Seaside Tandem

Over the weekend we wanted to take our bikes to Cape Cod and cycle on theRail Trail. Unfortunately, our lighter bikes are at the shop and the Pashleys are too heavy for the car's rear rack. Browsing the rail trail brochure, I noticed an advertisement for tandem rentals. Tandems! Within seconds, I was making a reservation.



Our tandem was a modern Fuji mountain-road hybrid, with an aluminum frame and carbon fork. With our mismatched beach attire and sunscreen-streaked faces (it was a hot day) we didn't exactly look glamorous, but it was quite an experience!



Tandem bicycles look charming and fun, which makes them seem easy to ride. I assure you that they are not! Despite Sheldon Brown's detailed description, we did not expect it to be so challenging. The tandemists must learn to coordinate their pedaling and coasting patterns, pedaling cadence, and even their body movements, so as not to disbalance the bicycle by leaning in different directions. This takes some time! Steering, shifting gears, and turning corners require considerable skill.



The person at the front of a tandem is called the Captain, and the person in the back is the Stoker. The job of the Captain is to steer and balance the bicycle, and to control the gearing. The job of the Stoker is to provide extra leg-power on the pedals and maintain the balance.If you are the Stoker, the Captain's back will be your view (inches from your face), unless you turn to the side!



The Co-Habitant was a natural captain and could even ride the tandem stretched out from the rear pedals.



I could not, but I was a good Stoker!



One of the benefits of a tandem, is that it can go very fast. Once we got the hang of operating the bicycle, we were flying on that thing, grinning with delight and leaving other cyclists in the dust. Overall, I prefer to ride an individual bicycle, simply because I like the control and independence. But on occasion, a tandem would be so much fun. It's a tandem!

Southwick and woods, circular

With Barrie E, Terry, Sue, Kate, Ian and Carol, Phil, Barry O, Gordon, Maureen, Eddie. Fine sunny morning. Just over 6 miles. And no stiles.





This walk follows the same route as the one fromWed, September 7th. This time we started from the lay-by just after the water tower on the road to Glapthorn from Southwick. I haven't written up details, as they're on the linked post, but here are a few snaps of some of the 'gang'.

Crossway Hand Farm

Not 'one of us'.

Woodsy idyll

The kind of thing you think you'd be geting away from out in the woods

Happy Hour at the Zukas

We love a good Happy Hour and we really love them when they are hosted by someone as fun as John and Shelly. They threw the first Happy Hour of at their place, which was conveniently located right in front of the pickleball courts.



As usual, there was tons of food and lots of fun friends. John entertained us by teaching us a game that started with "the moon is round".



Some of us tried to figure out the trick behind this unique game.











You can see the crowd trying to figure it out too:



After that, John and Julia entertained us with a joke each.







Since we were right there, some of us headed over to play some pickleball. I didn't get any pictures but you can see them on Rich and Donna's Blog. It was a great night!

Wind Again

Visiting Rich and Donna at The Villages

We planned to take a trip to visit Rich and Donna the weekend that we were visited by the tropical storm, so we moved it to this past weekend. It was well worth the wait! We have only been to The Villages to visit when we were buying pickleball paddles and we did not even begin to truly see all this interesting place has to offer.



I decided while there that if I did not love to travel, this place would be where I could easily settle in and never want to leave again. The place is beautiful. Everything is manicured, perfectly decorated and laid out in a well planned, easily navigated fashion.



There is more to do here than I could ever fit in during my lifetime and most of it is things I love to do, like pickleball. There are reasonably priced restaurants, stores, movie theaters and town squares with entertainment every single night of the year. There are recreation centers full of every fun thing you can imagine to do! We might just have to be part time residents at some point and travel part of the year!



During our visit, we were able to play pickleball both days. Donna and I played at one place, the guys played at another. We had not played in months so it was great to play again. In the afternoon, the guys played again while we girls did other things. The first afternoon we went to play Bunco, which I had not played before. I loved it. Donna introduced me to So You Think You Can Dance so the second afternoon we watched some of those shows, which I loved! We also had happy hour and frozen yogurt. We visited both town squares, had a boat ride and learned more about The Villages history and ate at great restaurants. We were spoiled rotten and I loved every minute of it.



We were able to cram in so much and yet the weekend flew by way too fast. We ate dinner together before we had to head back home, and as was everything else during our trip: it was wonderful. Great food and great entertainment.







Thank you again Rich and Donna for such a wonderful weekend! We hope we can squeeze in that one more trip before you head back to Wauchula!

Anti-Theft Cozy

Spotted around Harvard Square, this road bike is sporting a green knitted U-lock cover!

Knitting a "cozy" for your U-Lock is a fabulous and pretty hilarious idea. But if I think about it, there might be more to it. The hand-knitted cover humanizes the owner of the bicycle. It calls attention to the deeply personal anxieties over the safety of our cherished belongings. If cruel acts are possible because the perpetrator depersonalises the victim, then perhaps this piece of knitted handywork will disrupt that process by evoking empathy.

Edited to add: After searching for "knitted U-Lock cover" on google, I've discovered this post from Bikes and the City. Bi-coastal trend?