Friday, May 7, 2010

A Bicycle Built for Two

I have long been a bicycle enthusiast, particularly as a means to get around town without needing to get in the car. When Adelaide was big enough to ride behind me in a seat, we would sometimes go to a friend's house or the park by bike. Then she graduated to the trail-a-bike, but it never really felt stable or particularly safe because she was so far behind me and our two bikes didn't function as a unit. So when I was looking for a different system, I thought about something that we could grow into and use for a longer time. Adelaide got some money from her great-grandmothers for her birthday and I decided to put it towards something we could enjoy together and use to have fun and get exercise. I was very excited to find an inexpensive tandem with a very low back bar. It arrived like this:
The first night I got it to this point before I needed to purchase a couple of tools:
By Saturday morning we we ready for our maiden voyage! We started out just going around the neighborhood but it was so much fun we decided to head out on some errands on the bike.


Today was sunny and warm so I decided to take a chance and bike up to school to pick Adelaide up. The tandem handled fine solo, too, and Adelaide was excited to get to bike home. She made it the whole 5 miles with no complaints, one short break for chocolate and water, and even helped us pedal up the one steep hill on the route. I think we have found ourselves a new Friday tradition. I couldn't be happier with our new wheels!

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