity that is not perpendicular to the direction of travel poses something to be aware of. And there are many of them on cycle infrastructure that has been put in subserviently to the car. And then there are speed pillows. I now have nightmares about speed pillows. I’m surprised they didn’t form part of the Atlantic wall.
 
So much for the bad, the good. There is lots to list here. First of all, stopping and starting. How easy is that. No more junction trauma for me. You just sit there! 0kph, 2kph, 20kph its all the same with those extra wheels. One great thing which I wasn’t expecting is the ability to meander along at walking pace at the same height as someone walking to have a conversation. This is a big bugbear of mine in a scooter, but now I can even adjust my height (with the drop saddle) to what is needed. Once the general weirdness had passed, low speed manoeuvres are a dream. I can cycle easily round weird barriers and can even weave my way into the local gym to my weekly exercise class (who have kindly let me do this). 
 
This leads to another point. I’m now visibly not simply a cyclist. In fact, I’m on a mobility scooter that I pedal. This has caused some interesting reactions, good, bad and ugly. I’ve had some lovely conversations with people who are really impressed by how a bit of engineering has enabled so much. On the bad side there are sadly a minority who can’t see past that its bike, I’m a cyclist and who are unable to make an effort to understand. I often have to make seemingly odd decisions to evade funny cambers on paths and roads, and this raises the ire of some, even though I am not travelling fast and can easily, and often do, travel at walking pace. One incident I sadly had to report to the local police as a hate crime, so venomously was I upbraided.
 
The boost to my confidence has been huge. I feel visible and broadly speaking this has been unquestionably positive on the roads. I can get places that were becoming out of bounds. With a new confidence that this really is a mobility aid -- I can stop, start and meander as I please -- I can access the city centre as never before. I’ve been to events, the theatre, gone shopping with the kids (parking is a different matter) and work is a simple ride away (parking is quite different here).
 
Not everyone can experience the benefit cycling can bring, but I challenge anyone to at least give it go. There are so many different ways cycles can be adapted for specific needs. Maybe it’s not for you, but maybe it is and there is an amazing number of new experiences and challenges for you to find. It could be Snaefell* or just that annoying ramp to get into the local park, it doesn’t matter.

*disclaimer: I did not make it up Snaefell. Not even close.

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