Catching up (Condensed-believe it or not)

Blogger has never worked worth a darn on my ipad. I just bought a laptop running the latest version of Windows, so, I believe I'm back in business, although Blogger is still fighting me. You'll notice some stuff is mis-spaced, off center, among other little things that drive me crazy. Here's a condensed summary of the past few months:

Group ride with the mayor of Fort Worth-me and my wife showed up on the Santana tandem and had a great time.



I was looking for ways to carry gear on the front end of the Santana. I tested out an Iberra handlebar bag, which was inexpensive and a really great bag, but I ended up going with a Wald basket.





The wife has really taken to the whole tandem bike thing. She actually brought up the idea of buying a tandem that is capable of running wider tires, since we end up riding a lot of gravel and hardpacked dirt trails. We started researching steel framed tandems. We passed on the Salsa Powderkeg-the 32 spoke wheels didn't inspire confidence (we're not a lightweight team),



 We also passed on a Co-motion Mocha-again, we're not lightweights and the Mocha lacks a lateral support bar which would mean the frame would flex quite a bit.



 We settled on a Hokitika Haka, an American made steel tandem produced by Tandems East, a tandem specialty shop in New Jersey. This bike was a fantastic deal, saving us about $1,400 over the Powderkeg or the Mocha.

Racks and accessories have been added:

Rides have been made to several local coffee vendors.

We participated in a local benefit ride, The Cowtown Classic, and made a short video with cheesy royalty free music:

We have met up with our friend Chris, aka Pondero, on a couple of occasions. Coffee was brewed and enjoyed.

That pretty much sums things up. Till next time.

New Direction

After wallowing in self pity for the past three months I've finally snapped out of my funk. I was in a funk due to my failed cross country tour attempt. I know I said I wasn't going to kill myself to complete my ride, but after a lifetime of having "don't quit" "win at all costs" being drilled into my brain it's hard to switch over to retirement/ leisure mode. I was discussing this inner conflict with my wife when she made a comment that has changed things for both of us in a big way. She said that she'd like to go with me on a cross country tour. Long story short-we are the proud owners of a mid to early nineties Santana Arriva tandem. We've had a blast on this thing! I wish we had thought of this years ago. Riding a tandem is a whole different animal. Starts and stops have to be coordinated to avoid embarrassment or injury. Communication is essential. I don't know if we'll actually do a cross country tour but it will be great just having her with me on my rides around town.