First tandem ride

"Jacques Moser" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Is anybody around this newsgroup riding tandems regularly ?

me and my wife got a tandem this time last year and ride it every time
we have a chance. we both enjoy it hugely. riding singles together was
always difficult because we are so mismatched but the tandem equalises
and we can really enjoy bicycling together. we are planning a tour in
alsace and mosel this summer.

in june our burley rumba will be replaced with a new santana noventa
(with 16 spoke wheels and rear disk brake).

yes, tandems are fast on the flat and downhill. our experience is that
on most uphills we are not slower than folk on singles. the exception is
very short uphills where the single rider can sprint up which is not so
easy to do on a tandem.

basically the aerodynamic advantage of a tandem is not relevant on
uphills. the result is that a tandem feels slower than a single on
uphills but this is because it is faster on the flats and downs. but
this is just the feeling. our experience is that with good team
co-ordination the tandem is just as fast uphill as the single.

"Mike Kruger" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Claire Petersky" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:vxihc.36464$ru4.35000@attbi_s52...

Quoted message said:

Another
consideration: we finally might have to park one of the cars in the
driveway, as we will have in toto: two tandems, two mountain bikes, two

road

Quoted message said:

bikes, a hybrid, a beater bike, and a couple of kids bikes.

Got room in the yard for one of those "build it yourself" storage sheds?

Oh goodness, let's not get started on that "shed" thing. I have learned to
smile and nod benignly when my husband starts talking about sheds. Better to
say, "oh, that's nice, dear" when the shed gets proposed -- then he
continues to think vaguely , "one day, I'll build one". If I actually point
out all the problems the shed would bring and the problems it doesn't solve,
he'll think of counterarguments, convince himself of the wonderfulness of
this shed, and actually build one.

Actually, I think the real solution is to store lesser-used bikes in the
basement. We have the room, and then yard space doesn't have to get used up
with a shed.

Quoted message said:

Is being too shy to tell people where to go a big problem for you?

There's a difference between telling someone, and simply turning and having
them follow you. For example, two weeks ago we did a 45 mile loop up to
Snohomish. For this loop, on the way back, there was the way I knew for sure
how to go, and then there was the way I suspected would work, but had never
tried. Never even been on that road ever, even in a car. But the way I
suspected would work would shorten our ride by a couple of miles, and my
husband was really beginning to sag, and we still had another 8-9 miles to
go. I mentioned to our friend Steve, who was also riding with us, that I was
planning to go this way I suspected would work Steve's response was, "that's
great Petersky, I have confidence in your ability to get us home." By the
time my husband caught up to us, we were already on this route. When he
figured out that I had now lead us on to a completely untested route, he
looked like I had stuck a knife in his belly. He's someone who really
prefers certainty, and doesn't like me improvising. However, at this point,
we had already invested half a mile into the route -- and lo and behold,
another half mile later, we had linked back up to the road we all knew and
loved. So there. Plus, we didn't have to do the backtracking the way I knew
would have involved. But this did not lessen my husband's sense of betrayal
in me taking him on some way I didn't really know would work.

Now, it's one thing to sneak this sort of thing on him by riding along and
having him follow, but if he's the one steering the bike and I say, "turn
right here", he might start to ask questions, and before you know it, we're
having perhaps a "discussion" on which is the right way to go. And he can
steer the bike how ever he wants, and I'm stuck going along.

Quoted message said:

Maybe. Most tandems require you to pedal in lockstep, so you are both

going

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to have the same cadence.

Same cadence, sure, but my experience with tandeming with my kids is that
there's a difference when the stoker is really putting out the power, and
when the stoker is sort of sloughing off, even if the cadence is the same.
So I can loaf for the first 50 miles of a century, and then, pour it on for
the second?

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o He sings obscene ditties all the time when he rides -- I will not be

able

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to escape these on a tandem!

And the problem would be...?

I'll send you a copy of some sample lyrics, and you can decide.

Quoted message said:

One thing that might or might not be a problem: the captain can almost
always hear the stoker, but the reverse isn't true. That might be some

help

Quoted message said:

with the ditties.

Ah! This sounds like the perfect situation -- I talk, he pretends to listen!

Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Please replace earthlink for mouse-potato and .net for .com
Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

In article <ImDhc.184795$JO3.105606@attbi_s04>,

Claire Petersky said:

"Mike Kruger" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Claire Petersky" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:vxihc.36464$ru4.35000@attbi_s52...

Quoted message said:

Another
consideration: we finally might have to park one of the cars in the
driveway, as we will have in toto: two tandems, two mountain bikes, two

road

Quoted message said:

bikes, a hybrid, a beater bike, and a couple of kids bikes.

Got room in the yard for one of those "build it yourself" storage sheds?

Oh goodness, let's not get started on that "shed" thing. I have learned to
smile and nod benignly when my husband starts talking about sheds. Better to
say, "oh, that's nice, dear" when the shed gets proposed -- then he
continues to think vaguely , "one day, I'll build one". If I actually point
out all the problems the shed would bring and the problems it doesn't solve,
he'll think of counterarguments, convince himself of the wonderfulness of
this shed, and actually build one.

Hm. This was the opposite of my circumstances. Rebecca bought me a shed
kit for Christmas, as a hint that bike [censored] was no longer to be stored
in the laundry room, damnit!

In her defense, the laundry room is 6'x 6' and has a full washer and
dryer in there already. At the nadir, right before the shed was
finished, I had three bicycles, a couple of collections of tools, a bike
pump, a truing stand, some spare wheels, and a lot of bike parts in
there. The only reason I didn't have more was because the dryer became
unusable if I piled enough stuff on it to block the controls.

I now have an 8x10 metal shed, and it's pretty nice. I'm planning to add
a second workbench (one sturdy enough to attach a bench-mounted bike
stand), and there should be just enough room for me, the tools, the work
at hand, and about three bikes in storage. Note that I (as Claire knows)
am pretty short: 5'6"; for me the shed is a workable height. For normal
humans, there would be a lot of ducking and head-bashing.

Note that I don't have a garage.

By the way, in my experience the construction of the foundation was
considerably more work than the construction of the shed. In an attempt
to make it easier on myself, I went with a wood floor (7/16" plywood on
2x4s) on concrete pads. In retrospect, it probably would have been
easier and for most people cheaper (I got the wood for free) to have
poured a concrete foundation pad. The steel shed was a relative breeze
to build, but I'm not much of a carpenter and I'm pretty good at
following instructions and using a drill.

Quoted message said:

Actually, I think the real solution is to store lesser-used bikes in the
basement. We have the room, and then yard space doesn't have to get used up
with a shed.

....on the other hand, we have a huuge back yard. I'm looking for things
to put out there that reduce the amount of mowing I have to do 🙂.

No basement either, and the attic doesn't have a bike-sized hole, but I
do have another, much smaller shed. That's where the [censored] bikes go.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

"Jacques Moser" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

We rented a tandem today. First time ever for my wife. First time for me
after >20 years. The thing was a Trek T100, not too new based on its 3x7
group, but in good shape. The first starts were a bit difficult for lack
of coordination, and we had to start straight into downtown in the busy
Saturday morning traffic.

But soon we were out of town and things went much better. Our ride was
mostly flat but the only 150 m climb, although it slowed us down quite a
bit, was no real problem. Downhill was really great - at least for me as
the driver, a bit frightening for my wife... On the flat, I had the
feeling that we were going quite fast for a moderate effort (no computer
to really tell us, though). We came across quite a lot of well equiped and
fit looking road riders, but none passed us, which is a sign...

We finally rode 50 km around Lake Thun without feeling really tired. This
was a great experience, and maybe one of these days we'll be looking for
more than renting !

Is anybody around this newsgroup riding tandems regularly ?

Jacques

My wife and I have a Burley tandem that we ride. Tandems are a blast
and work well for us, since she has a bad knee and arthritis problems
that make it difficult for her to ride a solo bike. The other poster
that suggested Sheldon Brown's website for tandem riding tips is
right, Sheldon has some really good info that helped us a lot when we
were starting out.
Smokey

On Wed, 21 Apr 2004 19:53:01 -0700, Ryan Cousineau <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

No basement either, and the attic doesn't have a bike-sized hole, but I
do have another, much smaller shed. That's where the [censored] bikes go.

I have a mouse-infested rotting old Ford Econoline as a shed. The
[censored] bikes go outside.

The mouse seems adept at removing the cheese from the mouse traps
without actually triggering the trap.
--
Rick Onanian

On Wed, 21 Apr 2004 19:53:01 -0700, Ryan Cousineau <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I now have an 8x10 metal shed, and it's pretty nice. I'm planning to add
a second workbench (one sturdy enough to attach a bench-mounted bike
stand), and there should be just enough room for me, the tools, the work
at hand, and about three bikes in storage. Note that I (as Claire knows)
am pretty short: 5'6"; for me the shed is a workable height. For normal
humans, there would be a lot of ducking and head-bashing.

Word of warning - metal sheds can fluctuate wildly in temperature
compared to a hourse, garage or wooden shed with asphalt roof. I had a
relatively expensive and largemetal shed at my old house, set on a
concrete foundation. Lot of things metal decided to rust (something
about high moisture levels in a 100 degree plus shed) and other things
deteriorated faster than when in the garage. I definitely changed my
plans to put our tandem in that shed.

Four years later I tore it down and put in a wooden shed, just in time
to sell the house.

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

Curtis L. Russell said:

Word of warning - metal sheds can fluctuate wildly in temperature

Some insulation, and maybe a reflective paint on the roof, ought to
help.

Quoted message said:

compared to a hourse, garage or wooden shed with asphalt roof. I had a

Well, any "cold storage" has wild temperature fluctuations compared
to a horse.
--
Rick Onanian

On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 07:52:05 -0400 in rec.bicycles.misc, Rick

Onanian said:

The mouse seems adept at removing the cheese from the mouse traps
without actually triggering the trap.

try stale peanut butter.

On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 16:13:53 -0400, Rick Onanian <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Well, any "cold storage" has wild temperature fluctuations compared
to a horse.

That was a hourse, not a horse. That established, I think I've made my
point and leave it there... Wherever...

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

Curtis L. Russell said:

On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 16:13:53 -0400, Rick Onanian <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Well, any "cold storage" has wild temperature fluctuations compared
to a horse.

That was a hourse, not a horse. That established, I think I've made my
point and leave it there... Wherever...

Er...there's something I'm missing, then. I attempted to make light
of what I thought was a typo (figuring you meant "house"😉. What is a
hourse?

Dictionary.com offered nothing, and google gave me this:
http://www.hourse.org/ - "People helping horses, horses helping
people".
--
Rick Onanian

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 08:59:10 -0400, Rick Onanian <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

That was a hourse, not a horse. That established, I think I've made my
point and leave it there... Wherever...

Er...there's something I'm missing, then. I attempted to make light
of what I thought was a typo (figuring you meant "house"😉. What is a
hourse?

Don't have a clue. But I've gotten all the way to Friday without
making a mistake - as long as I don't admit anything and keep
moving...

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...