About

Sitting on "Blue Skies"

Welcome to my little corner of the world. This blog is about cycling…all kinds of cycling along with its health, environmental, transportation and recreational benefits.

As with many people I started cycling as a kid as, but as I became older other interests took its place. I did get back into cycling in the 1980′s purchasing a 10 speed bike but interest soon waned. I did not get back into cycling until 2004 which was only to complement other forms of exercise to improve my health and lose weight. I was in pretty sorry shape at the time and was very ill to boot. What started as casual use soon took over and became not only my main form of exercise, but recreation as well. Soon I was into group rides and cycling for fitness in a more serious way. After a number of increasingly painful long rides, I decided to look again at recumbent bikes as a possible alternative. After 4-6 months of research I purchased my current recumbent trike in June 2009 which I have named “Blue Skies” after the Irving Berlin song by the same name. I chose this name for a couple of reasons. The obvious first reason is that the trike is a beautiful deep sky blue but secondly I find the lyrics  encouraging and very meaningful to me as I struggle with several chronic conditions. Getting back into cycling and now riding the trike have been instrumental in helping me through depression which I have been diagnosed with in addition to Fibromyalgia and type II Diabetes.

Although this blog is about cycling from a ‘bent perspective, I am interested in all aspects of cycling. What is a ” ‘bent perspective”? Well it is a slightly different view of cycling and a more comfortable way to ride. In other words it involves riding a recumbent bike, or in my case a recumbent trike. Recumbent bikes (and trikes) are a different bicycle design which has you riding in a more laid back or reclined position which I have found to be a more comfortable way to ride a bike.

Feel free to explore and comment. Thanks for visiting.

Riichard