So… we completed our first training ride!  Not going to lie, it wasn’t easy!  We went to the town of Concord and did a loop ride out of there.  And we did that for two reasons.  First, the we thought for the first ride we would go somewhere with less street traffic.  So that was great!  The second reason was because the girls didn’t want to be seen in our town, on our tandems, by their friends!  So, this time, we gave them a pass. 
 
BUT, the good news is we completed it, and we didn’t even get into any family feuds.  The takeaway from this ride was that while the 25 miles did seem tough, it was still doable, and considering that none of us had been on a bike for months, I consider this a great start.  Having trained for double centuries in the past, I can attest to how quickly I think we will get in shape for our start and continue to get in shape once our trip starts. 
 
And yes, we are aware that there’s thumb in the picture, but getting everyone picture ready would have been like herding cats.  And lastly, yes, we do have two tandems inside our minivan. 

The first post is to celebrate the start of our digital trail, however small it may seem.  Like the mileage we'll put on, we hope this grows as immensely as our mileage and experiences.  Staring this June, (exact date yet to be decided, depending on how soon our kids are let out of school), we will be biking across the country on our two tandems.  We will depart from Astoria, OR and traverse the US all the way back to our home, just outside of Boston, MA.  

We will probably never look this clean on our journey, so...