Posts tagged with “tandem”
A salutary tale
I have developed [a coping strategy](http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/819878-A-coping-strategy-that-seems-to-help-me "forum post that explains this strategy") for my cycling... well for the times when I feel danger has been inflicted upon me, for want of a better expression. My normal experiences of this are depressingly abusive towards myself - for example recently I was cut up by a driver, quite badly as she turned left despite my loud proclamation, "Please do not cut me up!" an don drawing level with her at the traffic lights she discarded a fag butt in my general direction and told me to "F**K Off" before I could even ask if she knew she had cut me up (obviously it was intentional). I was left feeling shitty despite my best efforts to drop her aura of shittiness all over me..... But then a couple of days ago things turned out with a most expected outcome... I was travelling up the first hill on my commute and a car seemed to whizz by about 18 inches off my elbow, which is enough to get my ire up... I managed to get a wriggle on and catch him in a queue of traffic on the other side of the hill... at first the driver appeared to be your usual, and showed no signs of hearing my complaint of less than three feet clearance on overtaking. Things seemed promising when he volunteered to pull over to discuss. We continued to dispute reasonably and I thanked him for taking the time to pull over. Not long after that he said "You don't know who I am do you?" and proceeded to reveal he was manager of [[Herne Hill Velodrome]]! He explained an oncoming car had been signalling left and then come straight on, combined with my perhaps not "keeping my line" and he had thought I was downshifting with my bike being a tourer etc. My mind was already thrown into turmoil and I sort of almost offered a salute. He asked if I had taken part in the recent "night ride" and I said not this year, but did it last year on our tandem. Before long we were comparing tandem tales, it turned out he once managed a 30 miles in a sub hour time and held a record on a day when that particular record was broken six times! Sadly his wife sold the tandem after apparently throwing up behind him, which I can imagine would be a pretty off-putting experience all round. But the tale is salutary in more ways than my involuntary salute I think... Given we one day hope to plan a tandem club ride involving a Velodrome stop for the café I am sure this could actually be the first time a positive new contact has been made in such apparently adverse circumstances. 08:49 AM | 0 Comments | Tags: bicycle, cycling, tandem, Nightride, velodrome, Herne Hill VelodromeChristmas
How to offset the cycling obsession? Icy weather is likely to make a natural intervention sooner or later at this time of year. It is a time to look towards making things special for the ones I love. For the first time I can remember I seem to have actually bought all the presents for Christmas before my birthday! I do need to think of a better present for my partner than a rear wheel with drum brake for the tandem though, to give that could result in murder at Christmas! Oddly I have ended up with an "orphan present", a volume of poetry called "the Bees" by Carol Ann Duffy. It was such a beautiful book I could not resist it and although I could give it to my daughter's mother it does not seem appropriate. Perhaps I shall keep it as an indulgence to myself, or perhaps someone will present themselves as suitable to be the recipient. This is a far less thoughtful or creative or eccentric post than I should like, it feels mundane. I shall set myself the task of writing something poetic next time about parents who "give too much" at this time of year and the dangers inherent (I'm very conscious of this after braking the bank to get my daughter a laptop far superior to anything any of the grown-ups can afford!) 07:52 AM | 0 Comments | Tags: Christmas, kids, tandem, Annie, poetry, family, parenting, cycling"Two Tumbles" and "Home Within an Hour of Sunset - NOT!"
We still managed to take a break with our trusty tandem and the fabulous Aero has hit upon the idea we should give our rides "titles" to make them personally memorable after all if riders "en masse" can enjoy the "[[Dunwich Dynamo]]", say, then why not have "The Sydenham Slam" or something for a great ride we enjoy? I think you get the idea.... so coming to the title of tis post... We managed to fit in a couple of rides and covered 90 miles over the first two days of our break (the third was pent shopping!) to be continued 07:12 AM | 0 Comments | Tags: tandem, Annie, cycling, Dunwich DynamoDerek's plans thwarted!
Well... not content with cycling the byways of Northern Normandy, Derek returns and has ambitions to cycle as far back as he can without recourse to a passport. In fact within sight of the very cliff tops visited by Rory, to the island of Guernsey. The hopeful plan was to get as far as Poole and then unload Derek and be riding for the rest of a short break holiday, over on the ferry and then having our tandem to hand on the island as transport. This would have the benefit of placing us as foot passengers with a cycle on the ferry - which usually means quite a saving I believe. Well the bast laid plans, as they say. It seem this is not possible, at least not this time. Derek must be a creature of habit though, since he is now considering returning to the venue for the Easter tandem rally, in Arundel. It will be interesting seeing how the area is when it is NOT bluebell season! We seem to have notched up close on one and a half thousand miles in our first year of tandem riding. Not bad, and a thousand of those on Derek in a fairly short time - though I was slightly distressed to see signs of wear beyond the chain on the transmission - I do hope we get at least another couple of years wear out of those cogs! Going to take Derek for a service soon at Brixton Bikes - so watch this space! 06:07 AM | 0 Comments | Tags: tandem, cycling, holiday
Derek en vacance en France!
======================================
Not only that but pictured at the crossroads of a "[voie verte](http://www.wikimanche.fr/V%C3%A9loroutes "nearest I could find to describing them....")" with identifying signing and the typical architecture replete with mandatory geraniums. What is it that makes France quite so much enjoy geraniums and marigolds? It's as though this were the compulsory "national flower", but then again perhaps they might see the hollyhock in a similar light for us in our country villages I suppose.
My oh my what a time we had! Despite her injuries and a tooth that was troublesome the mighty Aero managed to power on for almost 150 miles of French roads, tracks, and even the odd tidal path and hillside! What really put the icing on the cake though was that I had also taken a solo ride (my Raleigh Aero, AKA Rory) and this meant I could be up at dawn and making reconnaissance rides in the surrounding areas before we were out there in the full sun with places to go and food to meet!
It was some time before I discovered what I felt turned out to be the best ride though, although I had been into [Carteret](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barneville-Carteret "yes, I have seen the view pictured on Wikipedia too!") early in the holiday and discovered the "Ruse de Cap" which was an extremely good training climb to the lighthouse I had not been back. On returning I headed across the busy D900 (I think) which traversed the backs of the cliff-tops, my destination being Paix. I was not disappointed in finding some decent climbs, but the road was horribly busy and slightly brutal (though discovering the "Maison des Biscuits" was a lighter moment!). But I did notice many side roads seemed to join up and had signing that indicated some sites of tourist interest, so made a decent to Rozelle. The descent was t blast! Made slightly dangerous by the garbage truck that insisted on overtaking me, only to be able to keep to about my own speed for the rest of the way.... Not complaining though, it was his brake lights that told me when the decent had to end (rather that than a challenging T junction!).
The next day I was back to explore the "tour des caps" road which had the brown tourist signs. Turns out this is a fabulous winding roadway through all the coastal towns, ascending and descending for eack and taking in a few beachsides along the way, along with towns that I could not help smiling at the names of, notably "Certainville" and "Ferme de Paul".
I never did get to show Aero the hair raising climbs or descents to be found there, but that did not stop us setting a new speed record on our way to the biggest climb Derek made. This was up to the restored and fully working windmill in the heights of the [[Cotentine]] region. We bought the flour to prove it and there was nothing to compare with the arrival from the rear of the car park to round the corner and be confronted with a fully working windmill in full sail on a lovely sunny cloudless and windless day! Yes, you heard right, it was windless and they were using an electric motor to power the sails and demonstrate the windmill for the tourists!
With nary a drop of rain, fabulous food accompanied by decent wine at a bargain price, and roads that were to die for in terms of their quality and scenery and most of all the lack of car traffic (and what there was extremely respectful, unlike England) I would unhesitatingly recommend this part of Normandy for a cycling holiday.
04:54 PM
|
0 Comments
|
Tags: tandem, bicycle, cycling, France, holiday
Airborne Aero!
With the departure for France only days away and Derrick in tip-top condition disaster has struck; believe it or not in the form of "the cuddly toy"! It almost reminds me of the Monty Python sketch with the comfy chair ("Always expect the unexpected"!).... Perhaps I should explain though; Aero has a guide dog, Q. Q likes to have his "puppies" in the form of cuddly toys (with and without squeaks in all shapes and sizes). Q is untidy with his puppies and has never been trained to "put them away" in their basket. About a week ago Q managed to drop on at the top of the stairs and, whilst I was out walking Q, Aero managed to find this and before you know it she was more aero than one might hope, flying down the stairs! The result? A series of collisions on the descent, the main impact born at the base of the spine on the tail bone. And the outfall of that is that it is very painful for my stoker to ride the bike - and likely may remain so to some extent whilst we are in France. Perhaps then it is lucky that I have also bought a bike rack for a solo in order for daughter and us to do the London Sky Ride on our return from France, and can use this to take Rory (my Raleigh aero 100 road bike) abroad for a few reconnaissance rides and maybe some solo fun if the tandem is out of action. 08:06 AM | 0 Comments | Tags: tandemHenceforth let him be known as.... Derrick!
I really am not entirely sure how it came to pass.... but since the matter has been the subject of at least two blog posts I feel it bears mention to relate that our tandem bicycle got christened recently. We were riding and talking casually touring local parks and I observed that there was still no name for our mount, but we both agreed this Cannondale seems to have the characteristics of male rather than female gender (something to do with the stiff ride and chunky frame no doubt?). I remarked that it seemed likely if nothing came up we might revert to lazily calling "him" Dale. In no small part this is because Cannondale bikes are often referred to as 'dales on forums and suchlike. Well _Aero_ was very quick to retort that she would never call him that! So I quickly rejoined with, "Well, what are we going to call him then? It might as well be something like..... **Derrick**..." and there was a moment's silence. Then we both realised the name had "stuck"! Funny how this sort of thing can happen with names. Later the next day I was getting the last of the water on Derrick's knees out, so to speak, and checked his credentials from the serial number - it turns out his birthday is in May and he's a sixteen year old teen! 05:17 AM | 0 Comments | Tags: tandemTempting fate with tandem naming!
Over at didactic.me a little while ago I made this post where I said;
`And furthermore I have an idea for a possible name for our tandem - which is: "TANTALUS"`
OH HOW I REGRET THAT NOW! You may perhaps realize what befell [[Tantalus]] (I did not exactly know the full horror of it though!) and it would seem our poor tandem was destined to suffer too! I lifted him off the rack of our car recently on returning from the Cuckoo Trail ride and there was a "swooshing" sound that foretold a significant amount of water INSIDE the frame, just about the last thing you want. Luckily I am not sure I am so superstitious as to thinking the two events are connected, well not beyond my subconscious which I cannot deny may have played a part!
05:06 AM | 0 Comments | Tags: tandemLondon Nightride 2011
Mission Accomplished!
And what a ride it was, despite the excitement of variously discovering our rear lights were slightly out when we changed luggage plans at the last minute and having a bolt work loose which detached the upper stokers bars early in the ride. The one thing which did perform throughout were our bluetooth Scala headsets, which were a definite help in keeping the team tandem spirits up.
There was a great sense of urgency and of a team event as we pressed on through the night. One could be in no doubt of being in a city environment, the biggest delaying factors were jams and traffic lights, despite this being an overnight ride. It's hard for me to single out any one particular moment, I was enjoying every moment of the ride and felt as though I was warming up as we progressed, perhaps peaking around the fifty five mile mark. The breaks rolled around with regularity and it surprised me how much I could eat. It was a real luxury to have various snacks available at the breaks and the mechanic from Druid Bicycles was patient and managed to improvise a safety strapping with cable tie and sticky plaster for the bars when we pulled up near Tower Bridge for the first break point.
The climb to Alexandra Palace was special, with the "rosie fingers of dawn" just visible over London to the South as we consumed our hot dog and bacon and egg baps! No real need for coffee as the buzz of the ride and the exercise kept us awake. I was filled with respect for the cyclist we met there who managed the climb with just one leg, having a prosthesis for the other. Not only that, but he has already completed a 32 mile ride that morning, with a brief nap in the afternoon then on to the Nightride, making his total mileage over a hundred within 24 hours!
The descent from there through Hampstead was one I had experienced before, and but not on a tandem. There was definitely something extra to be had from the descent with company, and it was interesting that an aerodynamic recumbent joined us during the descent and our idling speeds were comparable.
Approaching the last ascent I suddenly realised that the walking riders we had just passed on the pavement were another tandem team! I braked to a halt and we said hello - then got to hear their story. These two young ladies had travelled down from Scotland on the Friday to collect a hired tandem they had never ridden before for the event! Not only that, they were staying some ten miles from the start point and had been assured they could take the tandem there by bus! I don't think so! Having managed to walk and ride to the start they had set off and at the point we were completing our ride they were still shy of the half way mark! We had to admire their spirit of adventure, but I really hope they called in for help and got taken back to the start before the weather closed in later on the Sunday. Whatever became of them their adventure was surely something they will remember; I just hope it does not put them off tandem riding in future.
We plan to write up a better account than this one, but I wanted to lay out some of my impressions and memories early.
From our cycle computer we know we managed about seventy miles with 5:45 riding time, keeping an average of almost 12 mph. I'm quite happy with that given that the event was a leisure ride and we were aiming to enjoy ourselves, which I think we did, possibly more than we could have hoped for. The weather staying dry was a big help, the break stations and marshals were great and gave things a real team spirit, and the public we met along the way were generally great about it too.
12:25 PM | 0 Comments | Tags: Nightride, London, tandemA little help from our friends?
By an odd coincidence the title of the last book group read was "The Help". Although I have barely begun the book I am firmly committed to finishing it eventually because it was unanimously approved by the reading group members and I have a hunch it would do me good to get out of a slight rut I have been in with reading.
But that is hopefully the only rut I have been stuck in, because cycling seems to go from strength to strength. This weekend sees us travel with our car bearing the tandem for the first time to Sussex where there is a Tandem Club Rally. No doubt there will be a blog post or two after the event to elaborate and describe anything remarkable after we have been! We are spoiling ourselves a little at the Burpham Manor Hotel though, so it will not all be tandem rides and downland!
Last but not least I do have to say that on the subject of "friends" not all is well with the world when it comes to my membership of "the society".... Although having said that it is lovely to see people I know personally sponsor me to complete my ride (see above) and I am certain thius if nothing else will draw me back to my local meeting after the event is complete, when I shall want to thank them. And since it really does behove me to be bigger than the problems I have had with membership, hopefully that will follow too!
04:22 AM | 0 Comments | Tags: Quaker, library, reading group, bicycle, cycling, tandemAn open letter, and a challenge!
Dear friends
We have pledged to complete a 100 kilometer charity night ride
through London taking place on the night of Saturday June 11th..
Starting from Crystal palace at or soon after midnight and finishing
there at “breakfast time” (“kitchen” closes at nine!) on the Sunday
morning. We cycle a route around London, including Alexandra Palace
to the North and crossing the Thames no less than five times along the
way.
Our chosen charity is Mind, the organization supports and campaigns
for the rights of people with mental illness. As someone who has
personal experience of the issues involved thi is close to my heart.
Organizations like MIND are crucial in supporting, informing and
campaigning for those who can be politically ignored all too easily.
Please consider sponsoring us!
We really want to make a difference and have pledged to raise at least
£500 for MIND and you can see how we are doing via the link below.
You can use a form, post money, or donate at our page here
Although I have begun enjoying the practice for the event it has also
shown me that 100k demands a little respect and I am not the young
man who could zip off to Brighton on his bike for a night out with
friends and ride back the next day none the worse for it!
So your sponsorship and support would really help me and even more
so encourage us both to know we are making a difference. You can
choose by the kilometer or every ten, or just to finish, whatever you
feel work best. Do feel free to come and cheer us on, perhaps even
bring some liquid refreshments or a picnic to the finish at Crystal
Palace if it's a nice day?
We leave Crystal Palace around midnight (riders being batched into
“mini-peletons” of fifty cycles) but leaving Mount Ash Road of course a
little earlier. All your encouragement is much appreciated.
Thanks for your support.
NOTE: This post is "pinned" to the front of the blog until the 11th June (when I shall "unpin" it) so that any visitors may see it first and foremost. If you scroll to the end of the entry there may be more recent ones below this.
06:18 AM | 0 Comments | Tags: Mind, charity, tandem, holiday, bicycle, bipolar, Tandem Club UK, Easter
I have been itching to post on this subject for a while, but having discovered just what a contrast in ride quality we are getting and how solid the investment will hopefully be I can resist no longer. Some time ago we found a potential successor to our rather venerable "steel wheels" imperial tandem ("Daisy"), Better yet I managed to purchase a second hand roof rack carrier for a song, and suitable equipped we eventually managed to get out to test ride and, after a brief negotiation, purchase and bring home what we think is a Cannondale MT1000, though thanksfully not in the lime green colours on that link! In fact the bold aluminium frame is finished in a rather fetching almost irridessent purple, a colour not done justice at all in the picture above, which was taken by the previous owner so shows none of the modifications we have made (and more are planned next week when Nigel at the wonderful Brixton Bicycle Co-Operative will overhaul and rebuild the rear wheel for a hub brake and nine speed cassette). Oh! And we still cannot decide if one of these will help in the quest for saddle comfort on the rear! It would however take the cost of tandem plus modifications to well over £1,000 which does feel quite a lot to me at least!
She went here, to Wheels for Wellbeing,an interesting charity heping to make cycling accessible for everyone, with some quite interesting machinery to help with that! i was surprisingly affected, it says a lot about me that I could be moved to tears almost at the loss of a bicycle. I guess the reason is in large part how it was this bicycle that played a part in my fiancee and me discovering a whole new area of life to explore.... Perhaps also because I was veyr happy about where Daisy was going and thinking of other sight impaired riders made me confront slightly the future prospects for my stoker when the RP progresses....
I am hoping to post a better picture of Daisy with all her enhancements and adaptations (not least of which a saddle set suitable for our forthcoming challenge of the London Nightride, again more of which at later date!).
03:26 AM | 1 Comment | Tags: Cannondale, tandem, blindHurrah! We made it!
Not so long ago I posted a link post contemplating an organised cycle run with the tandem club (South East London Region).
I thought I should post an update to say we managed the ride, and to quote from the email I sent the organiser:
just to let you know that we made it back and Ann and Tim arrived at
London Bridge along with us just around four to catch a train.
Our new front chain managed to detach itself from the idler as we began
our crossing of London Bridge and the chain was derailed as we descended
to the traffic lights. It almost felt as if the bike had decided we
ought to catch the train (which we had already decided to do!).
Tim very kindly laced the chain on again before I could get my rubber
gloves out - and advised us to take the initiative on catching a train
before they departed for theirs.
Many of the riders were at pains to tell us there were not usually so
many stops, but we were just busy taking it all in and I was impressed
by your organisation of the lunch stop and the general level of planning
and organisation. Everyone was most friendly and helpful; it was an
enjoyable ride for us despite the slightly chilly conditions.
As a new member of the tandem club I wanted you to have the positive
feedback since I know it is valuable best written now, before the week
begins and other things take over.
Hope to see you again on another ride with London South East or another
group soon (we had not realised the Sussex and Surrey groups overlapped)
So in addition to my literary blog posts there could be an increasing number of reviews of various rides, and if I do make posts on those I shall try and give informative tips and links to help learn from the journey as we made it.
In this instance the information I would impart is NOT to rely on the Greenwich Foot tunnel for a planned journey/. Not only were the stairs announced as out of order, but the lift failed on the day, which meant the main "pelleton" had to retrace their steps for Charlton House whilst we made a breakaway party with another couple on a recumbent tandem for London Bridge at dusk!
It was all very exciting for me and the last bit gave me a welcome chance to get a little pace and warm us up after a chilly day!
01:22 AM | 0 Comments | Tags: tandem, cycling, bicycle, olympics, Tandem Club UK, GreenwichChrist On A Bike - the blog is dead, long live the blog.
Well, I am making this post to the blog using PHPMyAdmin, which is far from ideal - some while back I discovered my login stopped working and then more recently the database got borked by hosting updates....
Anyway, then I find Chyrp WAS dead in the water, but hopefully it might show signs of a revival or I may get to spend enough time to just fix the problem here. Meanwhile I have had a birthday and my best beloved brought me a domain, which you can see over here....
Though we shall have to see how it goes with making use of it.... This has ended up being a slightly geeky entry, but I wanted to post something to explain why it is possible the blog seems to have "ended" when in fact I am simply disempowered from updating due to borked software.
Life is seeming a bit muddled lately, though happily there was time for me to read "A Pregnant Widow" over Christmas and finish a number of other books I had left unfinished from reading group. Hard to describe "A Pregnant Widow" to anyone who is not familiar with Martin Amis and his work. I would hesitate to suggest it is, quite simply, a return to "The Rachael Papers" from an adult perspective... With a little bit of "London Fields" thrown in...
Anyway, if you have a taste for Amis's writing then you'll find it a "hoot" and if not then I rather doubt it is an introduction that would leave you feeling like reading another of his works.
On the cycling front, watch this space (or eclectic.me depending on whether I ever fix the blog here!) for developments with Daisy, who may be retired a lot sooner than we expected, or maybe upgraded with a Rohloff hub... at this stage the jury is out although I should dearly love to find an outlet retaining tandems that could allow a thorough set of trial runs on various configurations. More likely there would need to be a special holiday with the express purpose of buying a tandem at the end of it.... Exciting as it may be that totally changes the amount it is going to cost and therefore means likely another year to "rub along" with Daisy....
12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Tags: Chyrp!, reading group, tandem, Daisy, Martin Amis, holiday, codingDaisy reveals her lineage
It was not so long ago I posted pictures with some excitement of the new tandem, acquired at the start of the summer holidays. It took a little while to get everything sorted out for active and regular riding, because the logistics are more than twice that of two bicycles really and you feel as though everything is really very new, even to an experienced rider. Perhaps in large part that is because my riding partner (called the "stoker" in tandem parlance!) is returning to cycling after a gap of many years.
There is a very obtuse link with the reading group book selection here; since "When we were Romans" is written as the first person narrative of a child and this point of view transforms the way we see the adult storyline shown to us (I shall blog this separately and the jury is out as to my opinion and comfort with the device, one famously employed in "the Story of the nighttime....". I really want to check if it was employed much prior to recent times!).
But back to Daisy.... And by now I hope you realise that we have (sadly?) developed the habit of referring to the tandem by this name. Then again we do not even have a manufacturer to name the thing by, although we have discovered she is highly unlikely to be a Santana brand and is very much of the seventies era cycle technology but souped up with added components to keep her going as time went by. She could have been a Crestline, according to "tandem-geek" (a helpful member of a USA cycling forum). She might, I suspect, have rather humble origins.
There is a host of new terminology that comes with tandem riding, and it can rapidly start to dazzle you as you find out more. Turning to wikkipedia for tandems I learned just now that there is a "four bang technique" which can be employed in aligning one's pedals to apply pressure in a different way to the drive.... Even more scarey for me as the "captain" is the prospect of commencing cycling with the "stoker" clipped on to help me to get underway and clip in my cleats! I am not sure we shall ever get that advanced, it is still quite a big step for me to contemplate open, MBX style toe clips for my partner to trial.... and for the forseeable future anything less than the "one bang per cycle" technique is strictly for when we suffer transmission derailings, and not anything I intend us to explore just now. Stoker may be the one to decide any moves on this score...
I am reminded directly of the Raleigh "Palm Beach" which was my first bicycle with gears (Sturmey three speed, of course!). It is particularly noticeable in the crank sets, which are both driven on the right side (very old fashioned, for a tandem) and in the frame fittings and handle bars. Also the seat posts, and I can tell right away that the wheels are not original to the bicycle as these big fat ATB tyres have literally two or three milimeters clearance from the forks, particularly noticeable on the rear wheel which is always the more crucial and stressed and appears to be slightly out of true.
So I rather see Daisy as a seventies Disco chick who never quite glammed herself up and moved on, she still loves to get out there and make the moves but has had to concede to modern times and lose her tank-top and flares! And what do I want to do? Well if I can find her road tyres, new wheels, and sort out the derailing drive with some sort of tensioning or anti-jump plate (we mashed up her original and had to cut it away with tin snips! A bit like losing her platforms! If I can do all that and we can find the time to get our technique and fitness to a level where the six speeds and maxi-drive do the trick, then she'll yet wow them on the dance floor again! And if we get to that level, I shall take my partner to the Herne Hill Velodrome for the "ride of her life" and see if she can make it up the wall and hit thirty on the flat, a taste of what track riding would be like for her, it would be such a thrill!
05:13 AM | 0 Comments | Tags: Daisy, tandem, forums, AnnieCategories of Engagement
It is not too often the personal intrudes on this blog (I hope!) But today I would like to indulge myself a little. Anyone who has been here before will perhaps notice that there are a couple of new categories creeping in here.
One is cycling - and the tandem features (Now enhanced with lights and super bell and ready to roll!).
The other is marriage - and this is because I am now engaged to be wed, I have plighted my troth! It will be a long engagement, but if any matters come up which I think I can talk about here (or even if I read anything which seems connected) then I may post to this category.
On which subject my fiancee thinks this blog would reach a much wider audience and I can see what she means (though am uncertain I really want the world and it's brother to be reading this - my hosting could not cope for a start!). BUT I have decided to see if I can register the domain "eclectic.me" as a possible alternative.
UNLESS anyone has any better ideas for the name of this blog? AND YES; I do realise the heading banner and design would be due for a complete overhaul as a result, then again I am quite keen to improve the site's accessibility and so should not mind this.
A post should be forthcomng to review the book "Chicago" soon and not sure what will follow from that, perhaps a thrilling account of the first tandem tour involving panniers and distance!
05:54 AM | 0 Comments | Tags: Annie, Quaker, singing, love, kindness, children, rice, accessibility, family, bicycle, cycling, partnership, choral, tandem
03:24 AM
|
0 Comments
|
Tags: tandem, cycling, Annie
Tandem thoughts
I have filed this post in the category of Poetry, though whether the verse below deserves that accolade is a little debatable.
It's the entire lyrics to "Bicycle Built For Two (Daisy Daisy)" written by [[Harry Dacre]] (Copyright Unknown) and I remember it fondly from the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" when HAL is being unplugged it seems to be one of his last memories to go, which is sad but necessary.
Something not at all sad is that by some miraculous turn of luck I yesterday became the proud owner of a tandem!
Pictures posted above also, I couldn't resist!
Who knows, perhaps I need a new category to add to the blog now, cycling? But for the time being I shall content myself with this posting and perhaps with a future one with a literary theme of cycling. I have read "[[The Third Policeman]]" by Flan O'Brien (which definitely has a cult following) and the Autobiography of [[Henry Miller]], both of which feature bicycles prominently (though I cannot find the Millar work on Wikipedia and have lost the volume, was it called "New York Tales"? Be good to hear if anyone knows and cares to comment). I wonder what other literary works I can find with bicycles as a theme or plot device or even, dare I say it, character? In the modern age with scroogle at our fingertips it is entirely possible I suspect for me to contemplate many months of reading books exclusively centered around bicycles and cycling!
There is a flower
Within my heart,
Daisy, Daisy!
Planted one day
By a glancing dart,
Planted by Daisy Bell!
Whether she loves me
Or loves me not,
Sometimes it's hard to tell;
Yet I am longing to share the lot -
Of beautiful Daisy Bell!
Daisy, Daisy,
Give me your answer do!
I'm half crazy,
All for the love of you!
It won't be a stylish marriage,
I can't afford a carriage
But you'll look sweet upon the seat
Of a bicycle made for two.
We will go 'tandem'
As man and wife,
Daisy, Daisy!
'Peddling' away
Down the road of life,
I and my Daisy Bell!
When the road's dark
We can both despise
P'licemen and 'lamps' as well;
There are 'bright lights"
In the dazzling eyes
Of beautiful Daisy Bell!
Daisy, Daisy,
Give me your answer do!
I'm half crazy,
All for the love of you!
It won't be a stylish marriage,
I can't afford a carriage
But you'll look sweet upon the seat
Of a bicycle made for two.
I will stand by you
In 'wheel' or woe,
Daisy, Daisy!
You'll be the bell(e)
Which I'll ring you know!
Sweet little Daisy Bell!
You'll take the 'lead'
In each 'trip' we take,
Then if I don't do well,
I will permit you to
Use the brake,
My beautiful Daisy Bell!
Daisy, Daisy,
Give me your answer do!
I'm half crazy,
All for the love of you!
It won't be a stylish marriage,
I can't afford a carriage
But you'll look sweet upon the seat
Of a bicycle made for two.
