St. Louis MO--Moonlight Ramble

[RebeccaAnn]

Looks like hubby and I will be riding in tonight's Moonlight Ramble, an annual ride here in St. Louis. We will be making the trip on my in-laws' red recumbent tandem (red with yellow seats), so if anyone else from the board is attending and you see us please stop and say hello!

He's a masher, I'm a spinner, and we haven't been on a tandem for two years. Whee! For part of the ride we will be pacing my mother-in-law on her recumbent trike, she is recovering from a stem cell transplant last year. Top speed for her is about 5 mph, so we'll spend much of the ride in back with the families with kids. If she flags we will trade spots, I'll take the solo trike and she'll stoke on the tandem.

If you are in St. Louis and haven't registered for the ride, you can still show up and tag along. Many, many people do this every year. You can register next year!

http://www.moonlightramble.com/

[drplasma64]

Hey Rebecca Ann, how was the ramble? I lived in St. Louis from '88-99 with a 1.5 year break. Had some good times there, bought my road bike at Touring Cyclist in maplewood? crestwood? Never did do the ramble although lots of my friends in grad school did.

Hope it was fun. How did your MIL do? Good for her getting out there. What kind of recumbant trike does she have? My dad used to bike a lot, but had a stroke about 7 years ago, which affected his balance. He rides a regular trike now, but the guy at his LBS wants to sell him a recumbant.

[RebeccaAnn]

I didn't get to go! Family stuff, scheduling issues, and a fussy toddler to top it all off. I stayed home with the baby, my MIL got some much-needed sleep, and my husband rode his mother's Catrike. He was quite proud of his 30-odd mile trip, he hadn't been on a bike for about a year.

My MIL lost her sense of balance somewhere in the transplant treatment, she'll probably never ride a two-wheeler again. The tandem is a Greenspeed, http://www.greenspeed.com.au/tandem.htm , and her solo is a
Catrike, http://www.catrike.com/road.htm

She LOVES the recumbent. She is very sensitive about her post-irradiation appearance, but feels that when she's on the recumbent no one can tell that she's sick. We haven't clued her in to the fact that her speed (she maxes about 5 mph) sort of gives her away. She can handle a 10-15 mile S-L-O-W ride on her good days. The recumbent was worth every penny, and if there's a way your father can do a test ride I'd recommend it.

I know my MIL test rode several, driving to Wisconsin for one test, before deciding on the Catrike. She's about 5'2" tops, I'm not certain how much her size had to do with the choice. I've taken a couple short spins on the Catrike, it's easy to operate and very stable.

You escaped St. Louis! Hubby and I are in the where'd-you-go-to-high-school crowd, we're here to stay.