Priscilla

I have been wanting to hike the Pacific Crest Trail for at least 12 years. Over the years, I've geared up for it several times, but something always kept me from actually going. It was probably just fear, but I'd rather blame it on something else, like the constant responsibilities of life. For various reasons (mostly due to weather), one must begin the hike sometime between mid-April and mid-May. At the beginning of last year (2009, in case you can't remember), I really, really, really wanted to go. But my father had just died of brain cancer and a new boss had just been elected to head the office where I work. I was depressed about my dad, and I doubted my new boss would give me a five-month leave of absence to go hike in the woods when there was work to be done. So I decided that 2010 was going to be my year to go. Somehow, I was going to make it happen. It was time to do something for me -- something big and life-changing. But I had said that so many times before and never quite made it. Yet, I felt more resolve than I ever had before. And being newly single and childless, I had fewer people to answer to in my personal life. So I set my sights on the prize and decided to go for it. I had a whole year to plan for it. I had no excuses.

Sometime during the summer, my mother invited me to a presentation at the Institute of Human and Machine Cognition. The presentation was being given by a guy named Pat Crawford, who is the program director for WUWF, which is the local public television station. To raise money for public broadcasting, Pat had ridden his bicycle from Pensacola to Canada on a trail developed by the Adventure Cycling Association that mirrored the route of the slaves on the underground railroad. He rode by himself, camped along the way, blogged about his experiences, and raised a respectable amount of money for the TV station. The slide-show of his trip was informative and, as if you haven't guessed, inspirational to me. After all, I had to get to California somehow to begin my hike. Why not ride a bicycle?

It looked simple enough. I hadn't ridden a bike in years (nay, decades), but so what? Riding a bike is a lot like . . . well, riding a bike. Once you learn how, you never forget. You also never forget, if you've done enough of it, which I had as a child and teenager, how badly your crotch hurts from those seats, or how badly your neck and shoulders hurt from holding your head up so you can see the road in front of you. Of course, Pat never mentioned that, but I remembered it from personal experience.

Which brings me to Priscilla, my beautiful bike (er, trike). By the way, I hate the word tricycle. It makes me think of those little red Radio Flyers that most of us rode as young kids. Like this:

Not that there's anything wrong with kids' tricycles, but I'm not a kid anymore.

Or it makes me think of those three-wheeled contraptions that elderly people ride to the store with the wire basket on the back. Like this:

No, no, no. My Priscilla is not a "tricycle." It's a trike. More specifically, it's a recumbent trike, which means that I get to peddle from a comfortable reclining position. No sore crotch. No sore neck or shoulders. Sore legs, perhaps, after 50 miles per day. But no hobbling around at the end of the day waiting for my business to regain feeling or -- worse -- feeling like someone just kicked me with a steel-toed boot (a couple hundred times). "Oh, you get used to it," I've heard people say. Really? I think not!

So I searched the net for alternatives and discovered the whole world of recumbent bikes, and more specifically recumbent trikes. I learned that there were two kinds: deltas and tadpoles. All have three wheels, of course, but the delta trikes have one in front and two in back. Tadpoles, on the other, have two in front and one in back. Now, when I say two wheels in front, I don't mean in front of the pedals, I mean in front of the third wheel.

They look cool, but I had never ridden a recumbent bike, much less a recumbent trike. I didn't know anyone who owned one, and none of the bike shops in town carried them. So I hopped in my car and drove to the nearest dealer -- in Jackson, Mississippi -- a four and a half hour drive, one way. It was a great shop. The owner let me test ride all different kinds. Since I ultimately didn't buy one from him, I'll give him a plug here, because I appreciate that I could ride his bikes and see which one I liked. http://www.ridesouth.com/

One thing I've discovered about myself over the years is that I like quality. Top of the line. I definitely have champagne taste. Unfortunately, I have a beer budget. I knew I had to find a used trike. I searched high and low. I hunted on the net. I hunted on craigslist. I trolled classifieds on biking websites. I finally found the one I wanted at a bike shop in Colorado. I had to buy it sight-unseen. The salesman at the bike shop in Colorado assured me that it was in excellent condition. So I took a deep breath and read him my credit card numbers. It arrived a week later in three boxes. In pieces parts. I hadn't tinkered with a bike since my teens. But I carefully unwrapped all the pieces. I found some assembly instructions on the net. It took me all day, but I managed to assemble the trike. I was so proud of myself.

Here are some photos of my baby:

Nice, huh? Yeah. It's a Greenspeed GTO. It's from Australia. The fairing is an add-on, but it was included with the bike I bought. Sweet. Here's the company website. Check it out: http://www.greenspeed.com.au/index.html

My friend and neighbor (you know who you are -- John) dubbed my baby "Priscilla" -- as in "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert." Another old movie, but a camp classic. The story line goes: Two gay drag queens and a bereaved transsexual ride a lavender motor home, dubbed "Priscilla," into the Australian outback on their way to a resort to perform a show. Of course, they find plenty of (mis)adventure along the way.

This is my Priscilla, and I plan to have (mis)adventures on my way west. In my next post, I'll introduce you to my posse. As far as I know, none of them are drag queens or transsexuals. But I think we'll have fun anyway!