Bicycles Built For Two

Saturday night cin and I went out with Den and Barb. I discovered there really was a difference between $46 a bottle wine and the kind that comes out of the box, and I always thought people that preferred one over the other were just pretentious. Den and I have been friends since we were five. We rode bicycles together growing up. We still do but recently Den discovered he prefers riding with his wife. I let Den and Barb borrow my tandem for the Iceman in ’07 and they were instantly hooked and bought one right after that.

When I realized this fall that I might not be with GM for the rest of my life, I over reacted a little and sold everything I owned except my geared XC bike and the box of spare parts in my garage. Allie noticed our tandem was gone and cried. Riding the tandem was our special time together and what I really sold was that experience. I told Allie that I will buy a new one this summer but secretly I know my life post-GM will be very different. Tandems are magical. Both my daughters will talk non-stop when we are riding. I learn all sorts of things riding with them that I wouldn’t learn talking over the dinner table. Allie prefers riding on the dirt roads around our house; Em prefers single track, which is cool, but I picture myself in a pediatrician’s office trying to explain how my daughter fell off the back of my bike on a technical downhill section. Riding a tandem together is an act of intimacy where the person in back trusts the person in front to pick the right lines, and the person in front trusts the person in back to trust them. If a couple’s relationship can withstand riding together on a tandem, they have very little to worry about.