Proverbs 27:117 says, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." August 20th marked our 6th annivesary - the 'iron anniversary'. In many ways, Sarah has sharpened me over the 10 years we've been together, the last 6 in marriage. And while it's been a short while compared to many and compared to the length it could be, marriage in today's world is a test of endurance. This being the iron anniversary, we thought we'd take our relationship to the next level... so we rented a tandem.
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The bicycle built for two wasn't made of iron, but its metal frame was close enough as our gift to one another. With the girls at Sarah's parents' and Isaac with mine, we left the morning of the 19th from Ernie's Bicycle Shop in Massillon looking sweet on the seat of our bicycle built for two. The goal was to ride to Independence on the Ohio Erie Canal Tow Path to our hotel for the evening, stay over night, and come back the next day. The 56-mile one-way trip would normally be nothing, but this was our first trek (no pun intendend) on a tandem, and one a tad to tall for our bodily frames to boot. The 34-inch inseam in the Captain's Seat made for some tired, sore shoulders, neck and toes by the end of the journey, and I'm not so sure the back seat was any safer from the pains.
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Around 5 miles into our morning trip, we came across a tractor mowing the grass along the opposite side of the path. Against my better judgement, we passed, though we had to go slightly off the path to give ourselves room. We made it by the tractor, but the soft shoulder gave way under our back tire as we attempted to re-mount the path, causing the bike to swing out from under us. I was able to get my feet under me, but my partner was not. Sarah took quite a tumble and received a nice road rash tatoo on her left knee/shin and elbow. She hit pretty hard, and was initially unable to straighten her leg. About 10 minutes later, we said goodbye to the tractor operator who had stopped mowing with a "did you just do what I think you did", and we were on our way. She's a tough cookie... iron!
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Riding a tandem is quite the challenge. If you've never tried it, I'd highly recommend giving it a go. You'll either love it or hate, I guarantee. As the Captain, you have a lot of responsibility, but it takes quite a bit more communication from both riders than one might think. As we tackled each new turn, hill, bump, etc. along the path, a new communication element raised its hand. We had to tell each other when to pedal, when to coast. In the front, I had to let Sarah know when we were turning, stopping, starting, passing, hitting bumps, changing pavement types, etc. It was very easy to forget to talk about these things. I've heard it said MANY times before this day that you cannot have bad communication in your marriage and succeed at riding a tandem. A tandem will either make or break your marriage. I can see why. In fact, it's a great analogy for how biblical marriage should look (see Ephesians 5:25-33). In the rear, Sarah could only see my rear - sorry for her! So she relied on me for everything, meaning she had to trust me, and submit to my leading. In return, I had to communicate to her on every step of the way and respect her wishes. She had to be treated as an partner in making this thing go - I couldn't do it on my own without her help.
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As we neared Barberton, we took a stop so Sarah could check her phone for any calls she figured grandparents had made regarding unruly children in the first couple hours of our time away. I walked over to a man with a map out to ask where the path jogged as there is a 1-2 mile stretch in Barberton not yet completed. We spoke for 10-15 minutes before parting ways; however, during our conversation, we came to realize he was part of a relatively large church in Dalton and had rode his bike from there to visit his parents in Canal Fulton. We also came to realize that he had worked at Smuckers in Orrville with an acquaintance of ours that now attends our church - small world!
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We made it to downtown Akron a little after 1:00p with no further mishaps and stopped for lunch at Damascus Road Coffee. The owners are Christians and have had their little coffee shop established a couple of years ago in the building where I work. We parked the bike in the hall, but ended up having to move it outside per request by building security. Rob and Deb let us wheel it into the shop, where it brought many stares, comments, and smiles. We sat in the corner and enjoyed our sandwiches. Before departing, Deb blessed our marriage in the name of Jesus, and we were on our way!
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Not long into our jaunt north of downtown, we got lost... okay, okay, I decided not to take a turn that looked closed, and we ended up walking down a large hill to pick the path back up at the bottom. But to my defense, we made another friend in getting lost together - a man riding up from far down south himself. He didn't say much about why he was so far from home, but he seemed to be on a quiet, restful journey. He rode on ahead, and we saw him briefly later on as we passed him snapping a shot of a waterfall in canalway.
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What else can I say? There were numerous learning experiences, though few like the one where I pulled out in front of a car that had whizzed around a corner. I wanted to keep our balance and move on once he passed, but Sarah had already dismounted, and I drug her along, straddling the top bar of the bike since it was too tall for her! We came out unscathed, taking it as another learning experience.
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Stops became more frequent as we neared our evening destination. Sore muscles from the taller-than-we-should-have-been-able-to-handle bike and beautiful scenery made it easier to rest more often too.
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Back at Damascus Road, one lady had come in while we were eating and was very excited to see our bike as it had been a long time since she had seen a bicycle built for two. Since we're around bikes relatively often, a tandem was nothing uncommon to me or Sarah. Like God, you can take Him for granted until you see the faith of a child - this lady's reaction re-lit my excitement. And I bring this back up because 10-15 miles before we hit Rockside Road, we passed another tandem, going the same direction. Not a half-mile later, the next humans to pass us were on a tandem headed in the opposite direction. While this lady at lunch hadn't seen one in a long time, we got to see 3 within a half mile of each other - this was neat to me, especially thinking back to lunch.
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The hotel was awesome - we splurged on a room with a whirlpool in the room since we were saving gas on the drive. What a nice way to relax your aching muscles after a 56-mile ride on a bike that's too big for you! Before we relaxed in our room, it was a shower and a 1+ mile hike to Applebee's for dinner.
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The ride home was less eventful. Right before we departed our room that morning, I received a sudden twinge in my neck. Sore butts, arms, necks, shoulders, etc. only compounded atop this unexpected pain. Most of our ride back was more mental, as most 2-day treks tend to be. The first day is typically spent wearing out your body; the second tends to be ignoring the pains and moving forward. We still stopped in Penninsula to have someone snap our picture (see below), and we stopped in Canal Fulton for Sarah to get some ice cream and fill up our water... among other stops, but we were both ready to be done. Thinking back to the tandem being an analogy for marriage, Sarah teased that "yeah - and you're ready for it to be over too!" She tried to dig herself out of that one by saying she meant that we reach death together - but I think she was tired of staring at my back!
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We did make one last friend on the way home - a young man lost at the jog in Barberton. He was headed from Cleveland to Zoar (85 miles one way) to camp out and ride back the next day. While he was much faster (we'll blame it on our exhaustion at this point), we did catch up with and pass him a few times. The last we saw him was back at Ernie's as we dropped the bike back at the shop. He had stopped for a bite to eat, so we said goodbye and wished him a safe, enjoyable ride.
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We should have had the grandparents watch the kids one more night so we could get some rest - but it was nice seeing them. We stopped to grab Chipotle on the way to my parents' to get Isaac. Then when we got home, Sarah's parents dropped off the girls. While I put them to bed, Sarah made me a box of Macaroni and Cheese, of which I ate the entire thing. Two dinners... I was hungry!
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It was a great way to spend our iron anniversary. We found we believe ourselves to be tandem compatible. And after 6 years of marriage, I'm ready for another sixty times six! My tandem partner of life is more than I could have asked for. Every good gift IS from God above, and I know she's no exception - I couldn't have won her on my own! Happy 6th Anniversary to my "Iron Maiden"!!!
