Tandems
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Paris-Brest-Paris by Tandem
Have you heard enough about PBP yet? Well, hang on just a minute, because I’ve got one more story to share with you. Continue reading
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Bikes to Like: Lowell and Cheri’s Santana Sovereign
Last year I watched as Lowell and Cheri completed a Super Randonneur series on their beautiful Santana tandem. It was pretty cool to see, as Cheri had recently started randonneuring, and not only completed an SR series, but went on to complete an R-12, too! Their Santana always looks so good, that I just had… Continue reading
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Tandem notes: “She’s not pedaling!” Seriously?!
As you may already know (since I really like to talk about it), Felkerino and I met on a tandem first date and we’ve been riding together ever since. Riding tandem with Felkerino was my first exposure to this family of freak bikes, but at the time I don’t remember thinking much about it. Now… Continue reading
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Bikes to Like: Ron and Barb’s Burley Paso Doble Tandem
I remember the first time I rode with Barb and Ron. I spied the Berthoud bag adorning on their steel Burley, their matching Swobo jerseys, and thought to myself, “These are some stylin’ randonneurs. I must find out who they are.” And so I did. Ron and Barb are great randoneuring buddies with wicked senses of… Continue reading
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Our Co-Motion Tandem
Felkerino and I ride tandem together a fair amount, with our longest tandem ride being a 1200 kilometer grand randonnee. I only share that with you in an effort to brag socially unacceptably establish my tandem credentials. Continue reading
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Bikes to Like: Cannondale Tandem
This week I’ve been reminiscing about Felkerino’s and my very first tandem, a dark gray aluminum Cannondale mountain frame. During our first two years plus of riding together, the Cannondale tandem was our steed of choice. We took it on tour from Rockville, Md. up to Niagara Falls, made it through two Super Randonneur series’,… Continue reading
Chasing MailBoxes 