Something new
Rachel and I had some money left over from selling our old VW van. We decided to do something special with it, something to signal our commitment to living carfree. After lots of wild ideas, we settled on a very special tandem.
One month ago today, our Tandem Two'sday arrived from Eugene, where it was custom built by Green Gear (the Bike Friday folks). It wasn't until Saturday that the last of the parts came together. We couldn't wait, and rode in the new year Friday night. We took it for groceries and to visit some friends yesterday. This morning, we did something really fun.
I had the day off, and Rachel was running late for work. We decided to take the tandem. Wow, what fun! If there were any lingering (positive) memories of a car, they were of riding and talking together. Well, the tandem ride was fast, and we could talk the whole way at a normal volume. Wonderful.
We pulled up to the door, and I dropped Rachel off before pedaling the tandem home. I'll pick her up this evening. Thanks to Paul C. for the idea. My sense is that American tandeming has gone the way of road biking. Most tandemers we asked advice from assumed that we wanted to go faster than we could separately. We imagined grueling tours through the desert with matching plastic jerseys and laughed. We just wanted to ride together. Tandems make great utility bikes. I think ours will see a lot of use this year!
One month ago today, our Tandem Two'sday arrived from Eugene, where it was custom built by Green Gear (the Bike Friday folks). It wasn't until Saturday that the last of the parts came together. We couldn't wait, and rode in the new year Friday night. We took it for groceries and to visit some friends yesterday. This morning, we did something really fun.
I had the day off, and Rachel was running late for work. We decided to take the tandem. Wow, what fun! If there were any lingering (positive) memories of a car, they were of riding and talking together. Well, the tandem ride was fast, and we could talk the whole way at a normal volume. Wonderful.
We pulled up to the door, and I dropped Rachel off before pedaling the tandem home. I'll pick her up this evening. Thanks to Paul C. for the idea. My sense is that American tandeming has gone the way of road biking. Most tandemers we asked advice from assumed that we wanted to go faster than we could separately. We imagined grueling tours through the desert with matching plastic jerseys and laughed. We just wanted to ride together. Tandems make great utility bikes. I think ours will see a lot of use this year!
posted by Joe at 12:00 PM
2 Comments:
I think folks ride tandems for lots of different reasons. I was (and I guess I still am) a lot fitter than my wife, but our tandem is a real equalizer. She can go farther and faster than she ever could on a single bike and she really enjoys it. It's a great way to spend time together. Have fun.
It's great to hear you bought a Bike Friday Tandem. It would be difficult to be carfree without ours -- though certainly not impossible. While we've been on vacation, we've been riding separate bikes; I'm on the Burro we just bought, which is very slow, and my wife is on an old Schwinn road bike she trash-picked from her mother's neighborhood a few years back. I miss being able to chat while we ride.
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