For many people, the commitment to riding has everything to do with making personal adjustments. We are all creatures of habits and products of our circumstances, restricted to varying degrees by prevalent social norms. Unless we can break these powerful forces, we may be doomed to always do what is expected, and what others do.
Several years ago, we received a letter from a recumbent customer, who purchased the bike to help him recover from very serious injury, and I'm taking the liberty of sharing a portion of it with the readers:
"... Potholes and bumps are a serious matter, and they must be avoided. If you can't avoid them, you have to develop a technique to deal with them. Hitting a pothole can throw your feet off the pedals and put you out of control. It requires concentration and technique to prevent this from happening. When I see an unavoidable bump, I force my feet into the pedals to ensure that they will not be thrown off. To increase the grip of the pedal on my shoes, I have sharpened both sides of the pedal faces to knife-edge sharpness. This edge digs into the sole of the shoe to help hold it in place. I also removed the toe straps that came with my recumbent. Some folks have not taken such measures. However, I have a spinal cord injury, and do not have full use of my legs and feet.
Underseat steering has been a godsend for me. Falling was one of my biggest fears. But I found that with my hands already so close to the ground, and wearing a pair of my wheelchair gloves, damage to the hand during a fall on a road surface is minimal.
I have had my recumbent for almost a year now, and I still spend time at a local church parking lot doing very fast figure-8's to help build muscles, and also to practice stopping and starting.
There was never any question "if" I could learn; with my back, the recumbent is the only bike I can ride. It's great fun, and I'm having a ball with it."
Lots of peoples buy bikes only to hang them in the garage. Either they never really intended to ride, but felt they "should" have a bike. Or, for one reason or another, cycling is too much effort, too inconvenient or too scary. If you are waiting for the world to change, forget it. The beautiful thing about riding a bicycle is that you can do it, without waiting for everyone else to catch up. All you have to do is change your way of thinking.
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