Activity resumes

So it finally stopped snowing (although we still have a huge pile that's several feet high in the front yard), Tom came home from Europe, I figured out my next race venue, yesterday it finally warmed up to a temp reminiscent of spring, we received the last of the parts for the tandem, and thus . . .

We took the big purple beast out for its maiden voyage!

(pardon the crappy backlit iPhone shots)

Since this huge thing is like a boat, we decided to have a proper christening party, complete with champagne poured over the front tire for luck, then poured down our throats for the intoxicating effects!  The bike shall hence be referred to by the carefully considered name I came up with in the driveway 20 minutes before said ceremony La Bamba.  Thus fortified, we hit the road.

And, omy, a tandem is a different beast all together.  Tom did a great refurbishing job, and everything worked well and smoothly.  I had some issues with my seat (and am today still having issues with my seat as a result . . . ) but other than that it ran smoothly.  We rode about 25 mostly flat miles, and let me tell you that thing hauls ass.  We had our friends Andrew and Jane with us (they rode regular bikes) and it was hard to go slow enough not to completely smoke them.  We kept up a pace of 20 mph with little to no effort, and reached 26 mph using the tiniest bit of muscle.  I think if we put the hammer down hard we could reach -- and maintain -- some pretty significant speed.  At least on the flats and downhills, apparently uphills are a tandem's huge weakness (I can relate!).  Tom and I both really enjoyed the experience, and think we'll really put La Bamba to good use this summer and in the future.  We have always batted about the idea of bike tours, but our paces are so different it would be a little challenging.  This bike solves that problem, plus it'll be really nice to be able to talk to each other, etc., over some several-hour ride.  Plus, as the Stoker in the back seat, I can probably surf the net, watch videos and even cobble together a blog post on my phone while riding.  We plan to throw some knobbies on there, too, and hit some of the more gentle mountain bike trails.  A very cool new member of the family.  I think between the two of us we now have six bicycles!

We finished the bike ride, had a bit to eat and then decided we'd all like to spend the night outdoors.  We  headed over to Jane and Andrew's, had a lovely soak in their hot tub, then drove all of a mile to Prosser Resevoir (however you spell it).




It got pretty darn cold pretty darn quick, as evidenced by the liberal use of fleece, hats and down coats.  I think we're going to completely bypass spring this year and head right into summer.  I'm ready for that to happen.

Even though it was just a little chilly, the venue and the view were fantastic . . .



This is Prosser just after sunset.  It is so awesome to have such cool sights and places just minutes from home.  I've done a lot of running around here, but never camped.  I think this might be a future destination for those not infrequent nights when at 7pm we're like, What should we do tonight?  It's that close to home . . .

We woke up this morning to the weirdest sound ever -- it sounded like a dragon was breathing just a few feet away.  We poked out heads out of the sleeping bags to find . . . a hot air balloon!  Definitely an interesting way to travel!



So after this posts I'm off to resume running on a regular basis.  Today is the first day of my training cycle, and I'm all for 5 miles in the woods!