124Spider

There is a long learning curve to effective tandem riding, but we're working our way up it, and enjoying the journey immensely!

Yesterday, we had our longest ride yet on the tandem, a bit over 70 miles (a bit over 113 kilometers), which we did at a bit over 17mph (27.6kph) average speed. We were both pretty tired at the end, but both almost euphoric. To me, there is something very fun, and intimate, about working so closely together for four hours of riding, to keep the system working optimally; as we got very tired at the end, the communication became limited only to the necessities (no idle chatter as there normally is), but even that worked very well.

None of that would have happened had we ridden our single bikes instead; we're hooked!

Mark

noglider 

You're doing better than my wife and I are, but we're enjoying ourselves, too. I don't think we've reached euphoria yet, but we do enjoy it. It's been three years for us. Our longest ride on it so far was last summer. We did out and back 36 miles on a flat rail trail. The learning curve sure is long. And it is an equalizer in more ways than I had expected. Not only does it add stamina for my wife, it reduces it for me.

124Spider

I hear you. We have tried to change the problem of power differential by quantifying it (we got pedal-based power meters for both of us). This does two things (broadly speaking): (i) It allows my wife to see how much power she's contributing, and how much power I'm contributing, which (ii) allows her both to up her game generally, and to contribute an appropriate amount on hill climbs.

When we first started riding the tandem, I really was concerned at how tired I got compared to her, and how slowly we were going anyway. With the power meters, we can trouble-shoot. We both feel that she should be able to average at least half of my power (I am 10 inches/25 cm taller than she is), and she started out less than a third. She has worked very hard to get stronger, and she's now averaging about half. She wants to do more, so she probably will get better.

We have the advantage of being able to ride together over 100 miles/160 kilometers each week, so we get a lot of practice, and a lot of training.

Carbonfiberboy 

Love to hear love stories. Way to go! We make do with HR, PMs being a little out of our budget but we wish we had them. Our hardest ride has been 154 miles, 10,000', our longest 204 miles, 4000' (twice). Those were a bit much for us. Our normal max is 200k, maybe 4000', but our usual rides are more like 30-70 miles. 142 y.o. team.

124Spider

Wow!

We're training for RSVP (no desire ever to do STP, especially in one day!). That's 108 miles/4000' the first day; 82 miles/2300' the second.

Mark

OneIsAllYouNeed

Carbonfiberboy 

STP is not that bad, really. And one-day is the only way. Being able to stand is really important for all long rides. My stoker is in charge of time and navigation: stand every 10 minutes, drink every 15 on hot days, eat a little every 30. It's easy to get behind on all those.

noglider 

This is all good stuff, but I'm not sure we're that ambitious. I'd like to be, but my wife had cancer a few years ago and is feeling her age. It's not clear she can increase her potential much. Either that or she doesn't want to. She might try. I'll run some of these ideas by her. And it's hard for her to find the time to ride much. Still, I'm fairly encouraged. She thought the idea of heart monitors sounded silly, but let me see what I can do. They're only around $30 each if I buy an off brand.