Tandem – Skelton Sketches

Road Trip and Tandem Rally

Posted on July 16, 2015April 30, 2017 by lindaskelton

We traveled back to the coast last week for what has become an annual event for us

—The Northwest Tandem Rally!

Having moved away since we had registered meant we had a longer drive to get there than anticipated. Bellingham, Washington used to be relatively close to home—not any more.

But the 9+ hour drive to and fro was scenic…

…even spectacular!

[This is Diablo Lake. The surreal color is the result of glacial silt suspended in the water and reflecting its surroundings.]

And the Rally itself was a grand one with 400 other tandem teams joining us for 4 days of rides in and around Bellingham, Washington!

That’s my captain in the front as 400 bikes gather to kick off the Rally with a 4th of July ride, a 61-miler for those who chose the long route!

How do you capture 400 tandem bikes in a picture? I couldn’t. But Jim put together a little video of snippets from the rally which will give you the flavor of the thing without the sore muscles!

Join us for the ride!

Though there’s nothing quite like riding a tandem bike in the company of other tandem bikes (think FAST and FAR), the very best part is the few special couples you get to know a bit and look forward to seeing for years to come. It’s a pretty special bunch of couples that have figured out how to ride together and enjoy it!

And it was good to get back to the coast again

After the Rally we took our time heading home to do some favorite rides…

And visit some favorite people–two of our daughters!

Whew! It was quite a week.

–LS

The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth,
and even for evermore. Ps.121:8

On the go…

Posted on June 18, 2015April 28, 2017 by lindaskelton

I’m posting on the go this week—returning ‘home’ from a trip to celebrate our firstborn’s firstborn’s 6th birthday.

We’re thankful for safe and scenic travels…

We did a little sight-seeing coming and going, stopping at places we would normally just drive on by, including the site of Canada’s first national park, in Banff–

Thermal hot springs have created exotic algae beds in the stream’s current……

(OK, sorry it looks like sludge here. In real life it’s fascinating to watch as is waves in the current)

And of course the Rocky Mountain backdrop is always spectacular…

We got in some cycling time too, as we’re ramping up for a tandem rally…

The prairies have more hills than meets the eye. And more wind!

Thirty-five mile an hour gusty cross-winds were a memorable first!

There’s so much sky here… and sunsets and clouds. What awesome declarations of God’s glory!

The whole earth is His studio.

–LS

P.S. And I need to add these impromptu shots, created by chance with the ladder brought in to do some picture hanging. And picture-perfect!

We found a ferry

Posted on June 11, 2015April 27, 2017 by lindaskelton

We found another ferry ride—and this one was free!

We got up early Friday morning to join the local ‘bun run’ riders. Twenty quick miles later we arrived at a wee cable ferry that carried us across the Lake for a delightful country road pedal to the home of the best cinnamon buns in the west!

(It was actually a sunny day; the fog just added a mysterious ambience to the 5 minute crossing)

The giant sweet buns were hot from the oven shortly after we arrived and well worth the wait! Sorry no photo; it never even occurred to me to pause for a picture before helping Jim gobble ours down!

——————

Seems we are discovering our new world via tandem these days. We made our most difficult ascent ever to the skiing town of Rossland one hot afternoon this week. It is a ride we won’t soon forget despite the want of photos. It stretched me to the boiling point. I didn’t know my face could get so red; nearly matched my new shoes.

But the ride down at 50MPH without pedaling was oh so fast and oh so thrilling. Here we are at the top before I tucked the camera safely away!

And then a little further along when the way had levelled out…

This is a country of wild icy rivers—a sweet reprieve when the thermometer climbs into the 90’s as it has this week.

Later in the summer when the current has calmed and the water has warmed, this river will be swimmable. For now we we just wade in and it’s so cold it hurts!

–LS