Maarten was born in December 1997. In 1998 we didn't cycle very much. Nevertheless, Oscar did make an attempt 😉
Once Maarten was able to sit (with 1.5 years) we went out again. We bought a 1-wheeled bicycle trailer and built it on Oscar's road bike. He didn't like that at first, but after we had taken some things out and either left them in the car or tied them on the bike with Tessel, it went pretty well. Later that year we also bought a sturdy touring bike for Oscar and we still have it.
Wouter was born in February 2001. That year a cycling holiday was not in it, but in 2002 we went 🙂
When Wouter became too big for the child seat, Maarten had to get on his own bike. He loved it. Just to be on the safe side, we first went with Cycletours, also because they could have some friends.
The following year we went to Italy. Although it was very hot, everyone loved it! Maarten turned out to be a real climbing goat and Wouter still prefers to go to Italy.
Later Wouter became too big for the trailer bike and so we went with 4 bikes:
Wouter had less fun than the others, so it was very cool to cycle up the Mont Ventoux! The Alp D'huez only Maarten and Oscar did (Maarten was 1/2 hour faster ;))
Later we borrowed a tandem of friends to experiment with Tessel at the front and Wouter at the back; not really a success. The round through the Ardèche that Oscar and Tessel made together was very popular and a little later we borrowed that tandem again and went on holiday with it while the boys were at sailing camp.
in 2017 we bought a 2nd hand teeth that we went on holiday with until 2021.
We have gradually discovered that this tandem is just not robust enough (thin tires, derailleur, chain wears out quickly in bad weather on unpaved roads, frame on the border in terms of stiffness). Because we now have the dream to pull for a really long time soon, we decided to buy a sturdier tandem with a Rohloff hub and belt drive. That's where our blog starts.