So Office Amanda Clay (whom you met in the “You Go, Girl!” series) met my 85-year-old mom and me at the park where the City of Alpharetta’s eight adult trikes live (the two public sessions for using the trikes this month were already booked). My mom (an Alpharetta citizen who has a painful disability ever since a driver there ran a red light, totaled her car, and almost killed her about thirteen years ago) somehow managed to hop up and pedal that trike an entire loop, with Office Clay’s help in staying balanced on the tippy device.
My mom got to log that time as part of the Atlanta Bike Challenge for Biketober. She’s on our team, Trust the Journey (back for its 6th year; her first). We are a no-pressure, all joy team with members this year from ages 11 to 85. There’s a sports/fitness cyclist. A car-less family on ebikes, and another that often combines bikes with mass transit. A passionate path-only rider. Me (whatever I am). And my mom, who started the month counting rides in a wheelchair (which I confirmed was allowed); then started to push the wheelchair herself; then started using an exercise bike; and now hopped on that adult trike!
Slippery slope, folks, this bike stuff!
If Marge can do it, you may be able to do it, too.
There’s still time to log a ride of just ten minutes in length and qualify for a chance to win an ebike and other great prizes. Click here. You don’t need to join a team to participate. Choose your city if you’re not in Atlanta (lots of cities around the USA and world are participating).
In Metro Atlanta, when you log your first (and maybe only) ride and it asks you if anyone encouraged you, select Marge Kulfan.
She gets points that help her help the team even more. And I’m sure it would make her feel good (she’s on the site every day). (If you’re inspired by the 11-year-old who whips around Atlanta like it’s nothing, choose Geraldine Harding as your encourager. )
Office Clay says to contact her if you would like to try an adult trike, too, or have another bike request with which she can help you (or connect you to the right person). She also told me that the ICanBike Camp* (which is where I first met her when I volunteered in 2019) will be back in the summer of 2022. Through a very distinct process during this five-day camp, children and teens with developmental disabilities learn to ride a traditional two-wheeled bike all by themselves. A call for volunteers will go out in February, so stay tuned. It’s intense, and amazing.
Oh, and if you want to sign up for a public Silver Spokes adults-on-trikes session in the City of Alpharetta, contact their Adult Activity Center. (Note: You’ll need to actually go in there in person to register.) Office Clay told me it’s one of their most popular programs and that as long as people keep signing up, they’ll keep offering them throughout the winter and beyond. You can also sign up for the City of Decatur’s Silver Spokes program. My friend Rita’s got a thing goin’ on with adult trikes in North Georgia as well (I hope to do a story on her before Biketober ends).
If you’d like to start a program like that where you live, see the “You Go, Girl!” toolkit for my free templated recommendations after I taught the class for a year in Decatur.
*Hang tight. I have some photos and a write-up about when I volunteered at the ICanBike camp that was published somewhere else. I’ll add it as soon as I find it.
Traveling at the Speed of Bike 