So what happened? At the beginning of June we drove down to Devon (fact: when heading west from home it's down and east is up. Why is that?) and collected our new Hase Pino Steps from the lovely Tom Pales aka Tom Freetrike:
https://www.freetrike.co.uk
Tom has an amazing business, combining his professional training as a physiotherapist with his love for the outdoors, especially cycling! Having previously supplied my beautiful Hase recumbent trike Harriet for me we didn't hesitate to entrust him with ordering and assembling our new tandem.
And wow! What a tandem she is! Took a bit of getting used to it must be said, especially manoeuvring round corners at slow speed (eg turning round in the road when you realise you've gone the wrong way). We've named her Ellie. She's grey, equipped with an amazing Shimano Steps electric motor and weighs rather a lot. Ellie the Electric Elephant! The recumbent seat is oh so comfortable and the front seat view as we whizz through the countryside is amazing! No more being stuck at the back. John and I are also sitting really close so conversation is easy and he can't pretend not to hear me when I tell him which way to go. The best thing is the motor is always there ready to kick in if we need it. And we do, more and more. It also means we can go faster which can be a lot of fun! Above all it enables us to go on slightly longer and more challenging rides with our tandem friends again.
What happened to Charlotte? I can report she's doing well with our friends Mark and Liz. If you look closely behind Ellie in the photo you might spot an uncharacteristically shy Charlotte lurking at the back.
We'd clocked up 4300 miles with Charlotte, here's to thousands more with Ellie.
