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Tandem age contest!

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Tandem age contest!

Old 12-13-20, 01:28 PM
  #26  
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Old 12-14-20, 01:29 PM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by JaccoW
I started on my first tandem this year but the tandem is from 1977, so that's 43 years old.
Riders = 33 + 27 = 60 years
land they keep getting Younger! Welcome to tandem cycling! Where it is more fun than (*fill in the blank)!
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Old 12-14-20, 01:32 PM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by MikeAndJean
Start: 45
End: 139 (broken hip)
get well soon! In our younger club riding days we had a couple crashes that resulted in some broken bones. But we don’t talk about that anymore. Hope you keep on trucking.
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Old 12-14-20, 01:37 PM
  #29  
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Originally Posted by Alan_F
Beginning 47. Current 99.

We'll break into the triple digits in a couple of months.
Happy birthday.! The sad thing about tandem age is hat it goes up 2 years every year.
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Old 12-14-20, 05:32 PM
  #30  
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Tandem age

Started 83
Now 159

E-tandem past year
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Old 12-16-20, 08:01 AM
  #31  
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beginning tandem age 63
current 138
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Old 12-16-20, 08:28 AM
  #32  
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Originally Posted by MikeAndJean
Start: 45
End: 139 (broken hip)
So sorry to hear that! Do you suppose that's really the end of your tandeming career?
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Old 12-16-20, 10:40 AM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by jim_pridx
So sorry to hear that! Do you suppose that's really the end of your tandeming career?
Originally Posted by Magnum PI
get well soon! In our younger club riding days we had a couple crashes that resulted in some broken bones. But we don’t talk about that anymore. Hope you keep on trucking.
Thank you for the kind thoughts. A few months ago I posted a writeup of our accident titled "Bad things happen" (www.bikeforums.net/search.php?searchid=10206108). Last weekend was the 6-month anniversary of our fall. Physically Jean has fully recovered, thanks to great conditioning before the fall, long weekly hikes in the nearby hills after her surgery, and the purchase of a rowing machine - what our daughter calls a "hamster wheel". However, Jean suspects that she may no longer have the skeleton required for this wonderful activity. But then, we haven't sold our tandems yet.

As many of the responses to this thread have shown, riding tandems is a life-long adventure. I posted our combined starting age as 45 but we actually started riding together a few years earlier. During the first year of our marriage (we married in our teens) we borrowed a Huffy tandem, swapped in a rear wheel with a freewheel, and went for a weekend tour. That primitive tandem would drop the chain every few miles but we had a lot of fun and couldn't wait until we had enough money to buy a real tandem.

Except for raising our daughter, riding tandems is the best thing we have done together. We had hoped to ride well into our eighties, like some of you have; however, time will tell if that happens. Stay safe.

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Old 12-16-20, 11:45 AM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by MikeAndJean
Thank you for the kind thoughts. A few months ago I posted a writeup of our accident titled "Bad things happen" (www.bikeforums.net/search.php?searchid=10206108). Last weekend was the 6-month anniversary of our fall. Physically Jean has fully recovered, thanks to great conditioning before the fall, long weekly hikes in the nearby hills after her surgery, and the purchase of a rowing machine - what our daughter calls a "hamster wheel". However, Jean suspects that she may no longer have the skeleton required for this wonderful activity. But then, we haven't sold our tandems yet.

As many of the responses to this thread have shown, riding tandems is a life-long adventure. I posted our combined starting age as 45 but we actually started riding together a few years earlier. During the first year of our marriage (we married in our teens) we borrowed a Huffy tandem, swapped in a rear wheel with a freewheel, and went for a weekend tour. That primitive tandem would drop the chain every few miles but we had a lot of fun and couldn't wait until we had enough money to buy a real tandem.

Except for raising our daughter, riding tandems is the best thing we have done together. We had hoped to ride well into our eighties, like some of you have; however, time will tell if that happens. Stay safe.
You know, I do remember commenting on your thread after you posted it a few months ago. I guess my memory doesn't serve me quite as well as it once did.......sorry about that! It's great to hear that Jean has fully recovered, though! Since we're heading into the coldest of the winter months, perhaps that'll give her the time she needs before determining whether or not she'll be able to ride again. Riding a tandem is indeed a "life-long adventure" for us but, as we all know, life gives us no guarantees. Hopefully a few more months will reveal the answer. In the meantime, don't sell those tandems........
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Old 12-16-20, 05:45 PM
  #35  
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We had ridden solo bikes for years, and decided to do the tandem to celebrate turning 60 and start bicycle touring, It has been a great decision.


MikeAndJean:
I missed your other post, so very sorry to hear about your crash. Hope you are back on the Ritchey soon.
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Old 12-18-20, 10:01 PM
  #36  
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Old 12-18-20, 10:15 PM
  #37  
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I passed a team yesterday I know. Captain is probably 10 years my senior, so 77. (We did 50 miles together on singles ~13 years ago.) Guessing his wife is two years younger, that makes ~152 years. Their bike is their second tandem, custom for them in the early 90s from Davidson. So I'm guessing they been a team since say '85. So beginning Tandem Years = ~82.

I'll have to tell them about this next time I see them and update this with the real numbers. ( I see them about every 4th ride or so. They are true regulars. Their total miles have got to be huge. The bike's paint is testimony. Red fading to purple. The red is VERY faded.)
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Old 12-18-20, 11:14 PM
  #38  
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Originally Posted by 79pmooney
I passed a team yesterday I know. Captain is probably 10 years my senior, so 77. (We did 50 miles together on singles ~13 years ago.) Guessing his wife is two years younger, that makes ~152 years. Their bike is their second tandem, custom for them in the early 90s from Davidson. So I'm guessing they been a team since say '85. So beginning Tandem Years = ~82.

I'll have to tell them about this next time I see them and update this with the real numbers. ( I see them about every 4th ride or so. They are true regulars. Their total miles have got to be huge. The bike's paint is testimony. Red fading to purple. The red is VERY faded.)
This brings up another interesting aspect of tandem couples, they tend to have or know other tandem couples as friends!
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Old 12-19-20, 08:03 AM
  #39  
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What a wild crazy trip it has been! Wouldn't trade it it for anything!
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Old 12-19-20, 08:27 AM
  #40  
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Does anyone know if Rudy and Kay (zonatandem) are still riding? Their tandem age would be about 172 now!
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Old 12-19-20, 10:12 AM
  #41  
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Originally Posted by Joint Venture
Does anyone know if Rudy and Kay (zonatandem) are still riding? Their tandem age would be about 172 now!
I've been wondering about them myself.
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Old 12-20-20, 09:03 PM
  #42  
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Originally Posted by OneIsAllYouNeed
Beginning tandem age: 47
Current (with same stoker): 71
Most recent tandem ride: 42
We are apparently the same age and started riding tandems in the same year. No kids for us though.
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Old 12-25-20, 10:29 PM
  #43  
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Originally Posted by Joint Venture
Does anyone know if Rudy and Kay (zonatandem) are still riding? Their tandem age would be about 172 now!
Search function shows no posts by them in the last year.
Would be nice to know their status.
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Old 12-27-20, 07:00 PM
  #44  
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Our starting tandem age was 73.



Our current tandem age is 117.
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Old 01-07-21, 06:41 PM
  #45  
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Originally Posted by 1tandem
Started 83
Now 159

E-tandem past year
E Tandem this past Week for us! It is awesome, feel 20 years younger!
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Old 01-09-21, 11:32 PM
  #46  
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So, I'm a kind of a math geek and have been wanting to summarize this info for a while. If you're interested:





So, the average tandem rider is about 61.5. That kind fits what I've seen at rallies, when we used to have them. Looking at pics from old Eastern Tandem Rallies, it would seem that the average age has been increasing over the years. Have to wonder how that trend will play out over time.

Last edited by mikebian; 01-09-21 at 11:41 PM.
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Old 01-10-21, 06:40 PM
  #47  
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Originally Posted by Magnum PI
E Tandem this past Week for us! It is awesome, feel 20 years younger!
What did you get!?
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Old 01-10-21, 07:01 PM
  #48  
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Originally Posted by Alcanbrad
What did you get!?
Landshark
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Old 01-10-21, 07:51 PM
  #49  
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Originally Posted by Magnum PI
Landshark
Doh! Didn't make the connection
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Old 01-12-21, 09:54 AM
  #50  
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Starting age - 100
Now - 140
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