Well, Nick is always coming up with new and exciting things for us to try. Triking is the latest. Nick went out tonight with an instructor and really enjoyed it and is now encouraging me to give it a go and see if it’s something we’d enjoy doing together for fun. I’m a bit tentative, but have a feeling I’ll be up in the air sooner rather than later. The cool part about this sport is that you’re not separated from the outdoors by a cabin. You also control the vehicle with your weight, so you truly can feel the trike respond to your slightest movement. So here’s a little about triking for those of you who are much like me and have never seen a contraption like this before.
Basically, it’s a comination of a small plane and a hang-glider. The propeller is fueled by regular gas and it hold up to 18 gallons. The Trike flies up to 100 mph, depending on the model you own. Used trikes start around $15,000 and brand new top-of-the-line models are around $50,000. Airborne is the top dealer of trikes- they’re out of Australia. The guy Nick went up with is a local distributor and is the only one in a 400 mile radius that is a certified instructor. The planes average about 2-4 gallons of gas per hour of flying and can go up to 500 miles on one tank. You can put skis or floats on it to land on various types of terrain as well. Triking takes place year-round, although you can’t go up if the wind is much over 15-20 mph. What is neat though is that you can take the wing off and carry the plane to a destination via trailer. Very versatile! You do need to have a sport pilot license to drive one of these alone though, which is about 20 hours of flight training and a 40 question written test.
Soooo… for all you brave souls, here’s how you can get up on a trike! The hangar is in New Richmond, WI. Don Lindemann is the pilot Nick went up with. Rates are $100 for a 1 hour session (about 45 minutes in the air). Don also gives lessons and is a certified instructor. He can be reached at 612.868.3007 or by email at: souperman@hotmail.com. Drop me an email if you decide to do it!
