Wednesday, May 11, 2016

17: Chilling with the kiddos

Once we got to our daughter's home in Incline Village, we kind of stopped being cyclists on a grand tour and moved into Grandma and Grandpa mode.  And if that's not a reason to ride 810 miles, I don't know what is!
Violette
Phebee
We enjoyed tickle fights, dance class, and school days with our granddaughters Phebee and Violette.  
Grandpa is outnumbered two to one in the tickle fight!
They have been tracking our progress on a map in the hallway - every day Dana reads the blog and they mark the map to show where we have gotten.  I am afraid there won't be much movement in the next few days!  
We've stalled out for a few days but will be on the road soon enough
It is very hard to leave this place.
View from Dana and Bernard's patio!


Our little ballerinas are preparing for their spring show, which we unfortunately won't be able to see this year. The theme is based on Beatles music, and Phebee's class is dancing to "Blackbird."  Guess who is the central blackbird! She is lithe and graceful - a delight to watch.

Violette's class is dancing to "All you need is love" and they are indeed, all you need! Just precious.

Our son-in-law, Bernard, is working from home this week so we have enjoyed a nice visit with him also.


Meanwhile, Roger has worked with the guys at Paco's Bike and Ski in Truckee to adapt the tandem to bar-end shifters.  He's concerned about the wear on the STI shifters over the long haul of our trip, and wanted to ensure that he'd be able to take care of issues if they arose again.  We also got a new bottom bracket in the front, and a new chain.  It's looking like we can anticipate replacing the chain perhaps every 1000 miles.  That's more frequently than under normal use, but hauling us and our gear is NOT normal use!

Phebee rides with Grandpa
Schoolgirls

Going retro with the bar-ends!
Awesome service at Paco's!

2 comments:

  1. You started with STIs? I had those on the Merlin and discovered that about every 5,000 miles a cable would break - very difficult to fix on the road. Before I did any unsupported brevets I put on bar-end shifters, which I could deal with on the road. I could always just go to friction and if necessary change the cable.

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  2. They worked great today - our first day out with the new shifters. I was a bit concerned that the movement of Roger's hands to reach them would make the ride a bit wonky, but it worked out fine.

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