by Shane Sody

Feeling the wind in your hair is not just for youngsters, or the lyrcra brigade!

Volunteer community group "Cycling Without Age" is offering a free respite activity in your Park Lands, for seniors and people with disability.

The group has received $11,000 funding from the City of Adelaide which covered part of the costs for an initial two "trishaws" (electric tricycles).

The service was launched on Friday 21 June, with the first rides being offered to eight residents from Allity Aged care at Myrtle Bank.

Volunteers take two passengers at a time on a 30-minute ride, along pathways starting in Bonython Park / Tulya Wardli (Park 27) before crossing the River Torrens / Karrawirra Pari at the weir - then following the river as far as the Adelaide Oval footbridge; then returning to Bonython Park.

Cycling Without Age is a world-wide initiative that gives senior citizens and others who cannot cycle an opportunity to have a safe slow trishaw ride, with a trained volunteer guide.

Established in Denmark in 2012, "Cycling Without Age" has over 2,500 chapters, globally, 35,000 pilots, and more than 40 chapters in Australia alone.

Adelaide Co-ordinator Tom Twelftree says this outdoor activity helps to counteract loneliness and social isolation, providing mobility, access to green space and fostering new relationships among seniors, volunteer pilots, and the broader community.

If you, or someone you know, would like to book a ride, contact Cycling Without Age through their website, or their Facebook page:

• https://cyclingwithoutage.org.au/south-australia-2/

• https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558006390259

The group is also looking for donations to purchase more trishaws.

The author of this article, Shane Sody, is the President of the Adelaide Park Lands Association and the editor of the semi-monthly newsletter, "Open Green Public".

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