Can you ride Tandem?

Well, Neil said, we could borrow his Tandem, but we thought we ought to have a practice.  We took it out tentatively.  Within 10 minutes we were co-ordinating, riding up and down and having conversations!  One man had advice on better places to cycle and another man, with tattoos, told us about the time he rode on a unicycle to raise money for charity.  He was intrigued by what we were up to... That's the sort of interaction we would like to have on the route. Do we need a Tandem to get this sort of reaction, We wondered?


We parked the bike back in Neil's shed and went off thoughtfully, thinking about how a Tandem would fit into the plan.  Neil's bike was far to big and we felt a bit unsure of how we might go up all the hills that Derbyshire contains on one bike.  Is a Tandem the way forward?  Could we put a trailer on it?  How practical could it be for this project?  Will we be interesting enough on separate bikes?


Sally went off to Derby the next day and happened to meet up with Dave Gladsby in Sound Bites and talked about all sorts of different bikes.  We could have tricycles, delivery bicycles, tandems, electrically assisted bikes...  We could have just about anything.  But we were concerned with the weight of these options and the practicality of towing our trailer.  In the end, we went and bought a second road bike.


We tootled off to Chesterfield one sunny afternoon, and met Dean 
at J E James cycles.  He found the bike we had been looking at online and Sally L had a sit on it.  It was a bit too small- she's got long legs for a small gal!  We arranged to go back the next day when a larger version was available to try.


The next day was an even sunnier day and the perfect day to be buying a bike.  Sally tried out the two sizes and the largest felt the most comfortable.  Dean agreed that in order to support 2SALLY4TH on our adventure that he could do us a pretty good deal.  We promised to promote cycling and the support of J E James and their brilliant services whilst on our tour.


We had some interesting conversations about locks and dark alleys with Robert before we left and Sally L learned how to take the wheels off the bike from Paul, since Sally N had scarpered, hastily to complete her bike ride with a pint in the pub with her old Dad.


Now the hard work begins- Sally L has lots of training to do and Sally N is hoping to support her in this effort.  Plus finding a trailer and making all the objects, a museum and marketing.  All in a days work in the world of 2SALLY4TH.