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A Swift Trike With 'Attitude'

Author Murray Cleland

Shortly after getting my first Swift Touring Trike assembled and on the road, I visited a local bicycle shop.

The parking lot had a moderately steep slope from the store down to the road so I parked my trike crossways at the top of the hill in order to keep it from rolling down. I went into the store and was chatting with someone, when one of the employees came up to me and said, "Your trike has just rolled down the lot and run into a car."

I rushed out to find a somewhat irate man standing beside his Buick, and my trike against the side rear bumper section. In the moulding, which covers the bumper, where 4 distinct tooth marks - obviously put there by the crank gear at the front of the Swift Trike.

Now, I can't confirm this, but rumour has it that the Buick pulled into the parking spot and uttered some disparaging remark about the Swift Trike, parked at the top of the hill. The trike, enraged by the remark, spun around, rolled down the hill and sank its teeth into the rear (side) bumper of the Buick!

Estimates to repair the panel came to approximately $400 Canadian!

Moral(s) of the story:

1) Never say nasty things about a Swift Trike unless you're prepared to face the consequences of an enraged recumbent. It won't stand for it!
2) Always tie your trike on a leash when you leave it alone in town
or
3) More practically, carry a short piece of velcro (a velcro pant "clip" will do) so that you can put the brake on and wrap it - to keep the trike from rolling.

The good news from the story: As of this time - it has now been several months - the Buick owner has not pursued us to claim compensation for the alleged attack.

Author Murray Cleland

Recumbent Trikes - Canada
A unique cycling experience
www.recumbenttrikes.ca

Rotting Opossum Carcass - Author Steven Craig Beck

Posted on Wed, 25 Apr 2001 10:36:20 -0500 (CDT)Trike Recumbent Email List

alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent

You can not properly exercise a sporting breed on a leash, in town, on foot. Period. I don't care how fast you think you can run or how far. A hunting dog can (and needs to) run faster and farther. The key is to get out into the country so they can run off-leash. I hate to use my car unless it's absolutely necessary and the problem with walking is that it'd take forever. Plus, by the time I got there on foot, I'd be pooped. Using pedal power, Chelsea and I can get out of town with little or no effort. The cool thing about using a trike to exercise a sporting breed is I can go as slow as she wants and still keep my feet in the pedals. This allows me to instantly sprint up to whatever speed is required when the squirrels and rabbits get too upitty.

I actually started out using the springer dog walker with Chelsea (Shugga' Johnson) on a Ryan Duplex about two-and-a-half years ago. It worked very well but that big, black, 'bent scared her to death and she started associating the springer with it. That's when I started using an extend-a-leash. It allowed her to give the Duplex a wide berth, keeps tension off the leash, and solved the problem immediately.

I use a 26' extend-a-leash like the ones from www.drsfostersandsmith.com. I attach this to an H-type harness around her shoulders. There's never any tension on the leash and she runs beside me on the right side of the trike. Sit, stay, come, and heel are key and she does them very well.

The joystick on my w/c allows me to access all the controls with my left hand and turning one-handed is pretty easy to do once you get the hang of it.

I only use the leash to get through town on the way out into the country. Once we're out on the back roads, she's off-leash and she likes to run in the ditches. She wouldn't even need to be on-leash in town but it's just easier to keep it on than deal with the righteous indignation of those that feel all policies should apply equally to everyone. It's as if it doesn't matter at all that Chelsea has achieved Golden Retriever status; the single highest honor bestowed on any four-legged creature.

The pace is entirely up to her. Sometimes she's a total stud, other times she just wants to wander. I'm content either way as I'm in my favorite chair and am just as happy poking along at next to no mph as I am racing traffic. She knows she's a lot faster than I am going up steep hills and delights in making me suffer. Like all hunting dogs, she'd run herself to exhaustion if I let her and I have to be careful. Luckily, there are several bodies of water along the routes we take and she knows exactly where they are. She picks up the pace as we get close and does this Chelsea-The-Wonder-Dog leap through the air into the water that is pretty fun to watch. She gets to play around in the water to cool off and rest as much as she wants. The only problem, aside from her affinity for rolling in a dead fish, is that the rivers and streams are often less than crystal clear. She starts to smell like feet if I don't hose her down right away when we get home. Dead fish goo requires a fair bit more effort but not as much as the rotting opossum carcass glop she found last week while we were hiking around in the woods.

Chels - Well, well, well. What do we have here?

Me - Please, please, please, oh please don't roll roun' in that rotten ol' opossum carcass, Chelsea.

Chels - Snork! You do know that's exactly what I mean to do.

Me - Yessir, I can see very clearly that you want to do that very thing but I'd be mighty grateful if you'd just steer clear of 'er. Common now, get away from there.

Chels - Oh, but I'd smell so good and could show all my friends what I found on this wonderful day.

Me - Now Chelsea, you know as well as I do the wife's not gonna' be very happy if'n you roll 'roun' in that rotten ol' opossum carcass. She'll probably make us both sleep out on the porch. What'd'ya' say we just ignore it and find somethin' a little less soft and mushy.

Chels - Hmmm, you make some fine points there. You really do. But this is truely exceptional opossum carcass and I 'spect I'll just dive right in and have me some. See that section right there with all the bugs crawlin' roun'? That's the good part.

Me - Chelsea, I can smell that horrible thing from clear over here and I'm tellin' ya' right now, I do not want to bring any of it home with us.

Chels - That so? Well hows about this? You just walk on down the trail over there and stop jawin' at me like an ol' woman. I'll catch up when I'm done. Who knows? You may just like me better with it.

Me - I'm pretty sure I won't. Now Chelsea, you come on over here and forget that thing.

Chelsea, now don't you do it. I'm warnin' ya'.

Chelsea.

Chelsea!

CHELSEA!!!!

. . . . . . .

Chels - Oooh this is nice. Just like I dreamed it'd be. All soft, warm, and oozy-like. Sure you don't wanna' join me?

Steven Craig Beck

JOKES?

Why did the recumbent cross the road? Because the wind caught the fairing.....

What's the difference between a Camel and a Recumbent? You don't get the hump on a recumbent....

What's the difference between an Ice Cream Sundae and a Wedgie Rider? None - They've both got crushed nuts...

Yeah - I know they're awful... Got any better ones?