Dad's Tandem Hits the Streets of Philadelphia

You may recognize this bike from the photo of my dad and me.  Thanks to my dad's wife Beth (who wanted to keep the bike in the family), her kids Jimmy & Melissa (for transporting the bike to my dad's old shop in Holland, MI), Lakeshore Cyclery & Fitness (for packaging the bike), my sister Liz (for transporting the package to the Greyhound Station) and Greyhound XPress (for getting the bike to me & Chris safely from Holland, MI to Philadelphia, PA)!  As you can see, it was quite a process!! 

Chris & I put the bike together ourselves under the watchful eyes of the neighbor kids (we even put some old racing saddles on it!), then shakily rode it down the hills of Manayunk (yikes!) to our shop, Human Zoom for a tune-up.  That voyage was more than a little scary (for Chris because I was trying to steer from the back and for me because I had no control!), so we decided to ride on the flat Schuylkill River path to get in sync.  Riding "in sync" is no easy task, especially when one person typically rides in a harder gear (Chris!), our leaning into turns timing is slightly divergent and we have opposite plant feet!  Needless to say, it was an exercise in trust and a true test of our relationship!  I think we passed, though thanks to Chris' awesome driving skills!  I will attempt to take the helm once we position the seats a little differently.

Highlights of our maiden voyage were seeing some of our triathlete friends riding on the path.  Sharon's comment was the best: "I knew it was you two because no one else would be going that fast on a tandem!"  So the new addition to the family joins the other 4 bikes making their home in our livingroom!  I think my dad would be happy knowing that we have the bike and we were definitely thinking of him on our ride.  Looking forward to many adventures ahead (stay tuned for the "Donut Derby" on Labor Day)!