What kind of cyclist shall I be?

One of the peculiarities of riding the Kangaroo trike is that most days I find myself being flagged down or accosted by complete strangers who want to know more about the trike, the costs, the benefits and why I ride it.

I don’t mind as it’s nice to be able to chat to different people every day, although it can be irritating from time to time when you need to get home and get on with the work.

Today was no exception. I was first flagged down on my way into the village by a male cyclist who wanted to ask about the trike’s technology - particularly the lights.

And then again on the way home, when a lady initiated a conversation with me as I huffed and puffed my way up the road at the base of Dunnydeer hill.

One of the peculiarities of these conversations is that I have to be careful to work out the agenda of the person who has flagged me down, as some people get offended if I’m “too green”, too “child friendly”, to much a “fitness freak”, too much the “thrifty skinflint” or too much the “trendy gadget-freak cyclist”.

The cyclist who stopped me today was definitely in the last camp.

He had a very new Scott Genius MC 20 bike, which he proudly told me is built from carbon fibre and weighs a mere 12kg.

I got the full run-down on the “kinematic custom butted swing arm” - or words to that effect, the headset, the crankset, the Kevlar seat and so on.

Now, if I’d replied along the lines of “yeah, and the trike is great kid transport” or “this is my way of reducing my carbon footprint”, from previous experience the conversation would have petered out fairly quickly.

Instead, I mentioned the Kangaroo’s three-point steering and independent, torsion-bar front suspension, the hydraulic disc brakes and the Lumicycle front lights - which my newly met cyclist friend thought were “truly awesome”.

When I mentioned the cost, he just nodded and said “oh, I always buy the best”.

So, having spent a good 15 minutes being a bike gadgethead I proceed on my way only to find that a short distance along the road I had to change modes and assume another of my cycling identities.

This time, I was just coming around the sharp up-hill curve in the road at the base of Dunnideer when a lady called out to me from the carpark for people walking up the hill.

I pulled into the carpark and, again, carefully edged my way into conversation - was she a mum who wanted cute transport for a child and a way of toning her thighs? Was she a green, eco-friendly type? Was she the sort that wants the latest status symbol? Or the relentlessly practical and thrifty sort? Or did she just want to talk about my “iron calves”? (Yes, I do get that a lot.)

As it turned out, she very quickly launched into the “it’s great to see someone setting an example and cutting their carbon footprint”.

The green activist then!

We had an interesting conversation about how I’d swapped a Land Rover for the trike, about putting solar hot water panels in, about the reluctance of local government to allow micro-energy generation where appropriate, about the benefits of local produce over imported organics, and the like.

She’s planning to replace her family’s second car with a bike to meet her personal carbon reductiont target and only in passing did she mention that she needed a bike that could also carry her young daughter.

As for the cost savings against a car, I got the feeling that was neither here nor there, especially when she didn’t blink at the cost of the trike or the lights.

What’s always fascinating about these conversations is how different people react so positively if you have the “right” reasons for having the trike or so adversely if you mention up the “wrong” reasons.

If you pick up on their cues and talk about the trike in ways that relate to their world outlook, then they’ll happily chat to a complete stranger for 20 minutes or more. (No mean feat when the stranger is male and they’re a woman on their own in a carpark or beside the road.)

It’s also been interesting to discover how few people embrace a wide variety of reasons for using a pedal trike - which is our position.

I ride the trike because it is much more eco-friendly than having a second car, it saves a couple of hundred pounds a month, it’s a good way of keeping fit, it’s a technologically interesting solution to “personal transport”, it’s child friendly, it’s fun, it’s a conversation piece and it definitely gives me iron calves…

And of course, it’s a great psychological and sociological tool as well.