By Steve Hubrecht
This past summer the Columbia Valley’s Recreation Adapted (RAD) Society continued to expand the stable of equipment it has publicly available for people with mobility challenges, by offering a ‘Mountain Trike’ for rent.
The RAD Society had already organized a Tessier Eskaip adaptive cross country ski sledge (the only one in the world that is available for the public to rent) and a Paragolfer (one of very few that are available for the public to rent) here in the valley. It added the Mountain Trike to the that.
“We brought it in to fill a void in accessing trails for people with mobility challenges,” RAD Society founder, Tanelle Bolt, told the Pioneer.
Bolt knows these gaps firsthand: she is a wheelchair user herself.
She found the Mountain Trike being sold secondhand; the society purchased it for $8,000 (a new one would likely be double the price).
“I’d never seen or tried one before, so I was curious, and there really was a lack of anything like it here in the valley,” said Bolt. “As it turns out, it’s great. It’s very stable on uneven surfaces, and most trails are uneven surfaces. It can do sand too.”
The Mountain Trike has no electric assist, which means renters can literally take it straight into local waterbodies.
“This makes it particularly great for fishing purposes. You can ride it right into the river or lake and start fishing,” said Bolt.
It has a holder on the back for putting extra gear in, and using levers to help propel the trike’s wheels means that unlike with most wheelchairs, the trike user’s hands are left clean, which, for instance, makes picnics a lot more convenient, explained Bolt.
“It’s a different style of push. Somebody with more limited accessibility that can’t use a regular wheelchair might be able to use this,” she said, and added that includes a higher level quadriplegic, or somebody with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or multiple sclerosis (MS), who has limited use of their hands.
“Depending on their condition, they might actually be able to independently propel themselves forward,” said Bolt. “There’s a wide variety of people who have used it.”
The Mountain Trike can be adapted to accommodate short users (even kids) or, on the other hand, very tall individuals.
This past summer was the first that the Mountain Trike was available for rent through Invemrere’s Revolution Mountain Gear. Shop owner, Cam McLellan, acted as the custodian and maintainer of the Mountain Trike, just as he did for the Eskaip this past winter.
“I was having a conversation with Cam and the Mountain Trike came up, and he was keen to have Revolution ‘house’ it,” said Bolt. “It’s great to have a business like that in the community that helps out. I’m really grateful for it.”
McLellan told the Pioneer that having the Mountain Trike, “has been really good and has brought a new demographic into the store. Having the trike in the valley has made getting outside a lot more accessible for quite a lot of people”.
He estimated that close to 50 people rented the Mountain Trike this past summer, using it for fishing, to go on trails, to hit the beach with family and friends, and for a variety of other uses.
“It’s been a very positive response each time. People tell us that now that they know the Mountain Trike is here in the valley, they will visit more often,” said McLellan. “We’re really happy to have this partnership with the RAD Society.”
