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San Francisco is a magical place to live. This is the city of charming Victorians, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Golden State Warriors, amazing cuisine from around the world, fog, redwoods, the gateway to the wine country, and on the fabled Pacific Coast Highway. In addition, not many people may know that San Francisco and its neighbor Berkeley are home to the disability rights movement.
San Francisco is a nature lover’s dream city, with its parks, beaches, cool weather and proximity to open outdoor spaces. The city is well set up to enable outdoor and sport enthusiasts, with roads closed off to cars, parks throughout the city and multiple exercise and biking areas. Yet, while I live here and love it, it would be dishonest to say my beautiful city is a beacon of accessibility. Most public spaces do strive for accessibility but the topography of the city among other things, (it’s very hilly) does not make for the easiest navigation for a mobility impaired outdoors lover.
Shortly after moving here, I was diagnosed with MS and over time my mobility began to decline. As my mobility decreased– first to needing to use one cane, to two canes, to a walker and then a wheelchair, sadly the outdoor areas of the city and its environs became less and less accessible to me. I noticed things that I never had before such as: cracks in the pavement, uneven concrete, stones on the paths. While unimportant to the average able person, these are challenging and even dangerous for someone who has balance, spasticity and weakness issues like I- and others with MS- do. It became so much of a challenge to maintain movement and balance with a walker that I was no longer able to appreciate the beauty of the outdoors. Areas I loved like the parks, forests, and beaches became more and more challenging. I’d stay indoors and travel only with my eyes, sadness welling up that I couldn’t walk or be outdoors the way I used to.
San Francisco is a bike friendly city- roads that were closed during COVID to cars, remained that way. I never thought this would help me- even as an able person I was never a bike enthusiast and of course with MS, balance on a bike is a non-starter! But the number and sheer variety of bikes in the city started a thought and research process that resulted in my solution to explore the outdoors: an adapted, accessible, tricycle. One day, out and about during COVID along with half the city in the park, struggling as usual with my walker while everyone else got to thoughtlessly enjoy the sunshine and flowers, I saw a woman on a recumbent, adapted, tricycle. Our 10 minutes of chit chat led to an obsessive Google search, multiple phone calls, a visit to a specialized bike dealer and ultimately— my adapted, recumbent tricycle.
I use a regular recumbent tricycle- not marketed for people with disabilities but in fact for those who love biking but are looking for a more comfortable and safer experience. When I first tested one of these, I was skeptical – not having biked for years and not being stable on a bike. However, the recumbent tricycle is very different experience than a regular bike. It is low to the ground and completely stable. I have no fear of falling and no need for balance as I am seated and recumbent. In my case, as I still have some leg ability, I can peddle and exercise those muscles. However, if you cannot, there are variations of recumbent trikes for various abilities: for example, there is a hand cycle for those who cannot use their legs. (Note: my tricycle is adapted with specially fitted pedals ordered from the manufacturer that allow me to maintain my leg position).
San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park is a true gem. It was and remains one of my favorite parts of the city. In the middle of the city, at over 1,000 acres and covering 50 blocks, it provides a diverse array of activities, ranging from museums to multiple children’s playgrounds, dog playgrounds, multiple lakes, pleasure boats and options for bird watching, biking, and playing sports. During COVID, the main thoroughfare of JFK drive was closed to cars and post COVID has remained so. This allows for runners, bikers, dog walkers, parents with strollers to enjoy the middle of the park without fear of cars. I had visited during COVID and, as described, been frustrated with how little I could move given my limited ability with the walker. Now, I come here almost every day, with my tricycle, husband, tricycle and dog. It never gets old. I trike past Tasmanian ferns, giant calla lilies, lakes strewn with moss and past both lovingly landscaped flower beds with foxgloves and bluebells and messy, wild natural areas of native California poppies and wildflowers.
In addition to the main drag, there are countless other hidden gems in the park: hidden roads and trails which pop up like Easter eggs when one takes different turns. Towards the southwest area of the park closer to the beach are lovely trails around a series of man-made small lakes, with natural landscaping and wide enough for my tricycle. It’s an awe-inspiring feeling, being surrounded by flowers, trees and birds, that that just a few blocks away are the major thoroughfares going through the city.
Another favorite outdoor area which my tricycle made accessible to me is the Presidio, a national park in the city full of eucalyptus forests, sweeping views of the Bay, and opening onto the beach and Golden Gate Bridge. Here I take my trike through trails amidst swaying, fragrant eucalyptus trees to get to an unparalleled view of the Bay and the Marin headlands. There are trails that follow the beach and the Bay- while I cannot go on the beach, I can trike with the Golden Gate Bridge on one side and the skyline of the city behind me, watching kite surfers in the Bay and dogs running around on the sand, yet another profoundly moving outdoor experience that can only be had in San Francisco.
Lesson Learned? If you want to experience- truly experience, not just stay static- the outdoors, don’t depend on your wheelchair. There is adaptive equipment out there- find it and use it, and ask for help if you need it. My trike was not marketed for people with disabilities but for city dwellers who liked to bike. But it met my needs- albeit with adaptation. Since I’ve been using it people stop me and ask questions, and I’ve noticed others with similar trikes. I love it when people ask me questions and share what I can about my experience. The more of us get out there in our adaptive equipment, the more encouraging it is for other mobility challenged outdoor lovers to get out and about. Being able to observe the blue herons on the lake sitting still looking for fish or gophers, watch the dog roll around on his back in a field of white wildflowers and bike with the Golden Gate Bridge in the foreground are things I never thought I would do again.
I’ve also evolved from staying on the more manicured paths to wilder trails using a power assist. Where once I stayed on the main roads, now I’ve discovered trails that even able bodied riders haven’t. Who knows where I’ll go next? I don’t need to know for sure, but thanks to my adapted trike, I know it will be unforgettable.