Cycle

Bicycling opened up a new perspective on human powered travel for me. Traveling more miles in less time and adding an element of technicality and exhilaration to the downhill, it offers an unique experience in familiar and new areas alike. I spend a lot of time mountain biking on my own (although I love to ride with friends when the opportunity presents itself), but I always do my road biking with my partner. Mark and I took up tandem cycling as a way to enjoy the sport while keeping pace with one another and quickly discovered the many benefits of the double bike!

Mountain Biking

Despite my only recent ascent into mediocrity as a mountain biker, I love the sport! The challenges of the trail and the physicality of pedaling a mountain bike up a steep incline provide endless opportunity for improvement. More so than any other activity I partake in, mountain biking eliminates the need for a destination. The joy of a mountain bike trail lies at any point in the ride. While out and back trails are certainly a prominent part of riding in many areas, most networks of mountain bike trails simply wind back and forth through a landscape, taking advantage of different natural features to create a variety of trail difficulties. This creates an experience which, instead of relying on a single destination to justify a trail, encourages an experience of appreciation for the often less noticed foothills and rolling terrain that lies below those dramatic destinations.

Tandem Cycling

Riding a tandem is amazing! It’s not faster or easier than riding a single bike, but sharing the experience with another person on the same bike is totally worthwhile. Tandem riding means enjoying all the excitement of cycling with your riding partner in earshot and the comfort of knowing that you’re experiencing the ride together. The tandem, of course has its challenges, but not so numerous or strenuous as so much rhetoric would have you believe– or not that Mark and I have found out yet!