Trikke Pone
Why buy a Pon-e?
Why in the world would someone who likes to Trikke and get exercise buy a Trikke with a battery on it?
I managed to come up with some very good reasons.
First, I want to say that until I bought my Trikke, I never realized how many hills there were in Texas. I’m talking hills that will stop you dead in your tracks. I never noticed them before. As a matter of fact, after I bought my Trikke, I think the area experienced some sort of secret earthquake that changed the land. Suddenly in my own cul-de-sac, we had a hill.
Of course, unless everything is downhill, a Trikke beginner perceives every gentle slope as a hill. Those things stop you dead in your tracks. And then you learn to move the darned Trikke and Texas becomes flat again. Now, long, gentle inclines that I would once have dreaded on my bicycle are nothing on a Trikke.
I learned something else about Texas since buying a Trikke. The wind blows here. My neighbor told me that the local weatherman stated that we get more wind in the Dallas area than they do in Chicago. I used to play a lot of tennis. I jogged. I skated. I never noticed the wind that much.
Until I purchased a Trikke.
I have found three reasons to buy a battery-operated Trikke. 1) to combat the wind when it’s blowing steadily at 25 mph, with gusts higher than that; 2) to deal with hills when the wind is blowing against me; 3) to deal with hills that frankly, I still can’t get up. Walking is exercise, too, but carving with a little power-assist feels like an accomplishment. And it’s still exercise.
I’d considered a Tribred first and almost bought one. A set of circumstances made me re-think the purchase, and then I decided that if I were going to spend money on a battery for a Trikke, I’d go the route that I’d probably least regret in the future: the lithium battery. It’s integrated into the Trikke and doesn’t quite have the add-on look of the acid lead battery pack of the Tribred. It goes farther on a charge than a Trikke and the battery life is longer.
There were more considerations, like rolling down the street to pick up groceries and not have to start up the car for a three-quarter-mile trip. True, I could walk. The thing is, Texas can be very hot, I sweat, and the air conditioning is cranked up in the supermarket. Uncomfortable, and not a pretty sight. I will also now Trikke different routes because huge hills between good paths are no longer a stumbling block. I don’t have to drive my car to where I want to Trikke.
So that’s why in the world I have a Trikke with a battery on it. When I’m feeling virtuous, I can still carve like crazy. When I’ve given up on pride, I can scoot along and not suffer the shame of walking my Trikke up a hill. When I’m just feel the need for speed and want to be outside, I can cruise like nobody’s business.
All that said, I have no intention of abandoning my regular Trikke 08.
