That was totally wicked!!

...he said. You know, the little kid on the tricycle in The Incredibles. When Daddy Incredible lifts his car up in the air. And then he said something like "awesome" a while later. If you haven't seen that movie, what the hell are you doing here?

Well I will steal those two deep and profound sentences and make them my own.
Because that's what I thought all afternoon. See, it's Bike Week in France. And today was Bike Day. So there was a big ride (240 bikes, no kiddin' around) from the Capitole to the Dream Prairie. And my favourite shop gave a few people their most distinctive bikes to draw a bit of attention to them. Guess what I had for the ride?
That TOTALLY WICKED AWESOMEST trice!!!!!! Man I feel like a kid who got his first tricycle and intends to destroy every wall of the house bumping into them. I'm that happy.

Everyone who could look at me looked at me (that's 240 people plus the kids, plus the camera crew, plus photographers...), which was nice. Everyone kept asking questions, and I kept repeating it wasn't my own, but that it was going to be this year's christmas gift. And that anything that fun had to be illegal.
There were 3 other recumbent bikes, one power-assisted bike, and one vanilla city bike, all from the shop. Then, some other participants had 2 other trikes, including the very one I want, plus a couple of other recumbents. One had done a round-the-globe adventure, 27 months, 44 thousand kilometers.
the ride itself didn't take very long, but it just felt fun, and I managed to lift a wheel intentionally and kept it there during a turn. It did cause a sensation for those behind.
The break at the prairie was nice too, along the Canal du Midi, with trees along the best bike path in the region. And again, many questions, and many testers. After all, the bikes were there for this reason: showing, testing, trying, having fun. I'd say 50 trials were made at the very least, from the casual rider looking for a comfy bike (HPV Spirit), to the long-retired cyclo tourist who does 25kms a day at least and wants to try it another way. It just felt like a great human experience. At one point, a strange-talking cyclist on a well-used bike stopped for a try. With those worn out bike clothes, the tired bike, it pointed to the long-distance rider. He tried the trike (great fun), the Spirit (leather chair but a tad nervous), the Street Machine
(that guy was born on one of those), and then the Azub MAX (not that easy, but THAT interesting). He had some insightful questions, and had a long chat with the Azub rider who went to Gilbraltar on a recumbent. We may see him again.

The group of shop owner, staff, customers and will-be customers really spent the afternoon helping, sharing, explaining to all. Then came time for the trip back, just the 6 of us. I gave up the trike for powe-assisted bike, mucho less fun, but then I could see the people stare at the 4 unusuals. Priceless! I really felt like part of a community, and that got worse when we stopped at F.'s flat for a beer or two. We'll meet again to ride together maybe even this month. And then we'll probably meet again for a beer or two. It so happens that the current shop accountant is a cute little brunette (not gonna hit on her, yet) who's just dying to get a trice too and who got all soft when I talked about going to Cornwall to visit the factory and test all their crazy contraptions. Not hitting on her (yet), but we may just make the trip together, some day.

And with that, I'm still high on adrenalin. Tomorrow, election day in France, plus I'm visiting friends who had a baby a month ago. Kewl!