For our second training weekend, Lydie again did all the planning. We were planning something simpler, "guaranteed" train space, and less ambitious distances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olfzUaueKl4
Since our first weekend we had made several changes to bike set up:
1: JJ's saddle at a better angle, lower height, closer to handlebars
2: JJ's handlebars at a higher angle, with clip on triathlon bars
3: Lydie's saddle at a better angle, higher, further away from handlebars
4: Lydie's handlebars higher and further forward.
4: Chamois creme :) http://www.competitivecyclist.com/assos-chamois-cream
This made the handling of the additional weight easier, and whilst we were not without discomfort, we were much happier at the contact points.
We again rode early doors to Boston's North Station. This time we were riding the Commuter Rail to Newburyport, a short one hour skip north. We got on the train with no problems, chatted with the guard, other cyclists and arrived in Newburyport without issue. We took the short bike path towards the port, on advice of a local cyclist and, also on his advice, stopped in the rather excellent Plum Island Coffee shop (http://plumislandcoffee.com/) cafe for a cup of tea (obvious Englishman abroad! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d27gTrPPAyk). Heading onwards we found beautiful roads and wonderful beaches in bright sunshine. Seemingly hundreds of classic cars we saw on all the roads - GTOs, Mustangs, Beetles, Caddilacs, Pontiacs - everyone was out for a cruise that weekend.
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We are waterproof
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We stopped by the beach and had the remains of our lunch and notice a couple of large clouds heading our way. The rain started and we asked ourselves the question "Ride or Hide?" - we decided to ride as the skies north looked clear. The rain increased and suddenly the storm clouds came - lightning crashed, thunder rolled, and intense rain slammed down on us (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olfzUaueKl4 - see the lightning at 1:25 in the video). I say rain - but I think it was hail, and it certainly stung our faces as we battled along the coast road. The rain coated my sunglasses, and stopped me admiring the beautiful coast road quite as much, but I certainly enjoyed this riding in hung warm rain, and the excitement of being in the storm was fantastic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvvdazaIKLI). The rain became torrential and the storm became ever closer - at one point, I counted one second from the lightning crash to the thunder clap - meaning we were 300 yards from the centre of the storm. We plugged along, stopping would have made us cold, although we did stop to empty Lydie's shoes of water. Our bags are fully waterproof (see our kit selections here http://badgerandfrog.com/kit-for-our-adventure/) Ortlieb panniers - the finest and most trusted in the land so I was interested to carry on to see how waterproof they were, and how the bike would handle in the wet.The rain started to die away after an hour or so, and we congratulate ourselves for saying strong through it. Rolling through Portsmouth we bumped into another touring tandem. Riding a tandem (The Smile Generator http://badgerandfrog.com/2014/09/15/first-training-weekend/) you are instantly friends of all other tandem riders - only another tandem can understand exactly what it takes to ride on a tandem, the feeling, the joy, the sacrifices and lack of comfort. Reminds me of the quote
"If you want to go fast, go alone
If you want to go far, go together"
Jeff and Louise are riding their red tandem around the world, enjoying their retirement - they are currently en route from Canada to Washington, and they did half a year in Europe last year - wonderful people. Their bike is rather special too - a custom made, one of a kind, SnS coupled tandem, with 20 inch wheels, and of course it's red!
Follow their fascinating blog here http://www.redtandem.blogspot.com
And for my considerations of tandem design and which tandem to go for have a browse of my thoughts here http://badgerandfrog.com/tandem-design/.
We spent about 45 minutes chatting with them and funnily enough they had left that morning, the campsite to which we were heading http://www.riversidecampground-wells.com/. We realised that we were starting to get a little behind time and so we pushed on. We followed the coast road through New Hampshire and into Maine, past cute stores, and increasing numbers of antique stores and lobster shacks. The scenery was wonderful, although it appears that the rich have decided that it is their prerogative to build houses on the coast so it can be hard to view the sea at all! We passed Brits Bits http://www.britbits.com/ selling British cars, stopped at a wine and cheese shop built in the shape of a cheese wheel with a model of a mouse on top to pick up some booze. The classic cars followed us up the road through Ogunquit and to Wells.
The campsite was basic and nice - we arrived after the office had shut, and a message was left for us. Again. We were the only tent, but this time the other sites were occupied seemingly by semi-static homes, probably summer homes for long term stayers. We set up efficiently, and strolled over the road to find some lobster for Lydie and some non-lobster for me. The rain started to come down as we ate and by the time we got back to the tent it was raining hard. In the morning, the tent had survived the rain, and we made a cup of tea on our camp stove (again, the Englishman abroad cliche!). We packed up quickly, and marvelled at how much stuff we were able to cram onto our bikes. We noticed a scarily huge spider web in the tree above, and wondered if this had inspired Tolkein! Thankfully we had not thought about this overnight - else we may not have slept so well.
The tent we have is a 2 man. It is small which means it is easy to transport, but it is quite small. This time we kept the valuables inside the tent, and the non-valuables in the waterproof Ortlieb bags under the awnings. They stayed dry, and despite thinking about going for a three man tent, we still maintain that we have made the right choice.
We had spotted a place for breakfast the day before and hot footed it there - "egg and I" in Ogunquit http://eggandibreakfast.com/. We ate huge special breakfasts with cups of tea and then hit the road again. The trains back were infrequent, once every 3 hours, and I wanted to take an earlier train to brace myself for the work week ahead. So we really booted it - the roads were good, weather was fine - warm, but not too warm - and we made what for us was excellent time on a fully loaded tandem - averaging over 15 mph for 50 miles.
On the way back we stopped for the occasional stretch and a huge ice cream somewhere in New Hampshire - my death by chocolate was the first time I have never been able to finish an ice cream!
The train back was smooth, and the ride back from the train station pleasant.
In summary, we found that we rode well together, the changes we had made to the bike gave us much more comfort, and really enjoyed the beautiful scenery though that area. We are glad it went well as this is the last overnight trip we have planned prior to the big one! Wish us luck!!
Days ridden: 2
Miles covered: 120
Strava links
http://www.strava.com/activities/191423771
http://www.strava.com/activities/191424152
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