D&L Delight

I had many reasons for wanting a Me-Mover, but one loomed large over all others – my desire to ride the beautiful Delaware & Lehigh Trail very near my home. This scenic trail will be 165-miles long upon completion, stretching from Wilkes-Barre, PA to Trenton, NJ. The caveat is that it is nearly all packed gravel, which put it off limits to my Trikke. I sometimes biked the trail, but then had to deal with the pain, numbness, and other issues that inevitably come with cycling for me.

When my Me-Mover arrived, I had to temper my excitement about taking it on the D&L Trail because I wanted to get comfortable with its operation on asphalt surfaces first. Better safe than sorry! But after four successful outings where I learned my current endurance limits, I decided it was time to finally ride my favorite trail.

I started at the Cementon trailhead on a pleasantly warm evening and headed north. I picked this part of the trail knowing it is completely flat and that the gravel would be packed nearly as hard as asphalt. Although I took things easy on the Me-Mover at first, I quickly grew comfortable as it proved to have stable handling with minimal vibration. The effort to pedal it was only marginally more difficult than on asphalt. The trail had some early fall leaves scattered on it, but they did not cause any difficulties riding.

My initial plan had just been to do a short ride out to the new-ish 2nd Street bridge and back just to test things out, but once I got there I was feeling strong and knew I could go much further. So I continued north until I got to the next trail head at River Drive which is 2.3 miles from Cementon.

After a short break, I was feeling so well that I challenged myself to do the entire ride back to Cementon without stopping for a break. I succeeded, but have to admit I was largely spurred on by the rapidly setting sun and the mosquitos which decided I made a tasty dinner. My whole ride totaled 4.84 with the brief detour under 2nd Street factored in, but I easily could have gone further.

The ride left me happy and satisfied that the Me-Mover was well-suited to the conditions that motivated me to get it in the first place. As my fitness and endurance improve, this trail will offer me so many new riding options close to home that I did not have on my Trikke.