Before and After

This "before" picture shocked me! I found it last night while looking at some old pictures. Karen took it at Smuggler's Den campground while I was on top of our 5th wheel for some reason. It was taken in 2007.

New Bike!

One week ago Sunday we bought a new bike! It's a used Bike Friday Traveler XL tandem. We'd been looking for a quality tandem ever since selling the junky one we had a while ago. We even considered buying something new but the prices were way out of our budget. We bought this one from an outdoor equipment consignment shop in north Phoenix and paid about half of what a new one would have cost.

The bike was in basically good shape but I did some work on it to get it into tip top shape. The biggest thing I did was put new tires on it. The original Primo slicks were shot and had even begun to rot on the sides. I replaced them with Schwalbe Marathons. I have those on my Brompton and have been very satisfied with them. I also had to replace one brake cable so far and I adjusted the 3 speed SRAM DualDrive hub and the derailleur. We're now quite happy with the ride and performance.

While looking for a tandem we concentrated our search on a Bike Friday because they can be taken apart for travel. A few days ago we went to Tucson on an overnight trip and took the tandem with us. When broken apart it fits nicely in our Nissan Versa. Besides the first times when we were still trying to figure out everything we can take it apart in about 20 minutes and put it together in about 25 minutes. Not something we'd want to do on a daily basis but reasonable for a trip.

Grand Canyon 3

Grand Canyon view.

Ross, Karen and Lee at Hermit's Rest.

View near Hermit's Rest.

Grand Canyon 2

Looking down on the Bright Angel Trail which we hiked on our last trip to the canyon.

Ross and Karen.

The folding bikes at an overlook.

Good view of the Colorado River.

Grand Canyon view.

Grand Canyon 1

Earlier this week we went on an overnight trip to the Grand Canyon. We brought our folding bikes with us and rode along the mostly carless Hermit's Rest road.

Elk near the beginning of our ride.

Ross and his Brompton.

Karen and her Dahon.

The Brompton along the road.

Karen riding into one of the view areas.

Road Trip

In Tucson today for the big bi-annual bike swap meet. I couldn't believe the crowds!

Another "Before and After" Photo

Star Trek

Guardian of Forever here at Casa de Paz.

Moon and Venus

And Another New Speed Record

Another new high max speed on my Long Haul Trucker going down "Kong."