The need for speed, my introduction to the world's fastest human powered vehicle Artwork

Reflections from the River

There’s something about that “Old Man River” which brings out the storyteller. Reflections from the River comes from the banks of the Mississippi River, upstream from Memphis, downstream from St. Louis, where the aircraft carrier sized tows negotiate the twists and bends of America’s artery. In these five to ten-minute vignettes a modern-day Mark Twain, with the occasional O. Henry twist to an ending, holds a mirror to middle America, its challenges and its strengths. Author and speaker, Bill Enyart, draws from the well-springs of working-class Midwestern roots, tempered by his rise from enlisted military ranks to Major General and then US Congressman to tell stories that reveal much of the American soul and the path American military men, women and their families tread. Humor, duty, grief and comradeship share the stage. Audio production by Tom Calhoun at paguytom.com. Cover photo by Staff Sgt Lally Laksbergs, Army National Guard. Email comments or questions to: bill@billenyart Billenyart.com

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Reflections from the River

The need for speed, my introduction to the world's fastest human powered vehicle

April 17, 2022 • Bill Enyart

0:00 | 9:53

Need for speed and my introduction to riding the world’s fastest human powered vehicle

As a mature adult, some might say senior, male, how often does one have two early teenage boys on electric scooters and then a three-year boy on a non-electric scooter tell you on the same bike ride, “Cool bike!” Not often, I suspect, and never once when I rode a carbon-fiber, drop handle-bar road bike, which looked just like all the other bikes Lycra-clad bicyclists madly pedal along.

So what changed? I switched from a diamond frame, which is what we recumbent trike riders call a standard bicycle frame to the tadpole trike I now ride. What’s a tadpole? A tadpole has two wheels up front, generally twenty-inch wheels, and one wheel in the rear, sometimes twenty-inch, sometimes twenty-six-inch or 700c or even twenty-nine-inch.

Don’t think of them as the adult-sized kid tricycles you see the geriatric set riding in Florida. Nope, those just look goofy. These are, like the teenagers and the three-year-old said, “cool!”

In the last year, I’ve owned three of them. An ICE Adventure, an ICE Trice XL and an ICE VTX World Champion Edition. Here might be a good spot to say that I have a very understanding wife. There are lots of other makes out there, I just happen to be partial to the UK made, ICE, which stands for Inspired Cycle Engineering.

The reaction from pedestrians and especially kids as I ride the bicycle/walking paths around my hometown area of Belleville, Illinois, is much different than the reaction I’d get when riding my diamond frame.

I always waved at pedestrians and other cyclists as I approached them from their front or called out “On your left!” as I approached them from the rear. While cyclists waved back, pedestrians generally ignored me or sometimes scowled. On the trike, cyclists still wave while pedestrians smile and are far friendlier. Even motorists are more courteous to trike riders.

I’m not sure why. I speculate that the lower to the ground trike is less threatening to walkers than a standard bicycle. Or perhaps it’s simply that recumbent trikes in the Illinois side St. Louis suburban areas are rarely seen and thus invite smiles. Or as I’ve heard from other trikers or “bent-riders” as some call themselves, perhaps pedestrians and motorists think we’re disabled and so extend greater courtesy.

It is true that many trike riders do have a disability. With the greater stability offered by three wheels, people who have balance problems due to neurological reasons or strokes, can ride a trike when a diamond frame no longer works for them. Trikes can also be equipped with hand pedals for those who have lost use of their legs. Most trike riders I know also tend to be on the sunny side of sixty so perhaps its our grandparent image that brings out the smiles beaming down at me riding so close to the ground. Whatever the cause I appreciate the friendly smiles and the occasional shout out: “Wow that’s cool!”

So why did I switch from a carbon fiber speed demon to a three- wheeler? I’d been contemplating it for a couple of years after meeting folks who ride them. After riding fifty or sixty or a hundred miles on my high-end bicycle I found that my wrist and hands were numb, my neck hurt and the bicycle seat caused portions of my anatomy to become numb. Portions that I preferred not to be numb. My triker friends assured me those problems would disappear if I made the switch.

The culminating moment came when a fellow rider turned into my rear wheel without warning as we zipped along an asphalt bike path at twenty miles per hour. Crashing into the path I came up with a shoulder broken in two places, two broken ribs along with assorted abrasions, cuts and bruises. Two surgeries, one to put the steel plate and five screws into my shoulder and one three months later to take it out, followed by six months of physical therapy, and the recommendation of my bike-riding orthopedic surgeon gave me the impetus to pull the trigger and buy the ICE Adventure recumbent trike.

So why have I acquired two more trikes in the year since? The same answer my twelve-year-old bike riding self would give you…speed. While I love the stability and the comfort of the Adventure, it is quite a bit heavier than the carbon fiber diamond frames which it replaced. Thus, it’s slower. It’s like driving dad’s Buick after driving a Corvette.

When I spotted a used Trice XL, with a Schlumpf drive, for sale at the right price, I rode it. What is a Schlumpf drive you ask. Put in the simplest terms it is replaces the guts of the bicycle crank and works to increase the spin of the crank. Think of it as an overdrive for hills to make it easier to pedal up them. Engineers and scientists please don’t criticize me for this simplistic, layman’s explanation.

Back to the Trice XL. Quick off the line with its twenty-inch rear tire, lighter and faster, decision made. Speed AND comfort, what could possibly be wrong with that! Especially once I mastered tapping the Schlumpf drive gear button with either heel thus giving me an entirely new set of gear ranges. Super granny gear for those uphills.

My diamond riding friends were happy to see me on the Trice with its red tires as I could now keep up with them on seventy-mile rides. My speed was back close to the speeds I maintained on the sixteen-pound carbon fiber diamond frame.

Alas, as is the case with all cycling addicts, I coveted something even lighter and faster. That lust afflicts trikers just as much as it does bikers. I searched the internet for a Bachetti carbon fiber 2.0 trike. Like the one I’d test ridden in Indianapolis, while seeking the Adventure. Alas, none were to be found. Bachetti had discontinued them.

Lo and behold, an ad for an ICE VTX World Champion, so called because for two years it held the record for fastest human powered vehicle in the one-hundred-kilometer (62 miles) division, was for sale at a Wisconsin bike shop. Would I drive four-hundred miles for it? Unquestionable. Make the call. Not only will they ship it to me fully assembled, they’ll even give me a veteran discount on the price! Sold.

Two weeks later a box nearly the size of my Jeep is delivered by a semi-truck driver who can’t believe how light a box that size can be. Rip the box open, install the pedals, slip out the back yard gate onto the concrete alley with its gentle half-block long slope to the street. Oh my God! My diamond frame riding friends are gonna hate me now!

Smiles from pedestrians, shouts of “Cool man!” from teenagers, envy from my diamond frame riding friends. It’s all good right? Well, I do have one problem with it. My smile is so wide as I ride it that I keep getting bugs stuck in my teeth. Can you help me with that?

Reflections from the River

www.billenyart.com

Audio production by: Tome Calhoun, www.paguytom.com