April 1, 2012 • 1 note

First Long Bike Ride of the Season

Click the above link to see our route on Gmap-Pedometer.com!

Michael and I set out today, April 1st 2012, on a journey to find a good route from our apartment near downtown Minneapolis to my place of employment near downtown St. Paul.

We far exceeded that, and biked to my university as well, taking on the biggest hill I think we’ve done so far. We were seriously going about two miles an hour up that thing, but we made it. Thanks St. Paul!

Michael’s Two Cents:

Construction on University is obnoxious.

Some (not very nice person) old enough to know better (Late teens to early twenties) was riding his ill-fitted bicycle down the sidewalk in St. Paul and kicked a McDonald’s cup full of soda at us on University.

We Stopped at Great Waters Brewing Company ( http://www.greatwatersbc.com/ ) for lunch. Meatloaf was good. Root beer was bad.

We hope to get back and ride very very soon, hopefully with pictures next time!

April 16, 2011

Aw heck (volume 2)

We have suddenly come up with another excuse not to post: our machine is in the shop.

Not to worry however, because when she’s back, she’s going to be the smoothest ride in town (which is a healthy atmosphere for videos to flourish).

We took the tandem to Freewheel near the University only a couple of days ago, but because spring happens to be one of the busier times for the bicycle repair industry, it’s going to take a little while.

Basically, the heavy wheels with drum breaks are being replaced with lighter wheels without drum breaks and we’re going breakless!

Just kidding. There will be breaks, but of a different kind. Other than that there will be a few aesthetic changes (new fenders, lights, handlebar tape) and an overall lightening of the bike.

If you’re upset about the delay, we apologize and would like to know we got our just desserts for even taking it into the shop. As Michael and I got ready to set out for Freewheel, we got a flat on the rear wheel. Since we lacked the tools to fix it, we had to walk the thing all the way there.

Anyway, thanks for reading and have a wonderful spring (until next time).

P.S. Sorry for posting this so late, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why this wasn’t publishing properly. Apparently m-dashes are not allowed on Tumblr.

March 24, 2011 • 1 note

Aw heck.

I feel awfully bad for not posting anything in the last few days. Truth is, Michael and I are a little busy now that school’s back in — he’s got class five days a week and I just started clinical. As soon as he gets back in the swing of things and I finish my clinical (next week) we should be right as rain.

Also, this snow must melt.

Until then, here’s a video I was saving for a rainy day. It’s just a snippet with a guest appearance of a tenant in our building, Tomo, riding stoker.

“Fanfare” Metric

March 24, 2011

30 Days of Biking (On the tandem?)

I think I should bring this up with Michael.

I got this link through a subreddit by the name of Twin Cities Social. The website details plans to bike every day of April (30 days) in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. I’m sure Michael will easily accomplish this on his own but it will take some effort to do all of it on the Tandem with me.

…Maybe if some of this snow melts again.

March 19, 2011

This afternoon’s trip took us down Hennepin Avenue in search of pizza. We normally like riding up to Punch Pizza for their Neapolitan style pie, but at the last moment we decided to try Pizza Nea just down the street. It was a really positive experience overall, with a much larger menu, coffee drinks, and Gillian seemed to think the service staff was very stylish?

We’re not taking our selves too seriously with this project. The latest video is a third in a string of experiments with recording portions of our rides. This video was taken by mounting a rickety tripod lashed with pipe cleaners to our rear-mounted rack. We’re not convinced this is the best angle but it’s given us some ideas for better camera placement in the future. We’re working on a more stable recording method.

Until we break the camera, expect more polished videos in the future.

Seventh Run

Sufjan Stevens, “Chicago”

March 16, 2011

Sixth Run, March 15

Michael and I set out on the Hopkins loop pretty late last night to see “The Fighter” at the budget cinema (only five bucks for the both of us) in Hopkins. The ride there was pretty good, rather warm in fact, and the puddles were minimal. On the way back however, we needed to walk a good portion of it as the temperature had dropped and all of the puddles had frozen over. We did take one spill but we were going pretty slowly and both of us were able to stay on our feet. Also, it was pretty dark out. We were quite cold when we got home but excited to get another 16 miles in.

March 15, 2011 • 8 notes

We set out today for zip ties for our new ‘cargo milk crate,’ food at Gangchen and pictures of our beautiful bicycle in front of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Unfortunately, the steps at the MIA haven’t been shoveled in a while, and the security wasn’t too keen on our use of a tripod?

Also, we tried a new method of recording by attaching the camera to a tripod held by Michael and we think it turned out nicely. Anyway, here are the results. Thanks for watching.

Today’s Route

Elliot Smith, “Rose Parade”

March 14, 2011 • 2 notes
The tandem in front of the MIA at night. We have a video of the trip there (taken by Michael this time) to follow.

The tandem in front of the MIA at night. We have a video of the trip there (taken by Michael this time) to follow.

March 14, 2011 • 2 notes

Here is Michael and Gillian’s first video from the road.

Dr. Dog, “Beer Can”

March 13, 2011

Fourth Run, 3/13

Here is a link to our ride on Gmaps Pedometer equaling about 10 miles.