The "Right" Trikker Personality

Mark Codispoti, a fellow trikke trainer and enthusiast brought the NC leg of his 50 State tour to Raleigh on August 8. We had never met Mark, but we were certainly amazed by the task that he was setting out to accomplish. He plans to ride a minimum Trikkathon of 26 miles in 50 states plus DC. By just spending moments with him at dinner the night before the ride, we discovered a gentle, life enthusiastic soul, with a pure love of trikking. What a wonderful guy Mark is! The day of the ride we were so impressed with his skill, his heart, and his drive, that afterwards it seemed sad to see him go. Enjoy the video of Mark's mad skills and if you live in one of the areas that his tour swings through, be sure and come out and ride with him!

Trikke Releases Great Pon-E Video!

Hot off the press! Trikke has released an awesome marketing video giving us all a great look at the fun and benefits of the new Pon-e. Check out the video and see the fantastic changes from the traditional tribreds:
* Disc breaks like the T12's for superior "stop-ability"
* Hot Swap batteries remove in a pinch.
* Lighter, more portable, and maneuverable.

* Ride up to 20 miles in "eco-joy" battery powered freedom.

* Lots of hot colors.

Read more about the Pon-e on this blog here.

Get yours now at Capital Trikke!

Trikke Hill Climbing in Idaho

Came across this dedicated lady on TrikkeTalk. Here's a great clip of Cheryl from Idaho working her way up her first hill on her T12. Cheryl does a great job here! Love the music and what's great about the clip is that she's demonstrating perfectly how effortlessly (though it's not!) it looks when you climb a hill with good trikking technique. It can be done, and you don't have to be a long term hill shredder to find success.

First, you can see that Cheryl is engaging both her upper and lower body. Her arms are keeping control of the handle bars--she isnt turning inwards too far and risking jack knife. Her pecs are working to add the upper body strength needed to work her handlebars, so the front wheel returns back and forth to the correct position (see our video on "Keeping the line in mind). You can also see her push slightly forward, leaning her body towards the front of the trikke with each turn.

Her feet are sweeping forward in the invisible motion needed to maintain trikke forward momentum. She's not pushing backwards with her feet and breaking momentum, instead she's driving her feet and importantly, the trikke forward with each lean of her lower body. Her core remains tight as she maintains the right balance to put all of this together for the forward momentum that helps propel her up the hill.

Finally, she ties it all together by finding and staying in trikke rhythm. Rhythm is king (or queen in this case). Notice when she starts going up the incline, although she starts to work harder, her rythmn stays steady and therefore so does her form. Great job and as Cheryl said, "on to the next hill!" As she get stronger and stronger, hills will start getting flatter and flatter. Carve Diem!

Trikke Pon-e Makes Time Magazine

On the stands Friday but online now, Time Magazine has a piece on the new Trikke Pon-e. Perhaps not the best title of "tricycles for adults," or referring to Trikkes as "odd looking tricycles," but as they say, "good press...." Perhaps it won't help the image of the Pon-e and might suggest it is a toy. I don't think it is. I think the pon-e is a great way to combine assisted distance commuting with the outdoor activity of trikking.

Now, many don't believe that the pon-e facilitates trikking. As a tribred owner and a trainer who has installed many e-kits on different trikke models, I have to disagree. Just as the traditional trikke ride is really about the stamina, power, skill, and speed of the rider--what you put in is what you get out---so it is with the tribred and pon-e. You don't have to ride it standing straight up without carving. Carving while riding is the best way to work on your fitness through the pon-e!

You also have to remember that everyone doesn't start out physically able to shred--nor do some want to. The tribred has always been a great option in my mind for those who want the best of both worlds. Those who are recovering from injuries. Or, those just needing a little assist once in a while. Nothing wrong with that! I personally love going on a traditional ride through my neighborhood and then drying the sweat off with a tribred blast!

Check out the video above of a rider in San Francisco. One could ride, lightly carving as they do-- or shred. It's still trikking in the end!

E-Kits installed and pon-e purchases all available at Capital Trikke!

Great national exposure to the green generation, Trikke and Sam Jayme

Fort Myers Trikke Spots and one I-95 Hidden Jewel

Just got back from a quick trip from NC to Fort Myers Florida. The last time I made the trip was in November. With my “trikke eyes” on full alert I spied many glorious locations for riding. A hidden jewel popped up as we drove through Santee SC. Running adjacent to I-95 at Lake Marion is a beautiful 2 mile, over water bridge full of walkers, cyclists-- but no trikkers! This strip is a great ride challenge with flat areas and a very nice rising incline over the lake. Check the Santee Park out here!

Florida trikkers …wow. I don’t think I would ever come home at night if I had some of your paths! Fort Myers is a gorgeous city with miles and miles of peaceful, low traffic, flat sidewalks and dedicated trails that are perfect for trikking. Stayed near Sanibel Island which has 22 miles of bike paths! This is a beautiful resort area that I will return to. Another great location is the Lakes Regional Park. Very nice riding areas there without the toll bridge expense of traveling to Sanibel.

Might be back in the area in October. Will be sure to enjoy the beach and the trikking community!

Beginner Trikking Tip- Keep the Line in Mind

A quick clip to demonstrate a simple way of understanding the relationship between the front wheel and the trikke foot platform. New riders often risk injury by jerking the handlebars and/or pulling them too far inside from left to right. This can cause you to fall off the trikke due to jack knifing! It also makes your trikke ride less smooth as the constant practice of this jerking motion will break down proper form. Here we show new riders how to take their time by focusing on a visual cue to help build nice smooth form, while at the same time promoting safer handlebar movement.

Keeping Trikking Tracks with an iphone

Most that know me realize that I am an Apple addict. I do my work on Macs. Have a house wifi’d with Apple products. Have an Apple TV unit with hundreds of movies stored and more ready for instant rental. Then there is my beloved iphone. I’ve had one since they first came out. As they evolved I was torn because I wanted to use GPS for my trikking activities and the original iphone did not have GPS. The 3G did, but I just knew there was another update on the horizon. So I waited. Now there is the 3GS ($200) and I went ahead and got it. Many times I contemplated buying a separate GPS like the Garmin, but I really didn’t feel I was hardcore enough to pay the couple of hundred for that, when I believed my eventual iphone upgrade would suffice.

Now that I have the 3GS, I am very happy with it. The trikke related test would be through the GPS ability of apps available on the iphone. I use MotionX GPS as a $1.99 application and have just started trikking with it . Granted, I haven’t used the Garmin, but I am happy with this method. As you can see from my screen shots, my info was recorded without difficulty. For me this is relevant info. Unfortunately, I’m not a speed demon but it is nice to now have more details to keep me aware of benchmarks for my personal best. I don’t have to keep track of them anymore as the iphone does it now. It’s funny though. Now that I can see my speed in detail, I have to wonder if I’ll start riding harder and faster to beat my times? Before, I never really thought about speed per say, just how I felt or how long it took me. Never really got into calculating what time meant in speed. This could be an interesting training partner!

I also like that the application can access my ipod music from within the app, so I do not have to toggle back and forth between the applications. See screenshot above and see how I set my various workouts up.

Overall, it’s a thumbs up for me and my iphone 3GS. Never had a Blackberry or PalmPre. Never had a Garmin…but my iphone works just fine for me!