I posted a few days ago about the arrival and installation of the Hase twin stand. Now that I’ve had several opportunities to use it with Gareth, I can say with confidence that if you’re going to purchase a Pino for somebody with a disability just order the heavy duty twin stand from the start. It makes loading and unloading Gareth much easier and allows me the ability to actually dismount the bike when he needs suctioned. Before this stand, I had to balance the bike between my thighs while twisting my torso back to front in order to get to his suction machine and then get to his trache.

Speaking of Gareth and riding, we rode three times over the Memorial Day weekend. On Sunday, we rode for an hour or so at the Pennsylvania Military Museum in Boalsburg. The great thing about that ride is that Brandy (my wife, Gareth’s mother) went along for the ride on my recumbent trike. She never learned how to ride a two-wheeler, so I’m thrilled that she took to the trike as quickly as she did.

Later that evening, Gareth and I went on a short ride not far from Colyer Lake as we were visiting his grandparents who had never before seen him ride his bike. And on Monday, we went out for a quick (1 hour) ride around the neighborhood, doing lots of fast turns and running through puddles from the shower the night before.

In adaptation news, Gareth and I have battled for a long time regarding his head positioning while sitting in the stoker seat. Gareth has a tendency to lean to the right. Normally not a problem, but while bike riding, that lean puts his helmet directly in the way of the handlebars as I’m turning left. There have been a few times where that has put us in a dangerous situation. Over the months, I’ve tried lots of possible solutions - different belts, shoulder harnesses, neck/head positioning pads - but none of them were effective. I now have a solution: a foam kayak roof rack. Foam block roof racks for kayaks come with two blocks that have a center channel meant for running a strap through and over the kayak. Those channels are also small enough and tight enough to grip to the side bars of the recumbent seat. Since sliding those into place, Gareth has been unable to get his head past the foam block and into the path of the handlebars. Problem solved. Foam block roof racks sell for about $20 (and I’ll try to get some photos of them fitted to the Pino since what I just typed probably doesn’t make any sense).

And, last but not least, Gareth and I are planning to attend the RBR Recumbent Rally on June 15th. If you’re interested in checking out the Pino, feel free to walk up and say “Hi”.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 29th, 2007 at 8:16 am and is filed under Adaptations, Travel Log. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.