Tandem!

Bikes bikes bikes bikes bikes GUYS. Today I rode a tandem bike. It was the coolest, weirdest, wildest experience ever. 

Ok first of all I rode my normal bike to work today, because Corey and I have class, and usually we walk but today we were going to speed racer it from class to lab meeting. So I almost die on the way to work (because I am severely out of biking-up-hill shape, also it is all up hill on my way to work) and Corey is like, Hey, I have my tandem today, want to ride that to class?

Uh, YES.

Ok so tandem bikes, two wheels, two seats, two handlebars, one set of brakes, one set of gears, one chain, two sets of pedals. The person in the back just pedals. (that would be me.)

The crazy thing about tandems are that the pedals are connected (because of the one chain thing), so you have to start pedaling at the same time, and then you need to keep pedaling the entire time the other person is pedaling. (I'm a coaster.)

The other crazy thing about tandems is that as the person in the back, you're completely at the whim of the other person. So I thought that Corey was turning widely (he was, tandem bikes are the semi truck of the bike world, you have to make wide turns) and I thought he spent too much time in lower gears (he admitted he likes lower gears), and also his girlfriend Cheryl is taller than me, so I was kind of floundering on the pedals a bit, also, you're usually supposed to be snapped in to the pedals, because it's just easier that way, and both Corey and I were not. 

So the best part of the ride was when in the middle of an uphill, my foot slipped off, so both feet slipped off, and I could not for the life of me figure out how to get my feet back on, so I just had both feet off the pedals hopefully balancing, while Corey powered us up the hill. It's a good thing he's in shape! (This happened on the way back, and I just asked Corey to stop pedaling so I could get my feet back on.)

Ohhhhmygoshhh it was so much fun, so of course we got to class, and then all I could think about was how freakin' fun riding a tandem bike was. 

Riding back was interesting, because tandems aren't as easy to maneuver as regular bikes, so I wanted to go straight through on a sidewalk back to lab, Corey wanted to take the long way by the road, so we compromised by going the wrong way one a one way street, taking a very dangerous turn onto a crosswalk, and almost getting backed into by a van. SO THAT WAS FUN.

My solo ride home was sweet. Remember the uphill the entire way to work? It's downhill all the way home. I even went a "longer" way to avoid the main, shoulderless road. I still got to coast almost the whole way.

Bikes man, bikes. 

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