I lost "it" for about 3 years but it's slooowly coming back.

The first accident, in which I broke both of my elbows, is when I lost it. At the time I didn't think about "it" very much. I figured at worst I could switch to riding recumbents and everything would go back to the way that it was. I didn't count on the mental aspect. Anxiety just about did me in. More than once Mrs. Grouch talked me into taking our tandem down to the Katy Trail and, after putting it together, dissassembled the bike and loaded it back into the car because I couldn't bear the thought of riding. I commented once that I just wanted the carefreeness that I used to feel while riding my bike to come back. If you've never suffered that kind of mental anxiety, God bless you.

I think that going to the Midwest Recumbent Rally in Steven's Point, Wi., was one of the best things that I've done for myself in a long time. Certainly there were some go-fast people there, but there were also a whole bunch of "smell the roses" types. I don't remember seeing that in a long time. Maybe I was just trying to keep up with the wrong group. I think that I'm going to go to the "even darker side" and become a trike rider. Putzing around the parking lot on Mrs. Grouch's tadpole and conversing with various people was an eye opener for me. There's no need to balance, I've pretty much overcome my concern about the minimum extra width of a trike, and I had a comfortable seat to use while stopped to talk with folks. In other words, the carefreeness that I used to feel is gradually coming back.

I'm glad that we bought the Screamer tandem because that kept us bicycling even if it felt felt uneasy. Without taking that step I wouldn't have been able to bring myself to consider the switch to riding linked delta tricycles. Right now I can't imagine us riding a conventional tandem or even the Screamer through our 70's. I can easily picture us riding deltas for another 10 or more years. I'm having the kind of feeling that I had 35 years ago when I put together our first tandem for Mrs. Grouch and me. For the first time in 3 years I'm actually looking forward to riding together. The carefree feeling is slooowly coming back!