Winter In the Desert

Hello again, my friends!

Arizona Sunset

I have not done an update for a few months while I've been parked in my RV trailer in the desert of So. California. This has been a busy and unusual time for me.

My last post was the end of my 'Sufferfest' Moto-Myrtle USA Trike Tour. The tour ended in June but getting the blog and YouTube videos finished took many months more. I really enjoy documenting my travels. I find the process rewarding and going back over the trip is a good exercise. My biggest takeaway is I'm not sure how I got as far as I did on that tour. The tour was, for sure, the most difficult I have ever done. Without the support of friends and followers, I probably would have given up somewhere along Route 66. Y'all helped me keep my sense of humor! 

After the tour, I got in my RV and drove around the west coast. I went to the Recumbent Retreat in September which is my favorite event of the year. This was the 25th Annual and my 20th year attending. From there, I drove to Ohio for Cycle Con. Many bike dealers called to ask me to attend. I didn't want to go because Cycle Con was scheduled for the weekend after the retreat - in Ohio. Then, one dealer had me on the phone for an hour asking me to go. He made it sound like going was important and wore me down. I ended up leaving the retreat 2 days early to drive 2500 miles in 5 days. To be honest, I wasn't sure if I was capable of driving so far for so many days in a row. I was exhausted when I arrived but I made it.

The very 1st morning, I slipped down the stairs of my RV trailer and landed hard on my butt. My right butt muscles were in spasm for almost a week. Luckily, I didn't break anything but the muscles were so painful that I couldn't get into my truck and I ended up staying at the fairgrounds camped for many days after the show.  This was an ominous start to my experience at Cycle Con.

Test Track

Crowded Cycle Con

Fat trikes

I really enjoy meeting cycling/triking people. Regular people who ride are much more interesting than industry folk. I had lots of enthusiastic interactions with followers of my Facebook page and YouTube channel. The recumbent community has always been very warm, generous, welcoming, and supportive. This is a very special and enthusiastic group of people. I have learned there is a big difference between the community and the industry. The industry people don't show interest in the people who ride and actually use the products. 

The Cycle Con show only had 28 booths and, over the years, I have met most of the dealers, vendors, and manufacturers that presented products. It's not a lot of people. The space for the show was, unfortunately, much too small and trying to talk to anyone was awkward. No matter where I went, I felt like I was in the way. 

The manufacturers of trikes and bikes all had products to test. Getting everyone set up and then through the overly crowded aisles to the test track outside was difficult.  Personally, I don't have anything to sell or an agenda to promote and just floated around taking pictures. I'm a value-added person and the industry's interest in me is only because I have a following. No one from the industry showed any interest in the tour I did or included me in anything or invited me to have drinks or go to dinner or do anything social.  I have no idea why the shop owners called and asked me to be there. They weren't even interested that I was there. What really set me off and made me the most upset was when an industry person told me about the Cycle Con film festival. This person was excited that Geoff Adams had submitted his very clever YouTube video. (It's well worth watching and here is a link if you haven't seen it.) The thing is, I didn't know anything about the 'film festival' and learned people primarily entered their YouTube videos. How could I not know about this? How could I not be included? For heaven's sake, I have a YouTube channel dedicated to trike riding. My videos are only about trikes, touring with occasional tutorials and gear reviews. I don't talk about my personal life, or current events or give my opinion about politics. Even though I'm one of the most recognizable people in the world of recumbents, industry people simply didn't think of me.

For sure, I wasn't expecting any special treatment but to be ignored completely was shocking. No one in the industry cared that I was there. No one. I learned that the only interest the industry has in me is for my followers. And, I guess, everyone was honest with me.

Aside from HP, no one in the industry follows my tours or watches my videos. I made a nice video with fun music of the Cycle Con event and not one person from the industry commented on Youtube, Facebook or acknowledged it in any way. Undoubtedly, because no one from the industry watched it. Are there so many people making videos for recumbent events?  

What surprises me is that I know my videos are bringing customers into the shops. I know because the customers tell me. People write with excitement that they went to a shop and bought a trike. Often, they are buying trikes because they can't ride an upright bike anymore.  Often they haven't ridden in many, many years. Maybe it's an injury or a balance issue, but buying a trike gave them back something they thought they had lost forever. These stories are heartfelt, and I love reading them. 

Speaking of stories, why wasn't the industry interested in the tour I did across the US? A 64-year-old woman riding a trike with e-assist solo over 3,000 miles across the US. How could this not be interesting to them? And, I wasn't the only person who rode a trike across the US or on a big tour. One woman, Marianne Phillips, did her 7th trike tour across the US last summer. She is in her 70's and doesn't use e-assist on her trike. What about Brenda and Michael Castle? They rode Catrikes with e-assist from North Carolina to Montana to raise money for veterans. (They documented their tour on Facebook) Is this so many people to keep track of? Why aren't these stories interesting? The only person who got very minimal recumbent industry attention was Englishman John Hodkin. His posts were hilarious. Jon rode an unassisted ICE trike up the Mississippi River trail pulling a trailer carrying his tuba. He did concerts all along the way. The music community was a big help to Jon and very active throughout his journey. Gary Solomon, of the LaidBack Bike Report did a short segment on his show. Pat Franz, who retired from T-Cycle, also designed and built the trailer Jon used delivering it to him in Louisiana.  (Here is a link to his website) As far as I know, these were the only people who did long-distance, multi-month tours. Why isn't the industry excited about these achievements? Why doesn't the industry promote these rides? Why don't they want to celebrate their customers and what people in an older demographic are capable of? Does the industry have any interest in the people who actually use their products? It doesn't seem like it, and this is truly a shame and a missed opportunity to inspire a wider audience.

At Cycle Con, I also had a couple of bike dealers who wanted to talk to me about sponsorship. At the time, I didn't understand why these guys annoyed me. At the very least, they would offer me a bit of money, parts, and probably repairs to my trike. We can all use extra money, right? The thing is, none of them are interested in me or what I do. Not even a little bit. They are only interested in getting their manufacturer/dealer/vendor name in front of my followers. I  understand they want to sell products but, my travels and tours are really exciting and important to me. I've been documenting my trike life since 2007. All through the years, I have talked up everyone in the industry and have been happy to do it. I know my videos and blog posts are bringing attention to the world of recumbents. I love that they are impactful. I just wish the industry people would acknowledge and promote all the riders who are showing what's possible and how the products are used. 

I did have a sponsor for my ride across the US. HP Velotechnik generously gave me a new frame and Bent Up Cycles, especially Raina, did a great job transferring everything from the 12-year-old frame to the new one. It was a big job. I put their name on 80 YouTube videos. They, just like everyone else, showed no interest in the tour or my channel. Why aren't they celebrating what trikers are doing? Maybe I'll change my mind in the future but, as of now, I've decided I won't do sponsorship anymore.  

You may have noticed that I haven't been doing YouTube videos recently. My experience at Cycle Con was so deeply humiliating that I've needed a long break to assess what it all means and think about what I want going forward. It's been painful to learn how little my work is worth to the people who are benefitting the most. It's been many months and I haven't been able to shake my experience. I don't think this is something I'll ever completely recover.

New Mexico Trikers

Jo and BJ in Colorado

After Cycle Con, I did a few very fun rides with the Impromptu Riders of Ohio. I also did some lovely rides with local riders in New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona. There was also a trike festival near Palm Springs put on by Tri-A-Bike which was a much bigger event than expected. I'll be doing videos of those rides soon enough. 1st, I really wanted to vent and get this all off my chest before I start traveling again. 

Charlie in Colorado

Iowa Trestle

I ate well in Dayton

Impromptu Trikers

Over the winter, I have been parked in the desert of SoCal behind the church of my friend, Joni. I've been taking care of all kinds of surprisingly time-consuming projects. I switched my residency to South Dakota. As you know, I live full-time in my RV. South Dakota only requires one night every 5 years to be in the state for valid residency. There also isn't any income tax. I set up a mailbox and worked with a very nice woman who, unfortunately, was completely incompetent. This process took months. The very last thing I needed was the tags and plates for my truck and trailer. Finally, they arrived to where I'm staying - with my name misspelled on the titles. Ugh!

I also turned 65 and got onto Medicare. I went through a broker who helped me pick out a supplemental plan I can use while traveling in my RV. This all went smoothly. What hasn't been so easy is to find a primary care physician who takes Medicare and has appointment openings while I'm in the area. I mostly got all the appointments done. This is the 1st time in 15 years that I have health insurance. Now I have the scans, tests, and labwork to give me peace of mind that I am, indeed, very healthy. 

My time in Southern California is coming to an end. From here, I'll be heading to Tucson to meet up with my friends Dave and Edna. We are going to caravan together to Texas to watch the eclipse on April 8th. I've got a ton of video to go through. I'll be getting to those sooner than later with lots more updates to come.

Thanks for following along and letting me vent! I'd love to know what you think. Please, if you can, leave a comment.