Cycling Without Age ‘trishaws’ on a roll in Sarnia

Bryan Plug says he hopes Sarnia’s Cycling Without Age program can reach 1,000 rides a summer by next year.

Representatives of the Bluewater Cycling Organization and others gathered Friday next to Sarnia’s Strangway Community Center to celebrate a new storage shed the city built for the group’s gear, including three “trishaws” used to take seniors for rides.

The electrically-assisted vehicles are pedaled by “pilots,” while one or two seniors ride on seats at the front.

“Our mission is to create an active, healthy and connected community for ages four to 94,” said Plug, who chairs the local Cycling Without Age program.

The Bluewater group’s activities include a youth cycling program and Cycling Without Age for those at the other end of the target group, Plug said.

“Two years ago I wanted to take my dad out for a bike ride,” he said about how it got started. “He loved bike riding as a kid.”

That led to securing specially designed trishaws and taking his father for a ride on one through Canatara Park. Plug said his father called the experience “spectacular,” because he could feel the wind, “smell the trees and smell the flowers.”

Plug started a pilot program last fall with a seniors’ independent living residence and initially took about 50 residents out for rides.

“They absolutely loved it,” he said. “It brought them alive, in a special way.”

Steeves and Rozema Group in Sarnia provided a trishaw and a federal grant paid for a second. A Point Edward native, now living in Calgary and head of its Cycling Without Age chapter, provided a third.

So far, 35 “pilots” have completed the required one-hour training, Plug said. “If you know how to ride a bike, it’s pretty easy.”

Along with safety, pilot learn to go slow so riders can see and enjoy everything they pass along the route, Plug said.

“We’ll probably end up with 60 to 75 pilots,” he said.

“Our objective is to deliver more than 1,000 wrinkles per summer,” Plug said. “We’ll probably get a couple hundred in this year.”

Plug said they may add more trishaws in the future.

More information can be found at the Bluewater International Grandfondo cycling event website, bigf.ca, under the programs tab. That’s also how the public can contact the group, Plug said.

“We’d love to have more people engaged – more pilots, more riders,” he said.

Rides are scheduled weekdays, but “ad hoc” rides are possible on weekends and holidays for anyone wanting to try it out, he said.

Plug grew up in Sarnia, became a chief executive in the software industry and eventually moved to California.

He began cycling after retiring and spendings time back home in Sarnia.

“(Cycling is) a great way to see the world,” he said.

The three trishaws were initially parked in Plug’s garage, but that was inconvenient for pilots, so the group asked the city if it had land where the program could build a storage shed.

“They said, ‘We’ll build a shed for you,’ ” Plug said. “It was great support from the city.”

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