Tandem Bikes as a Metaphor for Marriage

by

Patti Dickinson

Honestly --- you are in for one of our better stories.

One of our traditions while we are on vacation each year is taking a short trip from Chatham to Brewster, Massachusetts to ride the bike trail there. Over the years with the kids we have gone from the covered bike carrier that seats two kids on the back, to the alley-cat and for more than a few years, we have all been "independently mobile". So we pull up to the Brewster Bike Shop and Wood eyeballs two tandem bikes sitting out in front of the shop. He looks at me and says, "That could be fun." It would have been, if we had been able to get going. (I warned Wood that you were going to hear my version of what transpired!!!)

So we both straddle the bike. Wood in the front, me in back. I put both my feet on the pedals and wait. Wood looks over his shoulder at me and says, "We can't get started this way, Patti. We have to put one foot on the pedal, push off with the other foot, and get going that way." So we try that. He is pedaling and we are wobbling all over the place and I am trying to keep my balance and get my feet on the pedals at the same time. Except he wants to lean the bike as he's doing all that. Aerodynamically and taking into account some law of physics, this isn't going to happen. Who can pedal with one shoulder parallel to the ground????

So we give it another try. Wood tries to lean and I am trying to bring the bike back to a 90 degree angle with the dirt path. Now we are definitely not working together. The young girl who is trying to rent us some bikes, and the now gathering crowd who would much rather mind our business than their own and our four mortified children are all witnessing this ridiculous attempt at riding tandem.

Three tries. That's what we gave it before Wood says, "That's it. Patti, we have been married for 34 years, and I know when something isn't going to work. This is one of those times." Lots of big grins from the men gathered in the group that are now gawking at us. I am sure that we were the talk of the bike shop for a few days. We wound up on our own bikes and rode to Coby's for hamburgers and the best milkshakes in the world.

Yup. Tandem bike riding is a lot like a marriage. Sometimes in sync. Some days have a rhythm. And some situations require shifting gears and some just require that you put up the kickstand and walk.