Another glorious autumnal Sunday morning dawned, clear and dry...perfect conditions for our intrepid tandem trio:

Sallyann, was attending her first session at Bradbury Fields, an organisation supporting blind and partially sighted people in the Liverpool area. As such, there was a certain amount of nervous excitement, as she met the ride leaders, service users, and tandems! However, as soon as Sallyann was paired with Lyn, and had a quick ride around the carpark, her 20 year old tandem riding skills came flooding back.

Rowan, now a seasoned tandemer (with two rides under their belt 😁) chose a brand spanking, shiny new machine, which she rode with Mat, one of the SAVI team leaders. After a few teething problems (incolving some very sensitive gear shifters), they were soon eager to show off their speed and headed to the front of the tandem train whenever they could.

I managed to grab hold of a coveted mean, green machine. I'd had my eye on it for a couple of months, but soon regretted my decision, as the gears were a bit tricky to master 🤦‍♀️.

Once we were all paired up with our cycling buddies, we set off for an 18 mile round trip, partly along the Liverpool Loop Line, now a beautiful, tree-lined walk and cycle way. The highlight, of course was when we descended on an unsuspecting Yew Tree Farm Café. They were not prepared for 12 hungry cyclists to suddenly appear, but thankfully managed to fit us in. After an hour of resting and refuelling, we headed back to our bikes and set off for the return journey.

As always, there was much chatter and laughter, as riders got to know each other, working together to make the ride as safe and enjoyable as possible, for all.

It never fails to amaze me, how much we volunteers gain from these experiences...and how many wonderful, caring people we get to meet.

As usual, we three GoodGymers found an opportunity to pose for one last photo, this time on the triplet (Goodies style 😆)! Maybe next time, we'll actually manage to ride it - if only around the carpark 😉