Just finished my first tour ride on a trike. This was only a 3 day event. There were 8 riders on this moderately difficult route. I was on my HP Velotechnik FX 20 and I was pulling a small trailer. This was a self supported tour, so all the camping equipment was on the trike and trailer. I go on this tour every year, so it was a bit of a change for my friends that were expecting me to ride my Surly Long Haul Trucker.

There was an interest in the trike from the beginning with many comments and questions. By the end of the tour the questions were much more serious as they found I seemed to be quite comfortable on this "contraption". And then it became even more serious when I pedaled up a hill that hits 18% or more. Many of us have no choice but to walk this devil of a hill with the full load on our bike. This year I pedaled right up the hill on my little machine while pulling the loaded trailer.

One side note: We had a nice camp fire the first night. I had my own comfy chair as others sat on a log or on the ground.

I told everyone I was on the trike due to a neck injury in a car accident. A couple of the guys said they would consider a trike now and not wait for an accident to drive them to it.

Perfect!

It took me a long time to wrap my head around the idea of riding a trike. Your tale would have helped.

A few years back, my buddy and I went on BRAT which that year was in Western Tennessee. By the third day, all 300+ of the riders on the tour knew us by our first names, even if we hadn't talked to them. I guess when there's a UFO flying around, everyone investigates what the aliens' names are.

Congratulations on doing this tour on your trike! Sounds like you are an excellent recumbent ambassador.

What were some of the more “interesting” questions?

Congrats! It sounds like a fantastic experience! I'm just beginning to explore getting a trike. Looking forward to more reports!

Usually all it takes is to answer the question, "How much did it cost?" to seriously dampen enthusiasm. That was particularly interesting when they guy who asked the question was smoking cigarettes that cost north of $5 a pack when he asked about my Greenspeed GTO (answer was ~$5K new). He could have saved up the amount I paid for the trike used in 2004 in about 18 months by quitting smoking.

Some of the questions concerned pulling a trailer. I did not have good answers there because I have not pulled a trailer before, either behind a trike or a bike. Since I was passing other riders on the descents they asked how the trike felt on the descents. All I could tell them was that it was not much different from sitting in the living room watching a descent on TV. It may not have been that easy, but close.

There really was not much about the cost. Most of the guys I was with (one woman), could buy anything they wanted.

A major comment that I heard from a few of the riders was that I did not look like I was working any harder on the trike than then were on the bikes, especially on climbs. They thought the trike may be even slower that it was. Basically I was running in the middle of the pack.

The real difference was that I did feel comfortable on the trike within a day or two. Than was the general theme of their comments.

Congrats on the tour run, can't even imagine doing a 3 day loaded tour on my Sunseeker Eco-Tad SX and a 18% grade would take me a long time to climb, LOL. Glad you got questions instead of load of crud for riding a trike!