November 05, 2003
Real Couch Bike Comedy in Canada
Jim 'Parky' Wetherell (http://inevergiveup.org) , the Parkison's survivor who rode from San Francisco to Santa Cruz for us last summer as part of our second annual National Mayors' Ride (http://NationalBicycleGreenway.com/Events/Mayors_Ride/schedule.php) , forwarded this hysterical short story (complete with pictures) of two guys who pedaled a 7-foot wide couch across an island in Canada.
http://www.bikeforest.com/cb/cb.html
Not only does the thought of someone turning a couch into a pedal bike sound funny enough, but the madcap adventure that ensues is all too comical. Their encounters with rain, police, barricades and the crashes they had, found me laughing out loud more than a couple of times.
btw: Parky must have identified with them. Their "machine" weighed in at 95 pounds while the trike he rode last summer, tho only two and a half feet wide, weighed in at 70 pounds (I love a heavy bike that can perform well -- my Penninger trike, likes Parky's, makes me stronger especially when the shorter days give me less time to ride).
btw2: Having ridden a recumbent bike since 1983, and being accused of riding a couch bike for all of those two decades, I know the two guys above have given a new meaning to the word 'recumbent' bike!