A very unusual bicyclist is about to take a passenger on an even more unusual ride in a Santa Barbara park.
A non-profit group is using a small fleet of bikes called trishaws to take people who are often trapped indoors because of their age on pedal-power excursions around the community.
"It's called Cycling Without Age, and we have 10 trishaws like this, and we ride all over from Goleta to Montecito, with older people, or people who are unable to ride their bike, and get them outside under the sky, with the wind in the hair, and the sun on their shoulders," said John Siegel-Boettner.
He's a retired middle school teacher, and avid bicyclist who brought the program which started in Europe to Santa Barbara.
"I'm a biker from way back...delivered the Santa Barbara News-Press in the 60's," said Siegel-Boettner. "So, when I stopped teaching, and found out about the program in Copenhagen that started to take people for bike rides who couldn't before, I bought a trishaw, and now we have 10, and we have 50 pilots, because it (the program) blew up."
The trishaws feature a bench like seat for two people in front, with the bike’s pilot is in back, pedaling and steering it. Today, Siegel-Boettner is giving a ride to one of his regulars, 96-year-old Elizabeth Wright.
"I met John before COVID," said Wright. She was one of his first regular passengers. "Then after COVID, John started up again, and I've been a faithful rider ever since."
Wright said it’s not just the ride that’s fun. It’s the reaction of people she sees as they roll by.
"I did three birthdays on his bike. We have balloons, and a hat on, and I was waving at people on State Street," she said.
You can see the smiles from people driving by, and walking as the trishaw circles Alice Keck Park. Siegel-Bottner jokes he has one simple requirement for his passengers.
"If you don't wave, I'm going to drop you off on the corner, and you have to walk home or call the bus," he said.
"I love to wave, and get the smiles," said Wright.
Getting smiles isn’t hard. The trishaws are common in Asia, but unusual here, so people notice them. Add waving, smiling passengers to the mix, and they are positive attention grabbers.
There are about 50 volunteers giving more than a hundred rides a month.
Siegel-Bottner said they are hoping to add more volunteers, bikes, and riders, because they can’t meet the demand. There’s a waiting list. While the effort is all volunteers, he said it’s worth it.
"Usually a ride is between a half-hour, and an hour. To people like Elizabeth, to pilots like me, to people on the sidewalk who look up for the first time from their phones and wave, like we've forgotten to do, it's amazing," said Siegel-Boettner.
He said the most amazing thing is the stories he hears from their older passengers, who are often in their 80’s and 90’s. They open up about the community, and their lives.
There’s a new documentary about the project, called Cycling Without Age, which was shot in Santa Barbara and has been shown around the world.
The documentary will be shown Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Lobero Theater, in a benefit event for the non profit.
Why do Siegel-Boettner and the other volunteers do what they do?
"We're put on this Earth to be of service," he said. "Not only that, service feels good. Every pilot I think that you talk to would go at the end of the ride, who got more out of the ride today...did Elizabeth, did I, did that person on the street who stopped and said hello?"
