Retired Colorado Springs couple relies on recumbent tricycles as sole method of transportation

Jan. 3—Billy Ondo likes to tell bicycle jokes.

He's got one at the ready as soon as you enter the apartment he shares with his wife, Jolynn Ondo, close to the Old North End near downtown Colorado Springs.

"If you step past the plastic you're in the garage," he said.

He's not kidding. On the far end of the living room three bicycles and a bicycle trailer rest on a plastic floor covering. Two of those bicycles are TerraTrike tadpole tricycles, with two wheels in front and one in back. The other bike is a recumbent exercise bike they pedal away at inside when the weather turns nasty. Indoor rides also help Jolynn manage her diabetes and keep her heart healthy, after a major heart attack in 2019 and a minor one in 2021. The 20-pound aluminum cargo trailer Billy cobbled together has a giant bin on a platform, perfect for hauling groceries, chairs and exercise bikes.

The Ondos love their bicycles, and particularly their low-to-the-ground recumbents. "We do not train. We do not ride these for exercise," said Billy, 67. "These things are a giggle. We just love riding these things. These things are like when you're a kid and your mom wouldn't let you have a go-kart. This is an adult go-kart."

As longtime traditional bike riders, the trikes, which they gravitated toward in 2018, are the retired couple's only method of transportation. They haven't had a car for about two years, and once spent a decade without a vehicle, using only biking, walking and the bus to get around town. Depending on the weather, they rack up 60 to 100 miles every week.

According to a computer that measures mileage and speed on Jolynn's bike, the 68-year-old has put 2,300 miles on her trike since February. Billy's Strava, a GPS-tracking app, reports he's done about 3,000 miles between the trikes and the exercise bike in their apartment.

"We know some people who ride bikes or trikes a lot," Billy said, "and they'll say I put 5,000 or 6,000 miles on my bike and 2,000 on my car."

Where do they go? Anywhere and everywhere. The Walmart Neighborhood Market on North Union Boulevard for groceries. Monument Glamping for an overnight stay. Cañon City for another overnighter. And before Christmas they rode to a nearby dollar store for their family's inexpensive Christmas gift-giving tradition, then to Panera Bread in University Village Colorado for lunch. They finished their ride by heading up to Criterium Bicycles off Corporate Drive and headed home down the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail, which they can pick up about 100 feet from their front door. The outing clocked in at 17 miles, not quite their usual 20-mile excursions.

They're not fast, they're quick to note, though a decade ago they could "pretty well rock it," Billy said.

"We're definitely a smell the roses type," Jo said.

"If you look in the dictionary under slow, our pictures are there," Billy added.

Which sometimes doesn't make drivers all that happy, such as the ones in four-wheel drive diesel trucks that every so often roll coal on them by letting out a bunch of exhaust as they drive by the couple. But, Billy says, those are infrequent occurrences. More people drive by in the bike lane, poke their heads out the window and yell, "That's really cool," or give them a thumbs-up.

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The most often asked question remains: You're so low to the ground — aren't you afraid of getting run over?

Nope, Billy says. When a car comes up behind them, he thinks the first thing they do is wonder what is that contraption with the blinking lights and 6-foot tall flag sticking up out of the back?

"Because you're not normal," he said. "You're not tall. And you look weird. They automatically pull away and give you more room. And then once they get a little closer, they're like oh, they're gray-haired, they could be handicapped, so they pull over a little more. With regular bikes they tried to run us off the road several times."

The Ondos also are a love story. They met in 1967 at Watson Junior High in Widefield and dated on and off until they graduated from Widefield High School in 1973. Billy, a Springs native who worked as a mechanic at a bike shop after school, would ride his bike from his home in Security to her home in Widefield, where he'd ask her on dates.

After graduation they went their separate ways, married different people and each had two kids apiece. Without realizing it, they also divorced around the same time, and when Billy moved back to town, he decided to check in and see how she was doing. That was 1979. The nuptials were the following year. And now it's been 42 years of marriage and best friendship.

"We figured out along the way that friendship and marriage might work together," Billy said. "We just enjoy being around each other."

As longtime traditional bicyclists, Billy got into recumbent trikes first, mostly due to aging and the ankylosing spondylitis he deals with, an arthritis that affects the tendons and ligaments in all the major joints, including the neck, knees and hips. On a regular bike he noticed that despite having fairly high handlebars, he still hunched over and his body was beginning to complain.

"I started looking at recumbents. and I could sit there and feel nice," he said. "They're like a La-Z-Boy because the seats recline and move forward and back. With this arthritis I'm pretty uncomfortable."

He loved the trike so much they bought one for Jolynn. Nowadays, post-heart attacks and with diabetes and arthritis, the recumbents provide the movement Billy needs to combat arthritis and the stability Jolynn needs. There's no fear of falling off a trike when balance is an issue.

"When you're riding a regular bike you never realize the thousands of microadjustments you do to keep your balance because it's become normal," Billy said. "When you first take off on a trike, I don't have to do any of that. I can just relax, kick my shoulders down and do it."

As much as they love their trikes, Billy makes no pretense. If their financial situation was different, they'd have a van and take the trikes to Denver to ride the Cherry Creek Regional Trail or to Leadville, for their favorite, the Mineral Belt Trail. But because they live off their Social Security checks, they don't have enough for a car payment, insurance and maintenance.

"Unless something changes and my wife, who's been telling me for 20 plus years she's got Powerball in the bag," Billy said. "Unless she hits that, we will probably be carless for the rest of our days."

Contact the writer: 636-0270