To begin with, it needs to be known that ever since my car wreck and subsequent rehabilitation, in starting my life from a clean slate, I've looked at every sport from the perspective of its ability to be a lifetime way to keep myself fit. Immediately ruled out because of this requirement were most of the sports I saw on TV such as football, baseball and basketball. Bicycling, which I'd done all my life, seemed like a logical choice but as I looked at it from this new standpoint I didn't see that many older people on bikes. I wondered why this was so.

Well 4,000 miles worth of TransAm answered my question. Upright cycling causes pain. Any body who can put in a hundred mile day on a conventional bicycle without combating hands

Unlike 30 years ago when most people over 30 didn't exercise, more and more adults are entering mid life with a respectable measure of fitness or at least a genuine interest in it. And yet the upright industry still doesn't get it. It continues to focus it's efforts on younger America. It showcases its racers and endeavors to make older riders as well as those hurt by the upright position comfortable with items such as suspended forks, stems, seats and seatposts as well as with padded gloves, saddles and shorts, etc. Such moneys if invested in the recumbent solution, however, could provide them with a needed shot in the arm to send their sales of a whole new bicycle into outer orbit.

Were Mochet and his riders having too much fun? Had they made it look too easy? Was the forward thinking Peugeot too far out of balance with the prevailing mindset of the times? Let's take a look at that era to better answer these questions.

There were three factors working against the recumbent when Mochet was trying to sell the

First we will look at the question of hero worship. In the '30 's, even though the private automobile was just beginning to achieve dominance, the bicycle was still a strong part of the mass consciousness. Its racers were the crowned dignity of a very recent past for the people of that time. So for anyone to upset the accomplishments of the heroes they had once idolized while doing so in a different position impressed them as nothing more than an achievement that had to be counterfeit.

We can see an example of this in the world of baseball. When Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in 1961 to upstage that game's icon, Babe Ruth, America and the press almost made Maris a criminal. Nor did they accept his record either. It is only now, four decades later, as the media regularly reduces our hero's to the mere mortals that they really are to begin with that sports writers are even beginning to consider Maris for the "National Pastime's" Hall of Fame.

The mentality of 'life is hard and then you die' was the dominant thought form by which most people during this time governed their affairs. Henry David Thoreau, a forward thinking proponent of individualism seemed to be summing this sentiment up decades before when he observed, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation."

It was this feeling of hopelessness and helplessness against an enemy that was seemingly

For a cyclist in that era to look happy as he was rewriting all the known record books of the time was seen as a slap in the face to this unspoken requirement to regulate the amount of joy one was allowed. For Mochet's riders to smile and have their arms at their sides in the surrender position while making the efforts of previous cyclists seem like child's play only added to the insult that this style of riding was beginning to cause. Removing such disrespect from public view was almost seen as civic duty.

It is this mindset that has become a part of our present day enculturation. In order to insure that we are not alone in our misery, how hard we work and how well we conform to the code of conduct prescribed by our tribe, our co-workers, the clubs and associations we belong to, even our families, etc, have become the measure of our own individual sense of self worth.

Not only is the group mind telling us that we can't enjoy ourselves when we are on its roadways, the media constantly reminds us that they are for moving workers about with its reports on workday traffic, road conditions and the like. It is for this reason that, here in America, Bike-to-Work Day has been somewhat successful in bringing older cyclists back to the roads. It has begun to speak to the inferiority complex that many of us on two wheels are always working to overcome.

How many of the men amongst us here in America can forget how much fun it was to throw a baseball around or to swing a bat at one? When we were little boys, we looked at the special gloves and the shoes and all the rules we were required to learn with a sense of wonder and awe. It astounded us to learn that we could actually get paid to do such a thing. The few that got to the professional level, however, forgot how to smile when things got hard.

Whether it's baseball, pounding nails or preparing ledger sheets, on some level, we forget in the same way that every job we do gives us some measure of satisfaction. However we tend only to remember the hard times as a perverse way to insure that others will pay us for a pain we have projected into the future. As a result, we learn not to smile too much with pretty much everything we do in life whether it's for money or even just for fun.

In the last few decades, recumbent cyclists seem to have followed a progressive resistance to the conformist consciousness that had once so paralyzed us as individuals. As the proliferation of household appliances began to make it possible for the individual to function independently of the needs of the group, for more and more people, what he or she wanted finally began to matter. The need for us to stick together for battle continued to lose its importance in the '70's when Vietnam made war as we had known it obsolete. The hippie and pop psychology movements then used the folly of supporting a war effort to show us that we as individuals really did matter. It convinced many of us that it was OK to break with the rank and file, to be different.

At almost the same time, on opposite sides of the United States, Gardner Martin, a student of aerodynamic advantage began producing his Easy Racer speed machines in the Santa Cruz area of California. While in the southern part of that state, another small team of engineers, led by Jack Baker of the present day S&B Recumbent began producing the Hypercycle. A short wheel base machine, it was not about serious cycling like the S&B that has evolved from it, but more of an adult toy that appealed to cyclists looking just for pain free fun.

Soon the Dutch introduced their version of pain free cycling to America in the form of the Roulandt and in California another long wheel base, the DeFelice began to attract buyers.

During this time, the only link these bikes had to the marketplace were the tiny ads that they were able to place in the backs of bike magazines or through Dr. Bike, the only recumbent dealer in the U.S. Run by Ken Culver in the Long Island area of New York, this operation now located in Arizona found interested buyers all over the world for this "new" cycling position. The King of Morroco even purchased an Infinity and a Hypercycle from Culver and once sent out a Lear Jet from his home land just to retrieve a replacement part.

So it was that the present day recumbent movement began, just like the modern day computer -in garages, almost strategically

As other recumbents kept falling just short, on May 11 in 1986, a recumbent bicycle ridden by Fast Freddy Markham then captured the Dupont prize on a fully faired Easy Racer recumbent. His victory gave a shot of adrenaline to the fledgling industry that Ryan had helped to revitalize. Since then, scores of manufacturers and a myriad of different laid back machines have sprouted up all over the world. In 1990 Recumbent Cyclist News then, with great success, began helping these builders merchandise their wares to a very receptive public. Here now in 1998, it is the world wide web that is even further bringing down the walls of resistance.

More and more people are also discovering, as did I, that it is actually an honor to be different; that their bicycle does not have to cause them pain. Those returning to this once almost outlawed style of riding are discovering they can ride for hours and miles without ailments such as the sore butt, stiff neck, aching shoulders or numb hands that afflict the conventional bicycle rider. Besides far greater comfort, the recumbent rider also experiences a better view of the world, a toning and strengthening of the abdomen, even a better sun tanning position.

On a practical level here are some more things to consider about the recumbent advantage. On a recumbent:You don't have to dress a certain way; there is no need for special clothes such as bike shorts with a chamois in them or jerseys with pockets in backIt is easier to feed your self on oneYou can ride far longer with one handYou see more of the lands through which you are passingThey perform better in headwinds of which the plains and deserts are filledYou are on a magic carpet ride...having fun.

Any time you pass through unfamiliar territory on a recumbent, people along the way can't help but feel a sense of comfort wherever they see you. On a 'bent, it is as if you don't pose a

Try to imagine just for a moment what our world would be like if love was the dominant theme; if there was nothing to defend. Harmony, tranquillity and joy would abound. There would be a true heaven on earth. All would be a playground -- National Bicycle Greenways would fill the land!! It is toward this end, then, that I say that those on recumbents will be the ambassadors of such good will as we move through the new millennium!!.