My wonderful ride on an ICE Adventure semi-recumbent trike
Wow. Wow. Wonderful! The ICE Adventure semi-recumbent trike is a dream to ride. I found it very intuitive. It was plug-and-play. There was no steep learning curve.
Test Riding the ICE Adventure
I booked the ICE Adventure for 3 hours from the Strawberry Line Cycle Project, which cost £16. The hirer did a quick bike fit. They fitted the seat, and adjusted the length of the stem to enable me to pedal most comfortably. They applied the brake lever on the left hand side while they did this. I found this brake lever to be very handy, as it allowed me to park the bike while taking photos. They also showed me the gears on each of the handlebars. The hirer suggested that I have a quick tour of the Yatton railway station car park to get used to the trike. I found that riding the short distance from the Cycle Project sheds to the start of the Strawberry Line was sufficient for me to adapt to riding the trike. It was that easy!
Leave your baggage behind with the ICE Adventure
As I knew that I wouldn’t be able to wear a backpack, I had brought along a messenger bag. However, balancing my heavy bag on my lap didn’t work, so the hirers kindly let me leave it in their shed. It looks like you can attach pannier bags to the back of the ICE Adventure. However, I’m not sure if I would be able to add in all the stuff I take to work. So, I probably wouldn’t use the Adventure for commuting, more for weekend leisure rides in the countryside.
Steer a straight course, capt’n!
One big improvement from riding the vanRaam Easy Rider was the steering on the ICE Adventure. I found that I had more control of the Adventure. The Adventure is a “tadpole trike” with two wheels at the front, and one at the rear. The Easy Rider would suddenly veer to the side if I hit a bump on the country trail, whereas I never felt in danger of rolling into the bushes on the Adventure. I felt that I had to use my core to control the Easy Rider on a bumpy country trail, but had no such issues with the Adventure.
According to a 2022 BikeRadar podcast on adaptive bikes, some people with neurodivergence can find riding a tadpole trike easier than a two-wheeler hybrid bike. This because of the increased spatial awareness you get by having the two wheels at the front. There are some cycle gates on the Strawberry Line that I was confident that I was going to get through, due to the local inclusive bike hire. But having the two wheels in front meant that I was able to quickly judge the best route through the barriers without worrying about clipping a wheel. The grips on the handlebars were also very comfortable.
The Strawberry Jam Chicane at Congresbury
Having previously walked the Strawberry Line, I know that there is a descent with turns from the path next to the river to the roadside at Congresbury. Before I set out, I was wondering how I was going to negotiate this “chicane” on a trike. I have sometimes seen other cyclists on the Strawberry Line push their bikes at this section. However, I found that I could easily negotiate the bends on the ICE Adventure, with the exception of the final bend into the road crossing at the traffic lights. I got briefly stuck in the only muddy puddle in the trail here.
I wasn’t able to turn into the road crossing, but had to settle to being on the side of the crossing. Fortunately, there was a pedestrian behind me who pushed the button for the traffic lights. Otherwise I would have considered unstrapping my feet from the pedals to reach for the button. This would have meant struggling to strap my feet in again before the lights changed. Incidentally, the button for the traffic lights was low down. So, if I had stopped in the right place, I would have been able to reach the button from my low seat. This is an indication of how well the Strawberry Line path suits the needs of wheelers. I had adapted even more to the Adventure on my way back, and negotiated the Congresbury chicane far better.
No Road Rage on this ICE Adventure 🙂
The Strawberry Line is a shared use path. Due to the Adventure’s excellent steering, I never felt that there was any risk of my colliding with any other users (unlike the Easier Rider). I had encountered a boisterous dog earlier while walking down the path to get to the bike hire. However, dog walkers were more careful to control their dogs when I was passing them on the Adventure. Indeed, there is one very narrow section on the Strawberry Line next to the river Yeo where a dog walker kindly picked up his dog to allow me to pass. The Adventure has a bell on it, which I used to warn pedestrians/dog walkers of my approach.
Although inclusive bike hire is very much a feature of the Strawberry Line, I’m sure seeing someone on a tadpole trike will still be very much of a novelty. So, other path users were very accommodating to me. Indeed, there was a section next to a farm and golf course where two farm vehicles were blocking the path. However, the two drivers saw me coming, and each kindly reversed to allow me to pass. I’m sure that they were looking out for other path users while they chatted. I found that I was more sociable on the tadpole trike, as it was easier to nod my head, wave, and make eye contact than I do on my hybrid bike.
Avoiding cars on the Drove Way
The only place on the Strawberry Line where I felt a bit unsafe was when crossing Drove Way near Sandford substation. Due to my low viewpoint on the Adventure, I found it more difficult to spot oncoming cars when crossing this road. Fortunately Drove Way is a fairly quiet road.
To Foley go where no one has gone before!
I have Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) (aka an enlarged prostate). This means that I no longer find it comfortable to sit on a traditional hybrid bike seat for long periods. The relative I care for has poorly managed their BPH over the years. They often have catheters for extended periods. So, the likelihood of my having to have a foley indwelling catheter is quite high in future.
Doctors advise patients not to bike ride when they have an indwelling catheter, as “as it increases your risk of
urethral stricture formation (a narrowing of part, or all of, the urethra (the tube that carries urine outside the body from the bladder)), which can affect your ability to pass urine.”
University Hospital Southampton also advise that even sustained exercise or walking could cause pain or bleeding if you have a catheter. I’m glad to report that I had no discomfort from my BPH while or after riding the Adventure. This was because there was little or no pressure on my prostate. So, the Adventure could very much become my vehicle of choice for leisure rides in the countryside.
Fewer bumps in the road ahead!
Like many roads in the UK currently, the Strawberry Line has potholes. With my lower centre of gravity on the Adventure, there was little risk of injury from them. Due to my greater stability on the trike, I was more or less bouncing in and out of them. Some sections of Strawberry Line have larger lumps of gravel in them, which I found to be slightly uncomfortable on my lower back. So, it’s great to see that ICE does provide the option to add in rear suspension when you’re building your dream Adventure online. Rear suspension best suits riders who plan to regularly trike on uneven surfaces, since it will increase the weight.
As the Adventure feels lighter than the Easy Rider, going uphill is less of a slog. The Adventure also has gears. However, the Adventure’s gear levers were unfamiliar to me. I did not want to change the gears for other hirers of the Adventure. Although ICE offer electrical assistance for the Adventure, I don’t think I’ll need this as I found it so easy to ride.
ICE, ICE, baby!
I found that I could go much faster on the Adventure that I could on the Easy Rider. Indeed, I believe that I was travelling at the same speed that I go on a hybrid bike. However, riding the Adventure was much more fun than my hybrid bike. This is possibly because I was encountering less wind resistance from my lower position on the trike than I would on my two-wheeler. I was whizzing along with ease with a big smile on my face. Riding the Adventure is so much fun! It can be stressful being a carer for someone who suffers from low mood. However, going on an Adventure in the countryside is so exhilarating that you can truly leave your troubles behind, and focus on this wonderful now.
Kevin Mahoney