Bikes
-
A Fraidy Cat’s Tale of the Monster Cross 50 Miler
Everybody, I met someone. It happened last week at the Monster Cross 50 Miler in Pocahontas State Park, Virginia (route here). I’m still reeling from our interaction. This person is daring. Roots and gravel roll under her wheels and her face is unruffled. Bring it, her expression seems to say. She has no qualms about… Continue reading
-
Randonneur- and Real-Life Spouse
As one of a small group of women who likes to ride long distances, I’m often exposed to conversations about “the wife.” I almost hate to write “the wife,” since I feel so strongly about it, but I’m writing what I hear and there you are. Sometimes “the wife” is referred to in other ways,… Continue reading
-
The Highs and Lows of New Bike Day
One year ago, fate and desire intersected to create an opportunity for Felkerino and me to purchase a custom steel tandem. Prior to this tandem, our main brevet bike has been a custom-sized Co-Motion Java that has served us well and I’m not going to say one bad thing about it. Except one thing. We found… Continue reading
-
Training for Randonneuring Rides on a Tandem
Those of you who receive American Randonneur– a quarterly publication of Randonneurs USA– may find this article about randonneuring tandem basics familiar, as it is a piece that was recently published in the Summer edition. I’m reprinting it here. Thanks to Mike Wali for the pics in this piece. Continue reading
-
Strange Things People Say: I’m Thinking About Getting a Tandem Bike
When people see Felkerino’s and my bike, they often comment and ask us questions. These comments range from funny or insightful to head-shakingly odd or irritating. One of the comments I’ve heard, not infrequently and only from the mouths of men, is some version of this, “How do you like your tandem? I’m thinking about getting a tandem for me and… Continue reading
-
More Tandems at Paris-Brest-Paris 2011
After digging through the photos archives, I discovered more tandem shots worth sharing from the last edition of PBP. That is, they are not hopelessly blurry or otherwise terrible. Perhaps you will even recognize some of the randonneurs. Continue reading
-
Tandem Bicycles at Paris-Brest-Paris 2011
Events like Paris-Brest-Paris are difficult to unbox all at once. Some aspects can be, such as the immediacy of the ride experience and the emotions and physical states experienced. Continue reading
-
Hilly Billy Roubaix: I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
This is not a joke so please stop smiling What was I thinking when I said it didn’t hurt –Wilco, “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart“ After an exhilarating experience at the 2013 edition of the Hilly Billy Roubaix, Ed Felkerino and I returned to Morgantown this past weekend for another opportunity to ride our Lead Sled tandem… Continue reading
-
The Dahon Hon Solo Does the BicycleSPACE Cupcake Ramble
Several years ago I went through a small-wheel bike phase. I was enamored of their appearance, the twitchy steering (compared to a full-size bike), and the ways they folded into more compact sizes for storage and transport. My Dahon Hon Solo is one of the bikes I own as a result of that phase. A limited… Continue reading
-
Co-Motion Tandem Compare and Contrast: Java vs. Speedster
It’s been just over one year and around 5,500 miles since Felkerino and I said goodbye to our Co-Motion Speedster and began riding our Co-Motion Java tandem. Now that we’ve put both of these tandems through their paces, I wanted to compare the two bikes and revisit the choice we made to replace our Speedster… Continue reading
-
Lessons Learned From My First Tandem Bicycle Tour
This week I had the opportunity to reflect on my very first tandem bike tour with Felkerino, an eight-day, 775-mile excursion from Rockville, Maryland, to Niagara Falls. I wrote about our 2005 tour experience on The Bicycle Story (an excellent blog, and not just because I have a guest post on it). You can see… Continue reading
-
What Kind of Person Rides a Surly Long Haul Trucker?
Occasionally I check the statistics page of this blog to find out what searches led people to Chasing Mailboxes. The most common search terms are for the blog name itself and in a close second “Surly Long Haul Trucker.” Third? “Surly LHT.” Recently I saw that some people stumbled upon this space via the phrase… Continue reading
-
Coffeeneuring Rewind: Paul and Maureen’s Tandem Ride to a Coffee Shop Without Walls
I wanted to send us into the weekend with some coffeeneuring inspiration so I called upon two coffeeneurs to help. Paul and his wife, Maureen, are doing the Coffeeneuring Challenge in Lynchburg, Virginia. Their first stop to a Coffee Shop Without Walls looked so inviting I asked Paul if he would write a guest post… Continue reading
-
A Visit to Bikes@Vienna on the Leesburg Loop
Over the weekend Felkerino and I meandered from home to do what we call the “Leesburg Loop,” a 90-ish mile ride that starts in D.C., crosses the river into Virginia and takes the Custis and W&OD Trails to Leesburg, winds around to White’s Ferry for a quick ferry ride across the Potomac into Maryland, continues… Continue reading
-
Something Old, Something New… Falling (in Love!) with Off-Road Tandeming
Felkerino’s and my years of randonneuring on tandem together combined with our growing interest in off-road riding made the Hilly Billy Roubaix, a 74-mile ride largely on the unpaved gravel and dirt roads in Monongalia County, West Virginia, an intriguing challenge. With the exception of tires (which Felkerino researched and purchased prior to the event)… Continue reading
-
From Middletown to Monterey: Two Days, 255 Miles
Felkerino and I have been making the most of our weekend warrior lifestyle with two straight weekends of bike overnights on our Co-Motion tandem. This past weekend we toured with our rando-friends John and Cindy, who also ride a Co-Motion tandem– a 650B Speedster. Isn’t it beautiful? Both days included plenty of climbing and stunning… Continue reading
-
Velo Orange Mixte Commutes & the Search for the Ideal Bags
Lately I’ve been on a mission to ride all of my bikes more often. This is partially due to needing to clean the Surly LHT as well as change out a tube, but also because if I’m going to own multiple bikes I feel should make the effort to ride them all. The past… Continue reading
-
Rediscovering My Bike Friday Pocket Rocket: a Packable Performance Folder
For those unfamiliar with Bike Friday and their bikes, the Pocket Rocket is a high performance folding bike. It is not a fast folder, like a Brompton or a Bike Friday Tikit, but rather a packable folder. Ours are built with 20-inch wheels and they are designed to break down easily into a standard-size suitcase.… Continue reading
-
New Bike Day! Rawland Nordavinden
Felkerino and I celebrated New Bike Day at the Dining Room Bike Shop this past weekend. New Bike Day New Bike Day! This edition was particularly exciting, as 1. the bike was for me; and 2. I purchased the frame and fork in June of last year, but took another ten months to get the… Continue reading
-
Dialing in our New Co-Motion Java Tandem
Earlier this year, Felkerino’s and my new tandem arrived from Co-Motion. Some of you may remember that a crack developed in the stoker seat tube of our previous tandem, a Co-Motion Speedster, which required either a mend or a replacement frame. We ultimately chose to replace the frame and, rather than another Co-Motion Speedster tandem,… Continue reading
-
The Old Bike Shop Recyclery
The past weekend, Felkerino and I made a field trip out to Arlington, Virginia, and peeked our heads into the new bike shop known as The Old Bike Shop. We stopped by late in the day but Larry, the owner, was more than willing to stay after hours and chat with us about his recyclery.… Continue reading
-
Southern Virginia Tandem Bike Tour Lessons Learned and Wrap-Up Post
Writing during the journey is always a bit different than what comes to mind after a bike tour ends. The week has given me time to reflect on the trip we had, and I wanted to throw up some summary observations, assessments, and lessons learned from our recent jaunt around southern Virginia on our Cannondale… Continue reading
-
Bikes to Like: Rick R.’s Trek Elance 300 (650B Conversion!)
It’s all about bikes this week, and today features a guest post from Rick R. about his Trek Elance 300. A North Carolina rider, Rick completed a full Super Randonneur series with the D.C. Randonneurs. Felkerino and I rode many miles with Rick (and Christian) on this spring’s Warrenton 300K. Felkerino and I joked that… Continue reading
-
Summer Commutes on the Velo Orange Mixte
I tend to have an overall preference for diamond frames, and never considered myself a mixte sort of person. However, a couple of years ago Velo Orange was selling off a batch of their mixte frames at the attractive price of $300 so I mixed up the bike stable by adding a mixte to it.… Continue reading
-
Reviving the Lead Sled: our Cannondale Tandem
Due to unforeseen circumstances (to be discussed in another post), our Co-Motion tandem will not be around for a while. In the meantime, Felkerino and I still want to tandem together so we decided to put our original brevet tandem, a Cannondale mountain frame, back into service for some summer rides and any upcoming fall brevets we do. Because… Continue reading
-
Cupcake Ramblin’ with Sol and BicycleSPACE
BicycleSPACE, one of D.C.’s local bike shops, has done an excellent job of building community through their group rides. Felkerino and I have attended a few of their evening social rides in the past and, while they were literally not my speed in terms of the pace with which they meandered through town, they were… Continue reading
-
Bikes to Like: Steve H.’s Rivendell, A. Homer Hilsen
It’s been a while, but today’s post features to another great Bikes to Like with Steve H.! I met Steve on last year’s D.C. Randonneurs Flatbread 200K, and was quite taken with his bike, as well as its setup. I asked him if he would be part of Bikes to Like and, lucky for me,… Continue reading
-
The Perfect Commuter Bike: my Surly Long Haul Trucker
Recently, I took a break from riding my Surly Long Haul Trucker because it was just too dirty to ride. Every time I touched the bike I deposited dirt somewhere on my person. I washed it over the weekend (OK, Felkerino washed it over the weekend) and now it’s too clean to ride. In the… Continue reading
-
Tandem Cycling: Is She Really Not Pedaling?
Those who have never ridden a tandem have a lot of thoughts about what riding a tandem must be like, and they will often share them with Felkerino and me when they see us out and about. I’m not quite sure why; there’s just something about riding that bike. People say some crazy stuff when… Continue reading
-
Bikes to Like: John R.’s Surly Long Haul Trucker
If you regularly read this blog, you probably know of my great affection for the Surly Long Haul Trucker. My Surly has proven itself to be a comfortable, reliable companion that doesn’t talk too much and will always offer to help carry my stuff. This past year I met John R., who writes the thoughtful… Continue reading
Chasing MailBoxes 