Ethan’s Story

Young rider meets life’s challenges with his Trikke.

The Trikke has changed my life in powerful and positive ways. Were it not for the Trikke, I would not have a normal life and I would not be the person I am today.

I’ve been riding the Trikke since around 2003, at first for fun, as I was age 12. Since then, riding my Trikke has helped me in ways I never imagined.

In 2005 and 2006, I had OCD real bad. Somehow, riding my Trikke helped. Riding got me outside, where I met new people, which helped with my overcoming OCD.

During that time, the doctors put me on Zoloft. This somehow made my abilities in Math, English and Writing real bad. I lost all memory of the things I learned in school, and I pretty much had to start over. In the last five years, I have worked hard to regain as much as I could.

This did not, and has not, stopped me from loving riding my Trikke, meeting new people and showing them what the Trikke can do for them.

In 2006, I rode my Trikke almost every day. In late September, the beginning of my sophomore year of high school, I had a severe leg injury in a soccer game. (I hit the goal post hard in my upper right leg and hip area.) I could barely walk for about six months due to severe nerve contusion.

While I was in bed with my injured leg, I got pneumonia, chronic sinus and ear infections and strep throat. The medications caused fibromyalgia, which made the pain in my leg even worse. No one could touch me, not even gently, without me feeling severe pain.

After a year of physical therapy, I started to walk, but just barely. Then I started riding my Trikke more in 2007. After a few weeks of carving, the pain in my leg was almost gone.

In the summer of 2008, the Trikke that I had was getting to be too small for me. Because I used it so much, it was breaking down on me and needed new wheels (again).

My mom and I went looking for a new Trikke and I got my T8 air, after which, I started to ride a lot more.

I would ride for miles, for hours, or until my fibromyalgia kicked in and I couldn’t ride anymore. I rode the Trikke off and on, until the year of 2009, just to stay in shape, and I because I love riding.

On May 23, 2009, my 18th birthday, I said, ”I Control My Life, and so I will make a difference in me.”

That summer, I started to ride like crazy. I would ride my Trikke for miles, even to different cities. I’d ride from Everett, WA, to Seattle, and back. That’s 52 miles and more, round trip, in one day, as I would ride around Seattle seeing the sites.

Some days, I didn’t know how far I went, but I went for hours. I was making a difference in myself and I was getting healthy and gaining muscle.

In August of 2010, I went into the Job Corps, where I thought I could start a great life in forestry. While there, I couldn’t have my Trikke, so I had to use the gym. It wasn’t as much fun as carving and the workouts didn’t help me in the ways the Trikke did. My fibromyalgia started to come back. It was riding the Trikke that truly helped me get rid of the pain from fibromyalgia.

After I left the Job Corps in late September of 2010 — because it didn’t work out for me — I went back to school to get the two credits I needed to graduate. Now I have my high school diploma.

A month or so after going back to school, my joints started to pop out, as I have Severe Loose Ligament Syndrome. In December, 2010, my right thigh bone popped out of my right hip socket while I was walking home from school. My knee ligaments were so loose they could not support my body weight. It got worse, so bad, I had to use a wheelchair.

All of this made my fibromyalgia come back. My knees would wobble from side to side, even slip out of alignment. It was very painful. I had no stability or support in my knees at all.

I went to a physical therapist who helped me regain my muscle strength in the joint areas of my legs. After a month, I could stand up but barely walk.

I will have to exercise the rest of my life to keep my muscles strong so my joints don’t pop out, as my ligaments will not hold my joints in place on their own.

The joints in my hips, legs, knees, ankles and feet were still popping out when I started to ride my Trikke again. I first started riding around my condo complex, then a block or two down the street.

I started to ride more and more, going farther each day. After a month or so, my legs where doing great. I could walk, even run without any problems.

Riding the Trikke got me fit to the point where I’m amazed at how it saved me from being in the wheelchair, or using the cane, or crutches or joint supports, for the rest of my life.

My fibromyalgia is gone, except for an occasional flare up now and then. Now I am in good physical shape and still riding my Trikke like crazy. Sometimes, I’ll ride to Seattle and back, just for the fun of it. Before I started riding hard in 2009, my body was like a bean pole with no real muscle build up. Now people are amazed at how strong my body is, the power and strength I have in my body, and how good it looks.

I love riding and sharing my Trikke experiences with others, and I want to help others to get the positive experiences I have gotten, and will continue to get from riding the Trikke. I love it so much I attended the Trikke Academy so I could learn more about riding the Trikke, and so I can help others, and I love it.

I want to share my experience with everyone. Without the Trikke, I would not have the wonderful life I have right now. I have the new T12 Roadster, which is just amazing. With it, I am training myself in more advanced Trikke riding ways, and I am riding more and more.

Trikke has saved me from being in pain and in a wheelchair, possibly for the rest of my life. I want to thank everyone at Trikke Tech, Inc., and Mr. Gildo Beleski, the man who invented the Trikke, for helping me to have a normal life, and helping me live my life fully and completely.

Thank You,
Ethan D. Neuman

Email: ethan.trikke@yahoo.com
Facebook: Young Trikkester