There are many more than two, of course, but these are the things that I’ve appreciated lately:

1. If I get hurt, it’s ok. I mean, I don’t want to get hurt- it would still suck.  And I’m not talking about serious injuries.  But a minor leg injury wouldn’t be a big deal in my daily life.  When I was training for the marathon on a handcycle last year, I suffered shoulder & elbow pain from overuse, which carried over into daily life and made it tough for me to get around at times- an arm injury can be crippling (ha) to a manual chair user.  If my knees or ankles get sore, well, they’ll get plenty of rest.

2.  People think I’m just an able-bodied person with a weird bike. Yesterday I was waiting to start my ride in Valley Forge when a guy on a recumbent bike (two wheels) came over and started talking to me about my trike, including asking me if this was my first recumbent.  I could have said, “Well yes, but I used to ride a handcycle, and before that I couldn’t ride a bike for ten years,” but I didn’t.  With my chair nowhere in sight, I was just an AB on an expensive cycle.  My disability is such a big part of who I am that it felt odd to realize that he had no idea.  I felt like I was hiding something from him, but in a good way- keeping my hilarious little secret of not being able to walk all to myself.

In case you couldn’t tell, I’m loving my trike.