Trailblazer Trike Riders Tackle Lavender Cycling Trail’s 300km Challenge.

Another Record Broken on the Lavender Cycling Trail As Two Recumbent Trike Riders Are First To Complete The M2C ‘End To End’

Adelaide based recumbent trike riders Kenny Stephens and Phillip Pearse called in at Eudunda on the 29th March to stay overnight. They had left Clare two days earlier and were on their way to Murray Bridge a distance of 300km.

The riders described how they had their toughest day from their camp at Manoora to Eudunda, especially through the steep Quinn Gap and more so Webb Gap which was very cut up and rough, which we presume has been the result of flooding earlier in the year. They also had some detours due to mud, with Kenny having to spend time removing his mud-guards as they were getting clogged up with mud.

The bikes are an interesting design, with two wheels at the front and the single main driving wheel behind the rider and the riders are reclined in semi padded seating, so the description recumbent comes into being. (sometimes the bikes are described as tadpole trikes). Phillip’s was solely human powered, and Kenny’s is assisted by an electric motor (assisted because the motor only operates when the rider is actually pedaling).

The presence of the bikes & riders created some interest from curious students across the road at the Eudunda Area School, who were delighted to be able to have an opportunity to talk to these adventurous riders. The students, Henry O’Brien, Jye Schutz, Mitchell Roebuck, Jack Schiller had much in common with Kenny & Phillip as they all have an enthusiams for bikes, as they are involved in the Eudunda Area School’s Pedal Prix teams. There was even more common ground when Phillip mentioned that until he retired from Teaching he was the manager of the Urbrae Pedal Prix Team, and that his trike was actually quite similar in structure and design to the Pedal Prix cars (underneath their fairings). The boys were pleased to tell that this year the EAS will be two teams competing at competitions.

Before the riders headed off from Eudunda they had a quick look around the gardens, admiring the Centenary of Transport tiles and chatting to people, including Garden Volunteer Greg Post who was busy cleaning up in the garden. The riders also stopped to admire the Eudunda Silo Artwork.
Kenny commented,
“I can tell how much pride and work the local community put into their town, and it is great to see”.

The riders had a good ride from Eudunda to Truro. Unfortunately they became lost between Truro and Springton, loosing 2 hours to backtrack, yet surprisingly arrived at their destination in good time.

Kenny and Phillip were able to finish the trail on Sunday at 2:30pm. They wished to thank all their hosts and people they met along the way.

Editor: What makes this story an epic one, is that Phillip had only started riding again recently in his retirement, he’s in his 70’s and remarkably Kenny is in his 90’s. So these two riders certainly are out to enthuse the World that it is never too late to try something that you would like to do. Congratulations to you both!

We have asked them to write up a story of their trip, which will be posted in the ‘Footsteps & Pedals’ Newsletter at a later date. Here is a link to the most recent March 2023 newsletter.