Kevin and I have been putting the Trickel Nickel, the name of our
Rodriguez tandem, through its paces. Four days ago we converted the
Nickel into a single bike and rode up to Haut Koenigsburg in the Vosges
mountains of France. The conversion from tandem to single bike took less
than half an hour and no adjustments to the brakes or derailluers were
necessary.
Haut Koenigsburg is a restored castle, on the top of a mountain roughly
1700 feet and 6 miles above the valley. The day was another in a long
string of beautiful fall days that we've been having ever since Kevin
arrived. We rolled along through the foothills and the vineyards for 6km
and I quickly became comfortable on the unloaded single bike - quite a
change from the heavily loaded tandem that I had been riding. The climb
started in earnest when we turned left out of Bergheim and quickly left
the vineyards of the Alsace behind. The rest of the climb was through a
beautiful mixed forest. The castle was amazing and the views of the
valley below were expansive. The ride back down was fast and cool. By the
time we reached Thannenkirch, only part way down the descent, the castle
was surprisingly distant. Another couple of kilometers or so of
descending and we were back rolling through the vineyards towards our
camp in Ribeauville. In camp we were rewarded with vies of the castle
while we reconverted the Nickel to a tandem. Quite an amazing bike that
works equally well as a tandem and a single bike.
Just yesterday Kevin and I repeated the Conversion of the Nickel and
climbed up to Schauisland (translated roughly as look in to the land) in
the Schwarzwald, Black Forest, of Germany. This climb was quite a bit
longer than the Haut Koenigsburg climb at 3000 feet in 11 miles. At the
bottom of the climb the leaves of the deciduous trees had just started
turning colors by midway up the climb the colors were in full force and
by the top the leaves were gone. From the top the views back down towards
Freiburg were spectacular. The descent this time was very fast with two
sections of 14% grade. Once again the Nickel performed flawlessly.
Dan and Smiley at Rodriguez cycles built us a very nice versitile
bicycle. These guys really know the meaning of service and the best part
is that they make their own bicycles so one knows that one is going to
get what one wants.
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