Midnight on O’Connell Street is not the only place you will see rickshaw bikes being peddled around.
A new service brought to Dublin allows elderly people to take a rickshaw ride and get back in touch with nature.
Older people are often restricted to where they can go and getting involved in outdoor activities can be difficult. Yet this scheme allows people who physically struggle enjoy scenic views and fresh air.
The Cycling Without Age Organisation has arrived in Ireland for the first time which gives elderly people ‘The Right To Wind In Their Hair’.
The bike designed for elderly and disabled people was first launched in Denmark and runs off a battery which can be charged from home.
Clara Clark and Charles Mollan are the founders of the Irish scheme aimed towards people young at heart.
The pair are the first to own the bike in Ireland and have brought it to nursing homes such as Newtownpark House in Blackrock.
They hope to bring the scheme to many more communities and are looking for companies to sponsor bikes for nursing homes alongside pilots to ride the bikes.
Clara Clark said she got involved with the scheme because they were both very keen cyclists and thought it was a magical idea for elderly people in nursing homes that may not get out as often.
“We’re not selling anything, we are volunteers but we want nursing homes to buy rickshaw bikes or we want sponsors to buy them and donate them to nursing homes”.
“It’s to go ideally in parks and off road places to go for a slow cycle”
When asked what Clara thinks this can bring to elderly people she said, “Freedom, escape for a little while out of the chair in the nursing home”.
When talking about the trips they have done in nursing homes, Charles said, “Some of them haven’t been in a bicycle in decades”.
