riding trike again - listening to the noise until it makes sense

Hello, I’ve been riding trike again. I love it. Ming and I went to a place where they have equipment for disabled people.

I was brave to phone call strangers and make the appointment to be assessed. My excitement to ride trike gave me energy to be brave.

special trike

In the waiting room lobby area, there was a piano, chairs, art, and this adult tricycle that people use their arms and hands to ride, not their legs and feet.

I was excited and wished to ride it.

“This is probably only for people whose legs don’t work so well, huh?” I asked Ming.

“Yeah,” he said.

“Why should we have to use our legs?” I asked. “I wish we lived in a world with more choices…”

summary of self

I filled out a form that gave info like address and age. Then there was a part also about my disabilities, and it was stressful to explain why I was there. The history and needs of my body–what a fuckton of facts, to try to summarize into a few words for a little box on a form, for strangers.

For reasons it might be hard for me to ride a bike, I said hypermobile joints and balance issues. For main diagnosis, I said autism and psychiatric diagnoses. Yes, that’s rather accurate. But there’s so much more.

The worker who assessed me was nice. The equipment needed some maintenance. A pedal was poorly attached, first trike I tried, and fell off with that first hard push. It was dramatic, the pedal popping off and clunking to the ground.

Took a while for the worker to switch out the pedals. Then there was a lot of tinkering with how far to slide the seat, angle of seat, and adjusting handlebars.

It was a cold day, and the worker loaned me her mittens. That was above and beyond. What a kind person.

Once I decided which trike I favored, Ming and I went for a ride. That was amazing, on a bike path by a creek. We passed a dog park, and we went under a bridge. I was stoked to trike by the water, and see some graffiti there. Wow, what a ride.

snowing

It had been drizzling a bit, but then it started snowing. Yes, it was a snow day yesterday, my mom’s birthday.

So our little ride was only 24 minutes. We turned back because of snow. We did great.

“No dogs chased us, no drunk people yelled at us, and no cops,” I said to Ming. “We avoided all the main hazards!”

“No oil slicks,” Ming added.

“Right. No cherries in the road we had to hit, or treasure chests,” I added.

We laughed as we rode. Riding trike again was a great activity for my mom’s birthday, as a way of honoring my life and health. Thank you to Ming for bringing me out.

Here is the trike I liked less. It felt good but a little flimsy.