More Prep Progress!

Today, on our 1-year anniversary, we took a beautiful ride on a beautiful day. We explored our local trail network, and even the paths beyond the current trail that hopefully will someday be trail, too. Then we retraced our tire tracks back from the path and took an existing trail to downtown Northampton where we enjoyed a delicious lunch at our favorite restaurant (Paul & Elizabeth's).

In the morning, we ate wedding cake for breakfast. Om nom nom! Thanks so much to Brett's Mom for saving it in the freezer for us. And thanks to Guy for bringing it down from Leyden yesterday. It was such a treat.

After a quick peek into Deals & Steals, we pedaled over to Northampton Bicycle where we started to gather stuff for the trip! We purchased a fancy odometer. We're not exactly sure why we splurged on the wireless one, but at least we know that the system won't break down in the middle of the continent when we accidentally break the wire. But, it looks cool, and it'll look even better when it's on the bike.

A quick photo break on the bike path heading out to Haydenville.

Our last stop of the day was at our friends' place for maintenance advice and tutorials. Alex lent us maps, Ruthy taught us how to break and fix a chain, we talked about brakes, they offered suggestions for tools to carry, and then they took a quick spin around the block. Thanks, you two!

On our way home, we stopped by the side of the road for some free tomato plants! We also got to meet Tom, the grower of the plants (he started too many!) and talked to him about our bike and our trip. It's always fun to meet friendly people in our neighborhood. Thanks for the plants, Tom!

Back home happy, at the end of our anniversary day ride!

That's more like it!

We finally got in another long ride! What started out as a quick trip to to town to go to the bank and do a few other little errands, ended with us taking "the long way" back home.

We ended up biking 21 wonderfully carefree miles, exploring roads we'd never been down, picking up free stuff and making a big loop North, West, South and East of our house before coming home for a late lunch. We saw another tandem out riding, too, and we passed them heading uphill on the bike path home.

We got a great coat hook/shelf from a pile of free tag sale leftovers! It is exactly what I've been looking for to replace the one that we had that broke. AND it fit in the pannier with no problem. I was so delighted. Free stuff is so great. We also stopped at Deals and Steals on our way through Northampton and filled up the other pannier with food. The only thing missing from the ride was a swim after.

Busy week; short ride

Well, it was a busy week (we bought a house in Springfield, worked on fixing it up, and started trying to rent it), but we managed to get in a short ride tonight to our friends' house. It feels good to get on the tandem at least once a week, though we hope to do more as things at the Springfield house get settled.

Total for the week: 4 miles.
Fun factor: High.

Our first long ride.

We went on our first really long ride on the tandem yesterday. It was a beautiful way to spend our Easter Sunday. The weather was in the mid seventies with blue skies and a little breeze, perfect for biking!

One of the many clumps of beautiful blooming forsythia we passed on our ride.

Our pedaling took us out of Northampton, through Hatfield along the Connecticut River, up River Road and into Greenfield. Brett's Mom works at the Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield and we stopped in for a quick visit and hugs.

Brett takes a rest and tests out the back seat.

After our visit with Kathy, we got some lunch in town and then biked home along rt. 5. The ride back took us about two and a half hours. Our legs were tired by the end and we were ready to be done.

Taking another break by the side of the road.

We rode almost exactly 50 miles total! This ride was a good chance to work out a lot of little things. We made a lot of adjustments to our seats, both tilt and placement, to find the most comfortable riding positions. We also got a lot better at communication, telling each other when we need to take a break from pedaling, and figuring out which gears work best for both of us. Sure we got tired, but it was a lot of fun!