John and Juliet's Bicycle and Tandem Page

Hi there, here is our personal bicycle web site.  It is a personal version of the psycho-biker site that is specific to our bicycle rides.  Enjoy the tour...

 

 



Bike Virginia 2001

Photo by ACTION PHOTOS

for info contact jharfoto@bellsouth.net

Six Gap  2003 (100 miles in 6hrs 37 minutes)




My History in Cycling.  

In 1982 I sold all of my cars, bought a FUGI ESpree tourer and went back to college.  Probably not all that odd except where I went to school there was not a lot to do on the weekends.  The small 2-year school, Lousiburg College, in North Carolina, was a suit-case college.  What that means is everyone went back home to Raleigh, NC to party on the weekends.  I did not.  Instead I would go out onto the nice county roads and ride.  After a while 3 others joined me on some of the jaunts and I was hooked.  I never got deep into the racing aspects and continued to be a daily commuter/tourer for many years.  The 1991-1993 years I spent off of the bike because I was living in an area that didn't have too many roads for riding.  Mostly highways cutting through a small town in Iowa.  Of course there was Ragbri but that was only once during the year.

When I moved back to Florida I found several cyclist in the area and started riding again, but now more for sport than for commuting.  I still don't subscribe to the racing stuff, though I follow it with my friends and such. I rode an old (1982) FUJI Espriee 12-speed road bike until November 1997 when the front wheel broke and threw me on my face for 29 stitches and a cracked cheek bone.  That was when I decided it was time to get a new *NICE* road bike.  

I now own a 1997 Litespeed Catalyst upgraded to Dura-Ace-9 speed components.  Unlike the FUGI, I now keep the components more current.  It is running Chris-King headset, Easton EC-70 fork, TTT bars, ITM stem, egg-beater pedals and Topolino wheels.  I add Profile-Split-Z aero-bars and a profile Aqua bottle kit when I do my long distance rides (130 to 185 miles).

Juliet is now hooked and after getting her on the tandem she now rides a mountain bike to work and her Trek 2200 on the weekends.  We still take the tandem on the big trips (see the TourdeFrance link) but she is really really digging riding a bike, any bike...

Mt Dora 2003

I rode from Ft Lauderdale to Mt Dora in two days, 266 miles.  This pic is after two additional days at the bicycle festival.  I just completed the Yahala Bakery (yum yum) ride.




Our First TANDEM 

was a 1993 21 speed Schwinn DUO-SPORT Tandem.  It's not a slick as a SANTANA or a CO MOTION but I got it new for only $850 which is a steal for a tandem.  My wife and I rode it about 60 miles per week and while she was not an avid cyclist, our team speed is increasing and we are able to sustain a 22mph average on the open road.  We put 5600 miles on this tandem before buying our current tandem, a 1999 Burley Duet.  In the first 18 months of riding the Burley we racked up 3200 miles!  For more exploits go to the psycho-biker web site...




The DUO-SPORT as it climbs the  deceptively flat  Card Sound Bridge on one of our yearly trips from Miami to Key West.


The Key West trip is an annual trip with the Motorola Bicycle League of Plantation FL.  Here is a link to the Non-Motorola site that has lots of info about the Tour De Conch

Heading to Key West April 2000

This was the last year we owned the DUO-SPORT. That didn't slow us down though.  I was always impressed that this old Schwinn could keep up with the paceline pack-rats!  We were crusin' at 33mph when this pic was taken.

Before we sold it we managed to get 5800 miles on the bike.  It was a fine old ride.






Our First Serious Road Trip

In Sept 1998 we completed a week of road riding in the Asheville/Nhatahala areas of North Carolina.  This was really cool and a test of our "FLATLANDER" legs on some real hills!  We managed nearly 100 miles (we got some hiking and white water rafting in as well) and we must admit that the NC locals can whup us on hill climbing!  The pictures are:





Mt Mitchell Ride







Needmore & BurningTown Rides







Rides on the Burley:


The North Carolina Bumble Bee Ride

Dec 2000. You wouldn't know it is 32 degrees outside!

Riding around Pensacola Fla

July 2000 (The bumble bees in the summer time?)

(Photo by me...  "how'ed he do that?")

Bike Virginia 2001





Naples ride 2003
Ron Chopkic and I rode 163 miles from our respective homes to Vanderbilt beach.  Here is the route we took...
Vanderbilt Beach route



Mt Dora 2003

I was dubbed the ROAD WARRIOR by a friend, Greg Raven, who took this picture when I finished the Battle of Buckhill on the end of my epic Mt Dora weekend. It was epic because I rode from Ft Lauderdale to Mt Dora in two days, 165 miles on day one, 101 miles on day two, then I did the Esmeralda, Bakery ride and Battle of Buckhill (50miles, 57 miles, 60 miles).


Space Coast Century 2003

I didn't do so well on the century because I started late, went to fast to catch the front group and then rode too close to the front (too many pulls).  And the fact that I rode from Ft Lauderdale to Cocoa Beach in ONE DAY (185 miles) the day before the century probably didn't help either.


Brevet Series:
24 Hours of Sebring



To send me email click here!



Goals:

2002: Fastest Century unsupported: 23mph average

2003: Longest rides: 185 miles, 165 miles, 163 miles, 162 miles, 132 miles, 130 miles...  30 rides in excess of 100 miles. Total distance 10,034 miles!

2004: Longest ride: 200 miles in 11 hours 30 minutes.


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