On a recent afternoon a parking lot in west Cary served as a practice track of sorts for a group of Cary residents partaking of a new three-wheeled fitness craze.

They were a group of Cary residents “getting their lean on.”

They were riding Trikkes, and if you’re imaging the three-wheelers from your childhood you’d be wrong.

Invented in Brazil in the late 1980s, Trikkes resemble razor scooters, but with one plank for each foot instead of just one plank to stand on.

Riders propel the Trikkes forward by leaning from side to side, which produces momentum, much in the same way that a skier does when they carve down a mountain.

So the trikke works a lot of large muscles, even though the impact on the body is low — a major reason people of all ages are attracted to the vehicles.

That’s what Warren Slate thinks anyway, and he should know as the organizer of the local Trikke meetup group that was meeting in the Cary parking lot.

“I can (ride a Trikke) and get a good workout without my knees reminding me the next day that I got a good workout,” Slate, 43, said.

He’s not the only one who feels that way.

Seventy-two-year-old Mickey Gregory likes the low wear and tear that the vehicles cause on his body.

“I’m getting a little old,” he said.

Slate said that an adult Trikke can cost from $300 to $600.

To learn more about the vehicles visit fitness.meetup.com/874/ or www.trikke.com.