To begin with, it needs to be known that ever since my car wreck and subsequent rehabilitation, in starting my life from a clean slate, I've looked at every sport from the perspective of its ability to be a lifetime way to keep myself fit. Immediately ruled out because of this requirement were most of the sports I saw on TV such as football, baseball and basketball. Bicycling, which I'd done all my life, seemed like a logical choice but as I looked at it from this new standpoint I didn't see that many older people on bikes. I wondered why this was so. Well 4,000 miles worth of TransAm answered my question.
Upright cycling causes pain.
Unlike 30 years ago when most people over 30 didn't exercise, more and more adults are entering mid life with a respectable measure of fitness or at least a genuine interest in it. And yet the upright industry still doesn't get it. It continues to focus it's efforts on younger America. It showcases its racers and endeavors to make older riders as well as those hurt by the upright position comfortable with items such as suspended forks, stems, seats and seatposts as well as with padded gloves, saddles and shorts, etc. Such moneys if invested in the recumbent solution, however, could provide them with a needed shot in the arm to send their sales of a whole new bicycle into outer orbit.