tandem

Von Smallhaussen and I did the Dunwich Dynamo this year on a late-70s Pashley tandem that I’d rebuilt It was great fun (rose-tinted glasses now very much in place…), and we had an amazing time - especially as we were decked out as the most fairy-light covered tendem in the whole event The ride was pretty...
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What a night. I mean, really, what a night! Here’s how it started - last year, Von SmallHaussen volunteered to come and collect me, Doktor Seth and Tall Robbie from the beach. Seeing us there, I think she probably mistook our spaced-out exhaustion for some sort of Zen-like being at peace with the world. So a...
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So after yesterday’s jaunt, we went out again today. For some variety, we went through the Tyne Pedestrian Tunnel (fitting a tandem in the lift is . . . a bit of a squeeze), and then through Jarrow & Hebburn, before taking the cycle path that runs parallel to the Felling Bypass to go...
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Von SmallHaussen came up for this weekend. It’s basically the only chance we’re going to get to ride together on the tandem before the Dunwich Dynamo, so we wanted to get out there and put some miles in, but also to do this in all sorts of traffic conditions. So yesterday, we dropped Daughter off...
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So last September I bought a tandem from Ebay. £50 for about a late ’70s Pashley beauty. It needed some tender loving care, so I . . . Dismantled it to the bare frame Stripped the paint by hand, and rubbed the frame down to the bare, shiny metal. Had a word with a friend who owns...
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Von SmallHaussen and I are already starting to plan for this year’s Dunwich Dynamo. It’s a 120 mile overnight ride from Darkest Hackney in London to Dunwich on the Suffolk coast. This year’s is on the evening of the 4th July, and we’ll be doing it in style on Daisy, accompanied by Algernond, Doktor Seth,...
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OK - first off, please go and read this first rate article by Andy in Germany - Car Free Struggles. When you’re done, and have left a suitable comment, come back here and read the rest of this post. You’re back? Good. Here’s my question for you: Really, how hard is it to ride your bike...
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I’ve been called all sorts of things in my time, many of them not particularly flattering, though many quite justified. But I have thick skin - something that probably comes from being an engineer. Unless insults are printed out on tractor-feed paper & backed up by a lot of calculations, I just don’t understand...
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The weather here today has been . . . unremittingly foul. So much for the forecast that said we’d have showers in the morning, but a clear afternoon. Not here, it wasn’t. Strong, cold wind from the South, continual rain, and the tang of sea spray in the air. Lovely. Still, that’s no excuse for...
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Our car failed its annual MoT test. That means mandatory remedial work before it’s allowed on the road, we won’t get it back ’till Monday evening . . . and an unplanned bill of around £800. Bah! You could buy a great town bike for that sort of money. But on the bright side, it means...
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