Daisy, Daisy

Those of us of a certain age (read that as "old," if you want), have at least heard the song Daisy Bell, with its famous chorus:

Daisy, Daisy give me your heart to do
I'm half crazy, hopeful in love with you
It won't be a stylish marriage
I can't afford the carriage
But you look sweet upon the street
On a bicycle built for two

This weekend Don's wish of owning a tandem bicycle came true. As we took it for a ride through Mercer Meadows I kept humming Daisy, Daisy give me your heart to do to myself, all the while thinking this is harder than it looks. Why is it the Dapper Dans at Disneyland make this look super easy? 

Taken in May 2010

Don reminded me pre-Ashley we borrowed a tandem at the Caribbean Beach at Walt Disney World, and it was a challenge then, too.

Our first challenge was transporting it home from the family we purchased it from in Vineland, NJ. Even with the wheels off, the frame exceeds five feet and the back of our widest car is four and a half feet wide. Off came the wheels, and somehow the bicycle slid in allowing room for both of us to sit in the car, but not Ashley (who fortunately was swimming with Grammy and Papa John at the time). 

Came home and Don reassembled it. We took it out on the flat Lawrence-Hopewell Trail, which starts less than a mile from our house. It was a quick lesson in communication. The person in the lead (Don, in this case) had all the power, including pace, shifting, and where to turn. The person in the back (me in this case) had to adjust moment by moment. I quickly learned Don shifts a lot more than I do so I would go from a slow rotation to a quick rotation that my feet had troubles keeping up with. As with many things in life, it is a learning curve. 

Here are a couple of pictures of the bike in the park:

And a couple of us trying to ride it in front of our house:

We had Ashley give it a try. The plan is one day soon she and I will give it a spin. Hoping we get a lot of use out of this. I think it needs a bell -- and a name.