Engineer-Poet's Journal: Wishes unfulfilled

I've been thinking about getting a recumbent bicycle for years. Now that I've been having numbness in my hands from relatively short rides on my mountain bike (and I really need to ride more, not less!) it's time to get one.

Last weekend I drove an hour-plus to the nearest bike store I could find with recumbents. They had exactly one left: a Bachetta with 26-inch wheels front and back. I took it out for a test-ride.

I found that the machine isn't merely difficult for me to get started on (that's one hell of a leg-lift just to put feet on pedals) but it's positively unsafe. At steering angles necessary for low-speed maneuvering, my heels struck the front tire. This is the sort of thing which is likely to cause a spill, and I won't have it.

What I think I need is one of the low-wheelers, and someone with them in stock. Someone please wish me the luck to find a store which carries Rans or the like someplace not too far away.