Spring Training (or lack thereof)

We have been so busy. It has felt like we haven't had nearly enough time for all of the things going on in our life in the past few weeks. We did manage to ride the tandem once this past week, to see the Wailing Jenny's at the Calvin Theater in Northampton. We also got groceries after the show and used our new panniers to carry them all home on the bike!

Though we haven't had the time to take another long ride since our trek to Greenfield and back, it feels good every time we DO get on the tandem, even if we only go the few miles to town and back. We're not too worried about training for the trip. We may end up going much slower in the beginning than we are anticipating, but that will be okay. On the other hand, we'll be full of fresh excitement and that will give us a boost at the start.

The lilacs are in full bloom these days and everything is green and growing. On a walk through the neighborhood, it's easy to pick a beautiful bouquet. It's hard to imagine that in a little over a month (!!) we will be starting our cross country ride.

Here are a few things to do before we leave:

Tune up the bike (hopefully we'll do this tomorrow at the Pedal People bike workshop!)
Take the bike for a "fully loaded" ride up and down some big hills
Buy new sleeping pads, 2 more panniers and extra tubes for the bike
Buy bike maps from the Adventure Cycling Association
Buy a netbook computer to take on the trip (and set it up with Ubuntu before we go)
...Not to mention getting our house cleaned and ready for renters and tying up all the loose ends so that things go smoothly here while we are away!

We really do have a lot going on, but when a few more big pieces get taken care of, we think we'll really start to feel the excitement (as opposed to feeling overwhelmed).

Our first few rides!

Since getting the tandem, we've taken several successful rides with it! We've ridden downtown a couple of times, and enjoyed ourselves every time we get on the bike. Guy was nice enough to take some pictures of us on one of those rides.

We're still making small adjustments to the seat positions, and Brett is learning how to shift more effectively on a tandem. Jenny is adjusting to the stoker position where there is little control over the bike. Mostly, we're learning to communicate better both verbally and non-verbally (through pedal strokes and leaning and such) to make the experience both more fun and more relaxing! We're pretty confident that the small kinks will all get worked out well before we depart Northampton this Summer.

For those who've never tried a recumbent bicycle, it allows a more relaxed body position, and a comfier seat. It also allows for more expansive views to the front (for Brett) and to the sides (for Jenny). In that sense, things just seem easier on the recumbent tandem. Of course, going up hills can be at a bit more "relaxed" pace, too, but we have plenty of gears and we never thought we were going to set any speed records. We have three months for this adventure, after all!

In other news, we ordered some new panniers from Ortlieb. They are blue! They'll hold the bulk of our gear on our trip, and perhaps our groceries on local trips before and after. We haven't decided whether to haul the trailer as well, or buy some more panniers instead. Suggestions?

Here we are at the bottom of our first big hill!