LIFE CYCLIST
A forthcoming book about mobility, adaptation, and building a larger life as we grow older.
What if growing older didn’t have to mean gradually withdrawing from the world?
Most of us expect aging to bring a narrowing of possibilities: less movement, less independence, less adventure.
But that isn’t the whole story.
Life Cyclist explores another possibility—one built around adaptation, better tools, continued participation, and the freedom to keep moving through the world on your own terms.
The Project
I’ve spent more than 30 years helping people find bicycles that fit their bodies and their lives.
Recumbents have been part of that work from the beginning. In recent years —they have moved closer to the center of it— I began noticing something remarkable among recumbent trike riders.
People who had been told—or had begun telling themselves—that cycling, travel, fitness, or adventure were behind them were finding another way forward.
The trike is the doorway into this story, but the book is about something larger:
How do ordinary people build lives that get larger as they age instead of smaller?
Life Cyclist looks at mobility, independence, fitness, aging, design, community, and the tools that allow us to remain active participants in our own lives.
The Future Looks Older
We tend to think of adaptations such as three wheels, electric assist, supportive seating, wider paths, or longer crossing times as accommodations for a special group of people.
They aren’t.
They are glimpses of a world increasingly designed for the reality that human abilities change over a lifetime.
The future looks older.
Outdated expectations don’t fit.
We need better tools—and better expectations.
I’m collecting stories now
Life Cyclist is currently in development, and I’m talking with riders, designers, dealers, advocates, and others who have found their own ways to keep moving.
If you have a story, idea, experience, or perspective that might belong in this conversation, I’d love to hear from you.
[Talk to me about the project]
About the Author
I’m Justyna Frank, co-owner of Cosmic Bikes in Chicago. For more than three decades, I’ve worked with people trying to solve a deceptively simple problem:
How can I keep moving in a way that works for the body and life I have now?
That question eventually became much bigger than bicycles.
Life Cyclist is the result.
Follow the Project
The book is underway now.
If you’d like occasional updates, behind-the-scenes ideas, interview excerpts, and news as Life Cyclist moves toward publication, join the list.
[Keep me posted]
Or contact me directly:
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