There are several various rallies, rides and events held each year around the nation. And, of course, there are similar events in other countries of the world, but I am only covering some which are here in the United States. By the way, to the best of my knowledge and understanding all brands of tadpole trikes, delta trikes, “Florida tricycles”, 2 wheel recumbent bikes and diamond frame bikes are welcome to participate regardless of the event being a specific brand name trike. There are always other pedal powered cycles in attendance from what I have seen in videos and still pictures and from what I have read about the rallies.
Rallies: (Some of the biggies/best known)
Heart of Texas Recumbent Rally (HOT … a Catrike rally held in Austin, TX)
Wisconsin’s Hostel Shoppe hosts their Midwest Recumbent Rally in August. They also sponsor an annual FALL COLOR TOUR up in Wisconsin.
Fort Stevens (Oregon) Recumbent Rally
Here are some more individual listings of rallies:
West Michigan Recumbent Rally
RBR Recumbent Bike and Trike Rally (Pennsylvania)
Smoky Mountain Recumbent Rally (Maryville, TN)
Tator TOT Recumbent Rally (Idaho)
Great Western Bicycle Rally (central California)
PALM ride (Pedal Across Lower Michigan)
TerraTrike RiderFest (Michigan)
Michigan HPV rallies
For 11 years Catrike offered an annual rally including rides and a tour of their factory in Orlando, Florida. However they no longer sponsor the ride which I find very sad.
Rides:
RAGBRAI is an annual seven-day cycling ride across the state of Iowa, the oldest,
largest and longest cycling touring event in the world. The route averages 468 miles,
with an average of 67 miles per day. It begins along Iowa’s western border on the
Missouri River and ends along the eastern border on the Mississippi River.
BAK (Biking Across Kansas) is a recreational and social rally for cyclists, an annual,
eight-day tour across the state of Kansas. BAK promotes wellness through cycling,
while experiencing the history and beauty of the Kansas landscape, and the warm
hospitality of the Kansas towns and people.
GOBA (The Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure) is an annual one-week cycling-camping
tour in June. Each year the GOBA route features a different part of Ohio, meandering
through the quiet countryside and stopping at tourist destinations. The ride includes
5 days of cycling from town to town, and 2 days of optional loops.
You can read about some other rides and events HERE, HERE and HERE
Bent Rider OnLine has a MESSAGE BOARD concerning events, rides and rallies readers post.
Recumbent Events:
Recumbent Cycle-Con
Races:
http://www.recumbents.com/wisil/calendar.asp
Rider Meetups:
TrikeGroups is probably the best of the websites for connecting with other riders. HERE is another website concerning meeting up with other trikers and organizing rides together. I think you have to sign up to use this website. If there are none in your area you can start one here. HERE is a website where you can look up groups listed by State.
Sadly, these websites have been around for a few years, but there just doesn’t seem to be much interest in it. With only a few exceptions what few group listings there are only have 1 to 3 members and don’t ever seem to grow. I am not surprised at this however as it is exactly what I have found to be the way most riders are … no interest in riding together.
I created a group on TrikeGroups for Fort Wayne, but no one showed any interest so I deleted it. As much as I would love to see other tadpole trike riders here in Fort Wayne meet up to ride together it just doesn’t seem to be happening.
http://www.trikegroups.com/browsegroups.php?s=2&c=IN
I guess most of us who ride tadpole trikes don’t buy into the words of the song … “Let’s get together … yeah, yeah, yeah … It could be so much fun”. OK, I admit … I added my own words on the end. But it is true ya’ know. I don’t mind riding by myself, but I definitely think it is more enjoyable to ride together with other tadpole trikes.
There may be bicycle organizations in your area already, but most usually are hard core diamond frame road riders (“roadies”) who go out pedaling around 23 +/- mph average … in short, a different breed which I think most would agree that tadpole trikes don’t fit in too well.
One thing I want to mention is that most organized rides and test rides at events require helmets to be worn on rides.
I am sure there are numerous events I have not covered as I certainly don’t know about all that many. Hopefully those of you who have an interest in this can do some digging and find out. Usually local bike shops have information on rides and events concerning cycling. And hopefully this will be helpful or at least encouraging for all of us to …
KEEP ON TRIKIN’
A FREE GIFT awaits you!
Tadpole Rider 