We met Steve and Marie about 40 years ago. We had just bought ourselves a tandem bicycle as a wedding present, a couple of months in advance of our wedding, in order to attend our very first Eastern Tandem Rally in the Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York. At this rally, with compatible styles and a similar pace, we kept running into another pair of first-timers, Steve and Marie from southern New Jersey, near Philadelphia. At this same rally, the four of us first ran into two more experienced tandem teams, also from South Jersey – our soon-to-be friends (as well as heroes and mentors), Sue and Al and Malcolm and Judy. We enjoyed multiple tandem meetups with this 8-pack (and various sub-sets thereof) over the next 15 or so years.
Doug and I kind of stepped back from the tandem scene after we moved to VT – it was less compatible with the mountainous terrain in our area, and there were no other tandem riders among our regular riding cohort in the Mad River Valley, so we returned to riding single bikes most of the time.
Steve and Marie, too, backed off from tandeming a bit while raising their child Brenna, however as empty-nesters they leaped back into tandem riding again a few years ago. They’ve been traveling extensively in the US, Europe and elsewhere with their tandem. Maps with real, physical (not e-) pushpins adorn their great room showing the extent of these travels. Cool! Except I forgot to take a photo (this late in the trip, after all these years, how do we keep forgetting to take photos?!?!).
Anyway, the last time we had seen Steve and Marie was in 2014 when they came to a tandem rally in Vermont. We did not attend that rally, however we went up to Burlington to see our old friends. Then this fall – 40 years after we first met in upstate NY – we touched base before moving on from Philadelphia to see if we could get together. Happily, we were able to coordinate a quick visit. Marie prepared an awesome brunch for us as a perfect setting to get caught up. We brought each other up to date on news we had of friends and acquaintances from past tandem adventures and, of course, there were many more recent stories to trade from our respective travels. We also learned that Bren loves the outdoors and has had several management positions in outdoors organizations. Living in NH and working for the Appalachian Mountain Club, Bren is a regular back home in NJ and often joins Steve and Marie on their active travel vacations.
Wish the visit could have been longer, however, we really appreciate the short visit. It was great to get caught up!