Thursday, March 10, 2011

7th Annual Catrike Rally

Last weekend I visited some friends at the 7th Annual Catrike Rally and Factory Tour.

All people who own a Catrike (and any other brand of trike or recumbent or anything other human powered vehicle!) were invited to come out to Winter Garden, FL for a ride and a tour of the amazing Catrike factory.  One of the many great things about Catrikes is that they are made right here in the US and once a year Catrike invites the public to come check out their manufacturing facility where they bend, weld, and paint aluminum into their outstanding trikes.

On Saturday morning we all (200 people on trikes) met at a park and lined up in 2 different groups for different ride lengths; 15 and 30 miles.  It was quite a sight:

When we took off on  the ride it was a little overwhelming (in a good way) because I had never been among more than 2 or 3 trikes before and now I was riding in a group of 200!



After the ride we took a tour of the factory and learned the history of Catrike.  Right before the tour Paulo (the inventor and CEO of Catrike) made a special presentation.  Paulo presented a brand new Catrike Expedition to one of his employees, Sherry, who has been with Catrike as a welder since the very beginning, 10 years.  Sherry has built many, many trikes!

After the presentation we toured the facttory and learned just how these machines are made.  This is a 700 frame ready to be welded together:

That night Catrike held a reception with presentations from distinguished Catrike riders such as Mr. Giraldo and Bryan Ball from Bentrider.  I was lucky enough to be invited to share the Ride Ataxia story:



I highly recommend the Catrike Rally.  See you there next year!  http://catrike.com

1 comment:

Spinner said...

Kyle, even though I ride a GS I can not hardly wait - I'll probably rent a trike like in Tampa last year - this time a catrike I bet?