I owe my passion for biking to a couple college roommates/fraternity brothers. With my 1994 graduation from Central Michigan University (Go Chips!) only a month away, Spring was in the air. My buddies convinced me to skip a couple of afternoon classes and hit some singletrack with them. No bike? No problem. They found one for me to borrow. I'm glad I took them up on the offer, as it was an almost instant flashback to my worry-free world of a kid. What a rush!
After graduating, it took a full year of adjusting to the busy schedule and limited income that accompanies that first post-graduation job before I could scrape together enough money for my first mountain bike. Almost immediately, I found myself flipping pizzas at a second job in order to upgrade to a better bike. Oh, the fever was growing!
After Kara & I were married, she wanted to make sure she didn't become a "biker's widow". When I suggested we test-ride a Cannondale mountain tandem (since she didn't really enjoy riding her "single" mountain bike), she was somewhat hesitant. She wanted to spend time riding with me, but she had a hard time accepting the price tag on the bike. We had a great time on the test-ride, and purchased a tandem the following week. Any doubts Kara had about the bike disappeared after we started riding together. We started out riding on the road and some two-tracks, but quickly tackled singletrack trails around Southwestern Michigan. We even raced it once at the Yankee Springs Time Trial in Middleville, Michigan.
Since starting a family, our offroad tandeming has been limited, but I am riding with my 2-year old daughter now, thanks to a child-stoker kit. Read more about this setup on my Biking Rants page.
Tandems are just one of my biking passions, though...I also enjoy "regular" mountain biking, single speeding, and cyclocross (although I'm just learning about 'cross). I'm an "Equal-Opportunity Cyclist", though, and I'm sure that a road bike, recumbent, 29" MTB, etc. will eventually find their way into my garage!
Our biking pages contain photos and information on our various bikes, informative biking links, and various rants on cycling subjects that I'm passionate about. Enjoy, and thanks for visiting!
Craig, Kara, Mira & Maeve Emenaker
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