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03-23-09, 10:05 AM
My wife and I just got back from vacation, driving from ME to FL to meet up with my folks who are vacationing in Ft. Myers. They previously have had various rentals on Sanibel itself, but times and rental prices being what they are, this year, they were off island. This is the first time we've been down to see them on vacation.
First, it was a shot to the mind and to the spirit, going from below freezing to 80 deg days. We spent a lot of time just laying around in the sun. Ahh. Much other time hanging out with non-cycling parents, driving around.
But for one glorious day, we rented a tandem to bike Sanibel.
We rented a Sun brand, feet-forward tandem from the Fennimore(?) bikes, the bike rental place a bit further inland from Billy's Bike rentals. Plus is that it was closer from where we called it quits back to the car. Minus is that it is just that much farther to get out, especially in the dreadful end of day traffic getting off the island.
If we'd brought our own bike, it would not have been any problem, riding from Ft. Myers where the 'rents had a place to the island.
We reserved the bike the day before. I didn't ask for anything specific, but looked at what we were getting, a 7sp cruiser of a bike. No other tandems for rent. The only other ones we saw on the island were a utility looking thing, again with upright seating and cruiser ergos, with a stoker compartment set up to work with anyone from kid to adult. Day we picked up, we were given a lock for the bike, but no offer of complimentary helmets (free for the asking), no offer for initial setup even though the stoker in this case is 5'9" and the seat was set up for a kid. So I struggled with the (non-lubed) seatpost, getting it in some kind of right position, and setting off.
What a hoot! We have an 80s Burley sport/tour tandem at home, our first, and what we used last year for recreational rides and commuting. This Sun tandem, feet-forward cruiser was an entirely different beast. Sanibel is flat, so 7 speeds were plenty. We also had not lost all of our conditioning, so we ended up doing about 22 mi for the day. Tired at the end, but with the satisfaction of having ridden everywhere.
First jaunt was through the "Ding" Darling nature preserve. Timing chain derailled twice, but we figured out why it was happening (speed + bumpy + stoker and captain trying to slow things down without communicating) and avoided it the rest of the day. Lots of birds, people fishing. We took a jaunt down the non-sight-seeing powerline access road, which was open and not posted, for a rest and observed an otter doing his/her otter thing for a while--not something that most see while sticking too the usual preserve tour.
Then up the road to the Captiva line. We paid way too much for lunch at a convenience store and walked across the street to picnic on the beach (Turner's). Fantastic beach--we saw more wildlife there than we did cruising through the nature preserve. Back on the bike, we did another circuit of the nature preserve before ending up at another beach (Bower's) this one more crowded than the last, and bike parking not indicated--go to the upper parking lot and pedal in from the access path. Water felt fantastic after getting off the bike. We're not beach people, so an hour or two, tops, was fine at each one. At that point, we were done--the seats were not the most comfortable in the world, and we were aching from a Winter off bikes--and headed back to return the bike.
The bike paths in Sanibel are fine. They don't work for people out training, and a lot of tourists who rent bikes are not in biking shape, but for recreational riders like us just out to have fun, they were a revelation. Makes me want to tour the Netherlands.
While out on the tandem, and we have experience on them, we saw many couples out on individual bikes looking on enviously as we, typically, passed them. I wouldn't recommend renting one on the island as a first experience unless you trusted that the rental shop could set one up for you competently. They never offered for us, not even a tandem basics rundown, but then again, it might have been apparent we knew what we were doing, and I didn't ask. Definitely a YMMV thing--I saw them taking great care to set up other people on solo bikes, no reason to think they couldn't accommodate the same level of care on a tandem--again, I didn't ask, appeared competent.
We had such a great time tandeming together. Definitely a highlight of the trip. Even on a goofy cruiser style tandem--you can't really crank on the bike paths, the roads are otherwise pretty bike unfriendly, and the island just isn't that big. However, I saw a couple on matching Bike Fridays at one point, and it definitely had me jonesing for a Twos-day Tandem...
Sanibel is a fine place to bike in a very laid-back, touristy manner. If you're into touring, getting in serious miles, or speed pursuits, not so much the place you want to end up. For us, it was a perfect late winter interlude, a great beginning to our second year on tandem bikes.
First, it was a shot to the mind and to the spirit, going from below freezing to 80 deg days. We spent a lot of time just laying around in the sun. Ahh. Much other time hanging out with non-cycling parents, driving around.
But for one glorious day, we rented a tandem to bike Sanibel.
We rented a Sun brand, feet-forward tandem from the Fennimore(?) bikes, the bike rental place a bit further inland from Billy's Bike rentals. Plus is that it was closer from where we called it quits back to the car. Minus is that it is just that much farther to get out, especially in the dreadful end of day traffic getting off the island.
If we'd brought our own bike, it would not have been any problem, riding from Ft. Myers where the 'rents had a place to the island.
We reserved the bike the day before. I didn't ask for anything specific, but looked at what we were getting, a 7sp cruiser of a bike. No other tandems for rent. The only other ones we saw on the island were a utility looking thing, again with upright seating and cruiser ergos, with a stoker compartment set up to work with anyone from kid to adult. Day we picked up, we were given a lock for the bike, but no offer of complimentary helmets (free for the asking), no offer for initial setup even though the stoker in this case is 5'9" and the seat was set up for a kid. So I struggled with the (non-lubed) seatpost, getting it in some kind of right position, and setting off.
What a hoot! We have an 80s Burley sport/tour tandem at home, our first, and what we used last year for recreational rides and commuting. This Sun tandem, feet-forward cruiser was an entirely different beast. Sanibel is flat, so 7 speeds were plenty. We also had not lost all of our conditioning, so we ended up doing about 22 mi for the day. Tired at the end, but with the satisfaction of having ridden everywhere.
First jaunt was through the "Ding" Darling nature preserve. Timing chain derailled twice, but we figured out why it was happening (speed + bumpy + stoker and captain trying to slow things down without communicating) and avoided it the rest of the day. Lots of birds, people fishing. We took a jaunt down the non-sight-seeing powerline access road, which was open and not posted, for a rest and observed an otter doing his/her otter thing for a while--not something that most see while sticking too the usual preserve tour.
Then up the road to the Captiva line. We paid way too much for lunch at a convenience store and walked across the street to picnic on the beach (Turner's). Fantastic beach--we saw more wildlife there than we did cruising through the nature preserve. Back on the bike, we did another circuit of the nature preserve before ending up at another beach (Bower's) this one more crowded than the last, and bike parking not indicated--go to the upper parking lot and pedal in from the access path. Water felt fantastic after getting off the bike. We're not beach people, so an hour or two, tops, was fine at each one. At that point, we were done--the seats were not the most comfortable in the world, and we were aching from a Winter off bikes--and headed back to return the bike.
The bike paths in Sanibel are fine. They don't work for people out training, and a lot of tourists who rent bikes are not in biking shape, but for recreational riders like us just out to have fun, they were a revelation. Makes me want to tour the Netherlands.
While out on the tandem, and we have experience on them, we saw many couples out on individual bikes looking on enviously as we, typically, passed them. I wouldn't recommend renting one on the island as a first experience unless you trusted that the rental shop could set one up for you competently. They never offered for us, not even a tandem basics rundown, but then again, it might have been apparent we knew what we were doing, and I didn't ask. Definitely a YMMV thing--I saw them taking great care to set up other people on solo bikes, no reason to think they couldn't accommodate the same level of care on a tandem--again, I didn't ask, appeared competent.
We had such a great time tandeming together. Definitely a highlight of the trip. Even on a goofy cruiser style tandem--you can't really crank on the bike paths, the roads are otherwise pretty bike unfriendly, and the island just isn't that big. However, I saw a couple on matching Bike Fridays at one point, and it definitely had me jonesing for a Twos-day Tandem...
Sanibel is a fine place to bike in a very laid-back, touristy manner. If you're into touring, getting in serious miles, or speed pursuits, not so much the place you want to end up. For us, it was a perfect late winter interlude, a great beginning to our second year on tandem bikes.