While Trevor and I were on our honeymoon in San Diego, a friend recommended renting bicycles on Coronado Island for an afternoon of exploring. The idea sounded so fun and romantic, like something out of a movie! The man at the bike shop suggested a red tandem beach cruiser, a 30 mile path around San Diego Bay. Our new friend said we could catch the ferry back across to Coronado Island and the whole trip would take 3-4 hours. We weren’t too familiar with San Diego, so we enthusiastically set off into a beautiful San Diego morning on our adventure!
After a few stop-and-go attempts, we learned to pedal at the same speed and generally stop fighting each other’s center of gravity. We became like one cohesive unit as we veered down a hill towards the famous Silver Strand with no turning back! We were off on our adventure, newlyweds just enjoying the breeze and the ocean air. We packed a picnic lunch, had lots of sunscreen in hand, and wore our swimsuits and sandals in case we found any lovely beaches to hang out at. We were prepared for a casual ride, but were really unprepared for what was in store for us!
7 miles into our trip the beautiful beach started to disappear. The landscape started to become more and more desolate. Our beautiful beach path turned into meandering side roads. At 12 miles, we found ourselves pedaling faster to get out of some junkyards and homeless camps near the path. We began feeling a little ridiculous and out of place with our swimsuits, flip flops, and red tandem bicycle.
After a few more miles of riding through some run down areas, we got into a quieter space near a harbor where we decided to stop for our picnic lunch. Despite the occasional whiff of marijuana, we were thankful to see the ocean again. At this point, we were 15 miles in – halfway around San Diego Bay – and had a choice to make. Do we continue to press ahead around San Diego Bay or turn back the way we came? We enjoyed our lunch, laughed about the experience so far, and got back on the road. We figured things could only get better from here and decided to press on.
Around mile 20, the path COMPLETELY disappeared and we unknowingly entered the industrial ship building section of San Diego in rush hour traffic. I realized at this point that our bike shop friend didn’t even offer to rent us helmets! You can imagine how absurd we looked and felt on our tandem bicycle… We were totally out of our element.
If you’ve ever ridden a tandem bicycle, there are a few basic things you have to get used to in order to successfully move: 1) the person in the front is responsible for steering and generally balancing the bike, 2) both people must pedal at a consistent speed, and 3) initially getting moving is the most difficult part, requiring communication and unified effort. We struggled to maintain our balance at slow speeds riding beside tractor trailers, dump trucks, concrete trucks, and crossing railroad tracks. The difficulties of a tandem bicycle are made even more apparent in this type of riding environment and I couldn’t seem rid my brain of flashing headlines like, “Newlywed Couple Dies in Tragic Tandem Bicycle Accident.”
We “courageously” battled through the industrial shipbuilding section of San Diego and things finally started to open up as we rode on the narrow shoulder with cars speeding past at 50-60 mph. I was very scared, and although Trevor was probably scared as well, he remained calm. I was thankful to have his quiet confidence leading us on the path to safety. We had no other option but to keep moving forward in hopes of getting out of our current area. He kept me calm by pedaling and steering from the front and communicating when bumps and turns were headed our way. He even took over completely when I was so terrified of being hit by an 18-wheeler that I took my feet off the pedals.
Mile 25 was the light at the end of the tunnel. The bayside path reappeared, and the concrete trucks disappeared. We breathed a sigh of relief as we cruised the last 5 miles along a beautiful stretch near downtown San Diego to catch the ferry back to Coronado. We got some fun pictures next to the USS Midway and the Unconditional Surrender. We were home free at last! We hopped on the ferry, relieved that our adventure was over…
…But it wasn’t. Back on Coronado, we only had another mile to the bike shop, but our pedal efforts started to increase. “I know you’re tired, but you still need to pedal,” Trevor said as he was sweating in the front. I started getting frustrated and responded with “I’m pedaling as hard as I can!!” Finally we looked back and realized that we had a flat tire. We decided to walk our red tandem bicycle the rest of the way back to the bike shop, partially in defeat, partially in victory, partially scared for our lives and thinking, “How did we just survive that?” The whole tandem bike trip ended up taking twice as long as our bike shop friend suggested.
As stressful as this experience was at the time, we get a great laugh out of the story every time we tell it. People from San Diego think we are insane for transiting the shipbuilding section on a red tandem bicycle. Despite all that, we are proud that we worked together to survive this insane honeymoon saga, and that we ultimately were forced to trust in one another like our lives depended upon it- because they did. We learned that like marriage, we both need to give and take in order to carry the load, we learned that communication and trust are key factors in survival, and we learned that sometimes it may feel like you can’t catch a break, but God is always with us and guiding our paths.
Thanks for reading and as always, please connect with us to share your thoughts!
