Tandem
Weekly Update 8/21/2022 to 8/27/2022 #135
Ever try to ride a tandem bicycle? Before I pedal down the path of this thought though, let me share some of my week serving as mayor of the best smalltown in America.
We recently had a chance to try out a new piece of equipment that is being considered for purchase. The Alamo Mantis is a boom mower that would allow us to keep up with cutting ditches and off-angle areas more efficiently. We watched one of our guys with no training on the machine clear a section in less than 30 minutes compared to what would have taken several guys with weedeaters a couple of hours. As the team prepares their findings, I look forward to seeing what they thought and if it is worth the investment or not.
The Mayor’s Youth Council is now underway for the 2022/23 school year, and this group appears to be an interesting group. We have several members returning for their second and third years, who we believe will step up and help lead the newer members as we grow this season. Thank you to all the parents that have allowed me to work with your teens since we started the program in 2020. While we have had our growing pains as we got started, we have been able to educate many of our young people on how different departments and municipal government work overall.
Have you heard about the Seymour Shares Time Bank? If not, let me tell you about this community project that is working hard to connect neighbors in need with one another, so they can share their talents in a format that allows an hour to equal an hour. We have one member that has offered to transport donations of clothing to a local clothing center. We have requests for some light gardening help. We have non-profit requests who are looking for volunteers. Since the launch in early July, we have over 70 members who have exchanged around 20 hours of service with one another. We also have now had our first meet and greet so that we could get to know one another as we volunteer to better our community one exchange at a time. Thank you to everyone that has gotten involved, and if you have not yet done so check out seymourshares.timebanks.org to learn more.
Time to get back on that tandem bike and ride off in the sunset of this week's random thought. Well, that sounds simple enough, but if you have ridden one with a friend or family member, you know it is not always that easy. Some people I have ridden with over my decades of riding have been easy to move on down the road with; others not as much. What I have learned from the different experiences is that when you both put in an equal amount of energy, you get much farther up the hills and down the road with less headache. When one is pedaling extra hard and the other is just half-heartedly participating, it seems to take much more effort on both parts to do the same rides. The next item I have discovered is that someone has to be willing to let the other take the lead. Now this can’t just be decided after you take off; it needs to be established, at least subconsciously, before you ever take the first pedal. On a tandem the rider in the front needs to be in control of the machine. They need to set the pedals for take off. They need to know their copilot's feelings when it comes to speed on the downhills. They need to know when to shift and when to power through the climbs. What sometimes happens, though, is that the copilot really wants to be in control and creates a less enjoyable and sometimes catastrophic experience for both riders. This week, I will leave you with this quote about working together from Henry Ford, "If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself."