Getting ready for another big ride!!

This blog has been largely abandoned for the last few years, but we are resurrecting it to share some words and images about our latest trip, once again on bikes but this time as a family of four. Aran got to go on a long bike trip in Thailand, just before he reached airfare paying age, and it seemed only fair that Zev should claim his free long-haul flight too!

We scratched our heads for a while considering how we could cycle as 2 adults, a six-year-old and an almost 2 year old until we stumbled upon the fantastic machine known as a child-back tandem… Zev could go in Aran’s old trailer and Aran on the back of the tandem. We ordered the tandem from Thorn, a bike building company in the UK at a very keen price and they shipped it to us in Spain. Let me just mention for anyone looking for such a bike, that this is a great company with great personal service and technical help. You’ll also struggle to find such a bike anywhere else. We planned to do some extensive testing, but in end only the fitted in a couple of short outings during which we had some horrible chain snarl-ups thanks to some cack-handed adjustments made be me. Now I know.

Testing the Thorn with uncle Paul

Other preparations took the form of getting Aran excused from school in the name of educational experience (he is the class correspondent, sharing his experiences on his YouTube channel here.) a quick squizz at a map or two and some last-minute vaccine-chomping. We also bought a packet of powdered milk (or “bink” as he calls it) for Zev (or “Pat” as he calls himself)

My biggest worry was that the tandem is outrageously long and exceeds all baggage restrictions. It was a breeze and it checked in all the way to Saigon unscathed and free of charge…