She walks with a limp and never knows a day without pain, but Jane Borden Kaplenski isn’t the type to give in or give up. Thanks to her electric trike, she doesn’t have to.
“The reason I do as well as I do is my commitment to move and go whether I feel like it or not,” Jane said in a recent interview for This E-bike Life.
Diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at age 13, a broken hip at 15, and lupus at age 20, Jane knows a thing or two about pain. Now a retired school teacher and grandmother living in Aiken, South Carolina, she’s found a new freedom and joy from riding her Liberty Trike, a popular brand of electric trike designed especially for people with mobility issues and other health challenges.
Jane’s Liberty Trike, which she affectionately named Big Orange because she’s a fan of the University of Tennessee Volunteers, has allowed her to travel widely with her husband, Craig, and to spend quality time with their six grandchildren.
“My Liberty Trike enables me to see the country as well as ride with my grands,” Jane said. “It’s given me the ability to feel normal, to be able to do things with my grandkids without having to sit back and watch.”
Overcoming a Life of Pain and Setbacks
As a child, Jane said she was a tomboy and very active. She spent as much time outside as possible, riding horses, bicycling, and playing football with friends. At age 13, she got very sick and doctors at first weren’t sure what was wrong. Then came the grim diagnosis: juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. She managed with anti-inflammatory medications with occasional painkillers but said she had to sleep more than her peers and tired more quickly.
“The thing that changed my life even more than the arthritis was when I was roller skating and fell and broke my hip at age 15. It got necrosis. So I had rheumatoid arthritis, this horrible limp, and really a lot of pain for my last two years of high school.”
After breaking her hip, Jane had to give up some of her favorite activities including horseback riding and water skiing. Finally, life began to look up again when she got her first hip replacement at age 18, giving her what she described as “a new lease on life.” Unfortunately, there was more bad news to come. Only two years later, at age 20, Jane was dealt another blow when she was diagnosed with lupus, a disease that added to her fatigue and joint pain.
Throughout her adult life, Jane has had to cope with severely crippled hands, walking with a limp, and taking painkillers.
“In my last four years of work, probably more than half the time I was on a walker or a cane; even a wheelchair a few times,” Jane said. “It was a challenge. Even with my strong faith in God, I was becoming depressed.”
Discovering electric trikes
Since retiring, Jane and her husband enjoy traveling in their motorhome. On one camping trip to Florida with their grandchildren, she noticed a girl with disabilities riding a trike.
“She loved to ride her trike,” Jane said. “She was disabled but she felt safe on it.
Watching the girl ride, Jane began thinking that perhaps she could ride a trike too. She took the girl’s trike for a test ride and enjoyed it.
“My grandbabies were all riding with me (on their bikes), giving me a new lease on life. I realized I could ride the trike with my grandbabies.”
She posted a photo on Facebook of her riding that borrowed trike. A former work colleague saw the post and offered her a trike that belonged to her mother-in-law. Although excited to have it, the hilly terrain where she lives combined with her health limitations meant she couldn’t ride very far or keep up with her husband or grandchildren. Jane began doing research for an electric trike, preferably one that folds so she and Craig could take it with them when they camp. That lead her to Liberty Trike. She asked around and found a woman in a nearby town who owned one. Jane went there and did a test ride.
“I tried it and that was just exactly what I needed,” Jane said, adding that she then ordered one of her own.
Jane is now able to ride with her husband, who rides a Magnum Premium folding e-bike, and with her grandchildren. In the two years that Jane has owned her Liberty Trike, it has allowed her to fully enjoy her travel opportunities. During that time, Jane and Craig took their bikes to Yellowstone National Park; Jackson and Thermopolis, Wyoming; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Memphis, Tennessee; Russellville, Arkansas; Decatur, Alabama; Milton, Florida; Bay City and Montague, Michigan.
“My Liberty Trike really made that (the trip this summer through Colorado and Wyoming) happen,” Jane said. “I had a lot of breathing issues out there. I could walk, but not very far. I had to use my cane and take lots of breaks. My trike enabled me to see and do things I would not have gotten to do if I hadn’t had it.”
Liberty Trike’s Success Story
First launched in October 2015 via crowdsourcing campaigns on Indiegogo and Kickstarter, the Liberty Trike has earned a loyal following among its 15,000 customers. The electric trike was designed to be an alternative to a mobility scooter. It has a top speed of only 12 mph for added safety, includes a reverse gear that most other e-trikes do not have for more flexibility, and with a narrow 24-inch wide rear width Liberty Trikes that can easily go through most doorways. Liberty Trikes are relatively easy to fold, making them easy to transport in the car or for traveling in a car or RV.
Another popular feature of the Liberty Trike is its power. These trikes come with a 750-watt motor, strong enough to pull a 300-pound person up an 18 percent incline with only moderate input (pedaling). By contrast, most electric wheelchairs can only make it up a 12 percent incline.
While Liberty Trikes are popular with senior adults confined to assisted living or other institutional settings, many owners such as Jane take them on trail rides or camping trips, or just cruise on them to nearby supermarkets and other retailers. Due to the trike’s small size, many companies allow Liberty Trike owners to use their trike inside their stores while shopping.
“Liberty Trike gives back the freedom of movement to anyone who needs a little help with balance and the strength to pedal,” said Jason G. Kraft, CEO of Electric Bike Technologies, the Pennsylvania-based company behind the Liberty Trike.
“Almost every day now I get emails from Liberty Trike riders sharing how Liberty Trike has helped them stay active and mobile,” Kraft said. “A lot of individuals, young and old, use Liberty Trike to get out more and get from point A to point B. Many said they can’t imagine living without it.”
Jane’s story is further proof of how electric bikes (and trikes) are making life better and expanding horizons for people around the world, especially senior adults and people of all ages with disabilities or other health challenges.
