Carmen Mazzei
The irony is not
lost on those who ride them. As toddlers they started out on three wheels. As
aging boomers, they have gone back to their trikes.
Often for health
reasons, people in the boomer-and-beyond age bracket are shedding their
two-wheel bicycles and motorcycles for more stable and "forgiving"
trikes. It's a trend that has been spotted and promoted throughout the nation,
including in Bakersfield.
At the dealership
on Merle Haggard Drive, salesman Mark T. Welch said the $30,000-plus
three-wheel Harley-Davidson motorcycles are flying out the door. They can't
order them quick enough to keep up with the demand.
At Snider's
Cyclery, Olivia Snider said she is seeing an increasing number of people coming
into her Union Avenue shop asking for trikes. Sales of three-wheel adult
tricycles have climbed.
"People see it
as easy mobility and a good way to keep in shape," she said, explaining
most trike customers are recovering from injuries or illnesses.
Snider manager
Miguel Berger said most people are buying three-speed trikes, with coaster and
hand-brakes in the $600 range. Recumbent tricycles, which are geared and
designed for more advanced, competitive riders, sell for much more.
In February, Barney
Padilla, 60, bought a head-turning high-gloss red 2010 Harley-Davidson Street
Glide Trike from the Bakersfield dealership. A motorcycle rider since 1978,
Padilla said he hopes his new wheels will keep him riding for many more years.
Padilla retired as
the service manager of a local car dealership. After encountering health
problems that required his heart to be assisted by a pacemaker, Padilla said he
feared his riding days were over.
"I am not
having any problems yet in riding, but I was not sure what would happen in the
next five years," he said, explaining that he worried about keeping his
balance on a two-wheel motorcycle.
At first, he
considered modifying his motorcycle to add a third wheel for stability. But as
modification costs added up, his interest turned to buying Harley-Davidson's
popular Street Glide Trike. The manufacturer also makes a pricier Tri Glide
Ultra Classic.
While Padilla can
still feel the wind on his face and the bugs against his teeth, his new wheels
ooze luxury. These trikes, which are acquiring a lot of "street credibility"
as more and more boomers head down the highway on them, are equipped with
cruise control, optional reverse gear, GPS navigation, stereo speakers, hand
warmers and headsets to ease communications.
Padilla and his
wife, Eva, are planning some long-distance trips, the first being to Modesto to
celebrate a friend's 25th wedding anniversary. Arizona and Nevada destinations
are also on the horizon.
Padilla said his
adult children have never shown much interest in riding. But after he brought
his trike home, his daughters are suddenly asking for rides. "It's pretty
tricked out."
Carmen Mazzei is
fighting a seven-year battle with cancer. It showed up first as a brain tumor
and she beat it back. It returned in her spine. Again she was triumphant. Then
it was her breast and kidney. Now she is being treated for lung cancer.
Mazzei, who looks
20 years younger than her age (which she will keep to herself) credits her
athletic life for her ability to fight her grueling health battle. Before she
became ill, she worked out regularly at a local gym, enjoyed water and snow
skiing, taught her children how to ride motorcycles, didn't smoke, ate well and
kept her weight down.
She has a
"won't quit" attitude, believes "every day is a good day,"
and can be heard telling people, "I have cancer, but I am not going to let
cancer have me."
But the side
effects of her chemotherapy and related health problems, including a knee
injury, kept her from her exercise routine. Mazzei's son, Mike, talked her into
buying an adult tricycle from Snider's.
"Thanks to my
precious son, I got this," she said, grinning as she straddled her new
wheels on the street in front of her northeast Bakersfield home. "He knows
how active I want to be."
Mazzei's trike has
a basket in back of the seat, where she carries her two Pomeranian dogs on her
daily treks through her neighborhood.
"I need to
exercise. I'm not the type of person who can just sit around," she said.
But her medications throw her balance off, preventing her from riding a
two-wheel bicycle.
"I feel so
much better being able to ride," she said. "At first I thought I
would look silly. But I have fallen in love with it. I came alive when I saw
it."
Mazzei had no
reason to fear looking silly on her trike. She only had to check out bicycle-riding-for-boomers.com
to discover the wide range of cycling options that exist for boomers and
beyond.
"There is an
exciting reawakening in the world of bicycle riding driven by boomer-aged
riders looking for fun and fitness. Old line bike manufacturers are producing
more products for mature riders and new manufacturers are appearing
frequently," according to the webpage.
Recognizing the
demand for trikes as its customers aged, Harley-Davidson began manufacturing
three-wheel versions of its popular touring bikes in 2009.
"Fifteen years
ago, people didn't know what to make of it," Harley-Davidson's chief
marketing officer, Mark-Hans Richer, told The Associated Press earlier this
year. "Now it's become a form of personal expression. The stigma of three
wheels is gone."
This article appeared in The Bakersfield Californian on
March 15, 2010.
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