Still Turning The Crank… And Well!
With as much as I’m down in mileage this year, with the new job for me and new position for my wife, I’d expected we’d be considerably slower. I didn’t think there’d be any escaping mediocrity – and I was quite accepting of this.
That’s not how this tale is going to be written, though.
I’m starting a review of our Co-Motion Kalapuya that will be glowing, even considering our mishap with the crankset(s) – I had a lot of blame in that issue, anyway. And it was taken care of. The tandem is simply amazing. I never would have expected an alloy bike to be that comfortable on the road. It’s more comfortable than my Venge and Trek by a wide margin and with the Thudbuster seat post on the rear admiral’s position, my wife loves how comfortable the bike is. In fact, it’s so good, it’s smoothing out roads that used to really fire me up on the single bikes.
Take, for instance, Shipman Road (for the locals) with the stress cracks every twelve feet. Part of the road was repaved, but on the other side of Caledonia Township, it’s still as bad as it ever was… and we were able to fly down the road.
Anyway, bike aside, we’re still cruising at an excellent clip. We hit a 43-mile ride yesterday during which Jess and I stayed up front for a good bit of the ride and we managed a 19-mph average. Last week’s Sunday Funday was 19.4. I think this week’s 19 was a little more significant, though because we had an amazing tandem couple to help with the work last week… and they’re fast together.
The important thing is that, though our mileage is way down, I think we’re making the most of the time we do have on the bike. It’s even made cycling more enjoyable, with the proper perspective on it.
It’s time to get going, though. Sunday Funday awaits and we’ve got a dinger of a route planned for today.
Another Perfect Day on the Tandem (And a Neat Twist)
We rolled out for Sunday morning’s ride with a sparse crowd. Mike and Diane showed up with their Co-Motion Macchiato (top-end racing tandem) and Diane and Joe showed up on their single bikes… and that was about it. We picked up Phill on the road and Greg texted while we were riding, so it ended up being a nice crew.
Mike and Diane are the couple who told us about the tandem’s ability to make or break a marriage. They are awesome on their tandem.
It was another perfect morning. Barely a breeze to speak of and the sun was on it’s way up without a cloud in the way to block its glorious warmth. These are the days that make the February snow showers and sweating over the trainer worth it bearable.
We had 40-ish miles on the docket and stopped for a removal of arm-warmers and light layers and a small snack (a white chocolate macadamia nut Clif bar for me). For a reason unbeknownst to me, we took an unusually long stop here, about ten minutes, before rolling out again. The ride was glorious and smooth with the two tandems taking the bulk of the work which kept the ride smooth but fast. Thinking back, I can’t remember a point in the ride where I hit, “I just want for this to be done”. My wife and I were in perfect synch with each other as we hammered for home. We pulled into the driveway with 42-1/2 miles and a 19.4-mph (31 km/h) average. It was awesome.
And finally, the twist. Long after we’d cleaned up and had lunch, I thought back on our ride. There were at least three or four instances where I thought, “I’m glad we’re not doing this on the single bikes”. I mentioned this to Jess as we were preparing to leave to see my side of the family at my sister’s house, and she agreed with a smile of happy surprise on her face. I get the impression she doesn’t quite grasp just how much I prefer the tandem to one of my single bikes these days.
We’re getting so good on the tandem, we’re better together than I am on a single bike. I think, put that way, it really says something.
A Perfect Day; Peace, Happiness, Clicking on the Tandem, Some Golf and a Wonderful Dinner
One massive benefit of my wife and I putting so much into work lately is we tend to take every minute we can to do fun things find enjoyment in everything we do together. It seems like we’ve managed to figure out how to have fun folding clothes. We have a blast shopping at the grocery store together.
When we hit the weekends, though, it’s time to play…
We rolled the tandem out to find we’d developed a “tick” every time our left foot hit the power part of the pedal stroke. That meant one of about six things. We chose to live with it till we made it to our first stop. Joe took the first big pull, about five miles (!) into a crossing headwind. Actually, we can’t call that “wind”, it was a barely there breeze. We took the next eight or so miles, a few more with headwind, then we headed south with a crossing tailwind.
There was once a time where Jess and I would struggle to synch up. I’d pedal through her and she got used to me trying to bend the crankarms. Over the last couple of years we sorted that out and we’re matched much better. It’s astonishing how much better it is riding like that.
We crushed it going into Byron, matching my KOM time on the quarter-mile segment… that’s a KOM that’s stood for something like five years.
We strolled into the gas station we always stop at in Byron and I whipped out our Allen keys to tend to any loose bolts. My Gates Carbon Drive pully bolts were an eighth of a turn loose and the seat post bolts needed to be snugged. Everything else seemed in order. Our first turns of the pedals showed that we’d gotten it. The rest of the ride, the bike was perfect and quiet.
We whipped around the course with ease. On our old tandem, with the old us, we struggled up every incline we came to, no matter how minor. On the new rig, we’re actually getting around our flattish home course reasonably well.
We took our lumps up front and hid behind Joe every now and again for a rest (Joe is outstanding at pacing a tandem, especially uphill). Phill and Brad hung back and enjoyed the draft. On the homestretch, Jess asked if I wanted to ride up a mile to miss the worst of the traffic on our normal route so we could give Joe a little more shelter before he headed home.
We had three miles to ourselves and talked about what a perfect day and ride it had been. We’re thanking God that summer is finally here.
After we cleaned up, we had a wonderful lunch and took a nap. After, I headed to the golf course to play a round with a my colleague from work (who seems to be my new golfing buddy). I played well the first six holes but tired out and was damn-near duffing it by the 12th (it’s a 12-hole course). Still, a wonderful way to spend a perfect afternoon.
Finally, on arriving home, I gathered my wife who was finishing up some work and we headed to the diner my daughter is working at for dinner. I was more than a little hungry and we plowed through the meal. We got home around 8:15 and I was good and thoroughly cooked. Put a fork in me.
I think I was snoring with my eyes open.
Well, I figure it’s high time for an update… wait, considering this blog’s theme, allow me to reword that…
Work has been all-encompassing for both Jess and I. We’ve been sneaking in fun days here and there, but we’ve got a lot going on.
I’ve been golfing quite a bit with a colleague of mine and trying to contemplate where I go next, as far as work is concerned. I enjoy the company that I’m with now, but there’s a travel aspect that would make things difficult… but it would be lucrative. The other shoe-in option I’ve got is local and yet another step up, but not as lucrative and it would be a very big learning curve. On the other hand, it’d be more in line with what I did for my entire professional career. This is a good problem to have.
With work getting in the way for us, that means trying to squeeze time in for each other… and to a point that’s gotten in the way of hitting our normal meetings. We’ve done excellently at being married but that can only be sustained for so long if we’re not hitting regular meetings.
Cycling has been a weekend only affair. We simply don’t have enough daylight with everything else we’ve got going on.
Things are about to change for the better, though. My job lasts another two weeks. After that, there may be a contract extension, but we’re going to work in some vacation next month.
I got to my regular meeting this week and I’ve begun calling my sponsor a little more regularly (if he’d only answer the freaking phone, Ian).
Life is really cool at the moment, nonetheless. I’ll have more in the coming days and weeks… and hopefully a lot more starting in July.
GOLF! Rather Than Cycling?!
Sure enough, yesterday was to be a cycling day. My wife had school board responsibilities, so I was looking forward to a nice ride on the Venge… or maybe the Trek, but one of my colleagues asked if I wanted to go to the local 9-hole course – and walk it. Hmmmm, I thought, golf and exercise! I’m in!
There’s just something about walking a course, even carrying my bag (I have a walking backpack strap bag). I almost always play better, and yesterday was par for the course. Almost literally.
I started out with three pars in a row, with excellent drives and approach shots. All three greens in regulation and two-putts. The only way I could have done better would be to one-putt a hole for a bird.
Then I blew up on an easy par-three and doubled it. I was off the green with a tough lie and I yipped it and had to hit a second chip that I blew by the hole. That one I did one-putt for a five. Ah, well. I hoped maybe I could birdie a couple later and make that mistake up.
Nope, I bogied the next, too. Two more pars, a bogie and a par rounded me out. Still, four over in nine holes, with as little as I play? I’ll take it!
The bright side was two-fold. First, playing with our Senior Superintendent is awesome. He’s a great guy and we have a fantastic time getting around a course. Second, other than a few mistakes in nine holes, I’m really striking the ball well and that’s an excellent feeling. My irons are probably the most solid part of my game, from my sand wedge to my five iron, I’m simply crushing the ball. My driver and fairway metals are exceptional, but I could use a little work there.
All in all, it was an awesome evening and we both had a blast. It’s really nice being back into golf again. Good times and noodle salad.
Hadrian’s Ultimate Bike Fest (HUBfest), Our Wedding Anniversary, And A New “Our Song”
HUBfest is a long-standing ride down in southern Michigan. Covid killed it, but The League of Michigan Bicyclists brought it back. This was the first year back after three or four off.
The League’s rides are not cheap, they’re intended to be a fundraising method to fund the organization’s advocacy campaigning for safer cycling in Michigan. That’s all great, but it means the attendees are ultra-dedicated to the cause and they usually wait till the last minute to register for the one-day ride to avoid any weather confounding your hard-earned money. The rides are put on well and the courses are chosen by local folks who know the roads best, so they’re always interesting and enjoyable… and the food options are usually outstanding, from the rest stops to the post-ride meal. You just have to part with a lot of cash to ride your bicycle and enjoy the day.
My wife arrived in Tecumseh, MI early in the day, before I left from work with our gravel bikes in the back of my small SUV. I left work early as I’d far surpassed my required 40 hours and had no desire to get close to 50 as anything above 40 is my glorious contribution to the company. I’m charitable, for sure, but I’m not stupid.
I arrived in Tecumseh at around 4:30 and helped with the setup. We worked for an hour or so till the work was done and took the gravel bikes for a spin to check out the trail course (we didn’t bother with the asphalt and gravel courses). The spin was wonderful, if short. We had a wonderful time. After, we headed to Salsaria for dinner. That was outstanding… and the live entertainment one-man-band played our wedding song as our request – Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton. We were celebrating our anniversary as our actual date was marred by late nights at the office for both of us.
We headed back to the ride start after dinner to make sure everything was set, then headed to our B&B to rest up before the event. We slept hard and short. We got to bed around 11pm and were up and rolling by 5:30am.
Ride day was fantastic. The weather was perfect, sunny and chilly in the morning but it was due to rise to the low 80s before long. The riders started filing in around 7am and my wife handled the check-in process and I helped.
We got all of the riders out on the course in a timely fashion, then turned our attention to our bikes. We chose the trail again, but opted for a few more miles than the evening before. Our ride was slow, fantastic, and happy. We took lots of photos and had a wonderful time. We talked most of the time of happy marriage things, of sticking together through thick and thin things, of how far we’ve come things.
After the ride, we cleaned up and helped with the festivities. A band had been hired and they were working through their set list. 60s, 70s and 80s classic rock. Lunch was from a BBQ truck and was outstanding. My wife and I chose the pulled pork and curly fries. Oh, my.
We were starting to clean up around 5 and were headed across the park to the chain link fence to take down signs that were zip-tied to the fence… and the band brought up one of the wives and started in on “You’re Still The One” by Shania Twain. I’ve always loved that song, but the lyrics, after the last year and change, simply described my wife and I perfectly. I teared up on “We mighta took the long way, we knew we’d get there some day”… I told my wife I loved her with tears streaming down my face. Then she teared up and said she loved me. She reached out and took my hand as we walked. It was awesome.
We took down the signs together and headed back to the truck with them. After dropping them off, I went up to the woman who sang the song and told her I appreciated it, and a short version of the story behind it. Hell, she almost started crying! She said we should have come over and danced. I told her it was okay, that we had to help clean up.
Ten minutes later, as we were moving stuff to the truck, she got back on the microphone and called my wife and I over so we could properly dance to the song. They played it again, spot on, as we danced.
We’ll just leave it at this; we have another “us” song.
Best ride ever and we only got 16 miles out of two days. We’re already talking about next year.
Cycling in Washington DC; The BEST Way to See the City is From the Cockpit of a Bicycle
I found myself missing riding in Washington, DC this morning. For context and those who regularly ready this blog, DC isn’t tandem-friendly, as it is single-bike friendly – and it is exceedingly single-bike friendly. They did a great job making that a fun place to ride.
My wife and I took tours our first days there – a rail trail ride to Bethesda, Maryland, a tour that followed President Lincoln’s route from the White House to his cottage a few miles away… we went everywhere and it was beautiful. I took three tours on the first day and one the next. Typically, that would be prohibitively expensive but we were with a group and the tours were a part of the deal.
We learned how to ride DC on the tours, then we applied that knowledge and set out on our own. To see what we did would take at the very least a full day for an exceptionally fit person. We hit a good bit of the must-see monuments in a matter of hours.
If you’ve got the urge to visit Washington DC, bring your bike. You won’t be sorry!
2023 Horsey Hundred On A Tandem
The Horsey Hundred, in Georgetown, Kentucky, is a magnet for tandems. There were dozens upon dozens for this year’s event (I heard estimates north of 60 tandems at the tandem rally alone on Friday). Our adventure in getting to the ride was one of grace, patience and impeccable timing. 24 hours before we were to head south, the tandem was in pieces on the bike room floor. 10 hours before and it was whole and ready to roll with a mountain cassette on the rear wheel (50/34 up front, 11-40 11 sp in the back). We’d suffered a… malfunction just half a week before, but managed to get a derailleur, a Gates belt drive pulley and a belt delivered to the house just before we were set to leave.
The drive down was fantastic. My wife and I are doing wonderfully in our marriage and we’ve been incredibly busy with work so having a long, five-day weekend to decompress and enjoy each other’s company with friends was going to be a much needed break.
The weather for Friday’s tandem rally in the afternoon was glorious, if a little cool. We opted for the 24-mile route to get our legs used to the Kentucky rolling hills but didn’t quite get all of the paperwork and signup stuff associated with completing the trifecta (Friday, Saturday & Sunday, any distance) and the significance of the tandem rally. We left early and missed the photo op and tandem mass start by a few minutes. The route, with more than 50′ of up per mile, didn’t disappoint. Though it did set my wife’s mind off in a flurry of doubt about the next day’s 65 miles. I won’t lie, even I thought it was going to be exceedingly difficult. I knew we had the gears to complete everything… I just didn’t know about the legs. We ended up doing just fine, but 65-miles looked pretty scary. That was a lot of up. We didn’t take many photos on that ride. Jess couldn’t get a good rhythm with the phone because of all of the up and down.
We rose Saturday morning and went to breakfast. After, we showered and got the tandem ready to roll and rode it to Georgetown College, the start.
I’d say it was fair to say we were both a ball of nerves as we rolled out. I tried talking about anything but the task ahead of us and remain positive.
Like the day before, I started out way too hard. I calmed myself after ten or twenty miles, knowing we wouldn’t make it if I kept the pace we were holding up the hills. Back home, we’ve got a hill every few minutes that requires a few seconds of extra power. In Kentucky, if you’re not going down, you’re going up. There are maybe a few miles of flat in the whole ride. I asked if we could take it easier up the hills and I opted for two gears easier than I’d normally use on an uphill. That worked perfectly. I started to relax after the first few miles and I could talk to Jess a little more.
The change made all of the difference in the world. We were exceedingly slow on the climbs, but the ride went so much better, it was worth the drop in average pace.
The rest of the ride was a glorious, happy blur. Mike and Jonathan ended up catching on with the main group and Jess and I rode on our own for the last twenty miles or so. It was fantastic. We crossed the 100k threshold well before the finish so we opted to carve off early and take a highway with a wide shoulder as a shortcut back to the hotel. We’d made our goal. 100k in Kentucky on the tandem. We were both excited to have made it.
Sadly, the food, both at the dinner and at the rest stops were sub-par this year. The later rest stops were well stocked with all of our “we need some energy” goodies.
The Best Lightweight High-Volume Tandem Saddlebag Ever Conceived. It’s PERFECT
Oh, I’m a happy man.
We had a KlickIt saddlebag on our Co-Motion Periscope for years. It was given to us by a riding buddy, Chuck, and we we loved it. It carried arm warmers and leg warmers, wet weather gear… everything. That sucker was big and awesome.
I even sewed a Garmin mount to it do we could easily attach our blinkie radar. We loved that saddlebag, even though it had a massive flaw; the click-in attachment was flimsy. I lined the sides with electrical tape and that tightened the locking mechanism up.
When we wheeled our new bad@$$ mammer jammer Co-Motion Kalapuya in the front door, the intent was to use the old KlickIt saddle bag on the new rig… until we found out the lock ring is made for a 28.6mm seatpost… and the new seatpost is 31.8. There wasn’t an easy way to modify the old lock ring so we started looking for replacements. There wasn’t much out there that we liked, nothing we loved.
Until we saw the Rixen Kaul Contour saddlebag with the KlickFix attachment system.
We ordered ours from an online bike shop in Minnesota and it came with two attachment rings. One for the smaller seatposts, one for oversized seatposts. And that was exactly what we needed. Now, we could have used the new collar with our old saddle bag, but the flaw with the click-on section, combined with the fact the new saddle bag is a LOT nicer looking than the old one, I opted to put the Rixen Kaul Contour on the new Co-Motion.
We’ve already had it full and packed down (it’ll handle upwards of 4 pounds of gear or 2 kg) and love it.
All of the flaws in our KlickIt are fixed with the KlickFix and Rixen Kaul saddle bag. If you miss the old “no rack required” high-volume saddlebag made by KlickIt, the Rixen Kaul line is the answer.
At 4 liters, the Contour is just big enough to carry everything we need when exploring on our tandem. Oh, and it comes with a hi-viz rain fly that stows away in one of the side pockets. Another nice touch.
A Weekend In the Red: Cycling, Family and Happiness
It felt like my first semi-normal week in a long time. Some good, some bad. Jess and I are doing well and riding excellently. We had two long rides both days this weekend, both were wonderful. We had a little communication breakdown Sunday, because we were both tired, but we talked that part of it out and ended up having a nice day together.
I’m exceedingly pleased with how the tandem is running. The bike is solid and quiet and just hums down the road. Which, if you can believe it, is a source for consternation with my rear admiral. The bike’s so quiet, every little click and tick sounds loud.
Our daughter came home last night because our youngest broke up with her boyfriend of two years and she’s just devastated. We had a lovely, rare dinner together and our young one started the process of healing.
On my front, an exceedingly busy few weeks has led to a small backslide where I don’t quite take care of the things I normally would within the marriage. I started turning that back around as soon as I recognized it. These little details, when left go, lead to big problems down the road, so better to take care of them right now.
I’m feeling quite excellent after the weekend, and it’s a good thing; this week is going to be crazy.
To put a cherry on this post, even though this week past was about half of my normal mileage (148 miles), Strava shows that my effort was a huge jump over previous weeks… in fact, three of the last four showed up in the red.
That’s about how this year is going!
Fit Recovery 