bayareawheeler

excited to get out and do some riding with the wife and eventually some supported rides! Not sure what the point of my post is other then to say WHOOT new bike day x2!

If anyone has any recommendations on flatter supported rides let me know. Gotta get my partner eased in easy or you will see me riding it solo heh



oh the bike is a '10 cannondale road 2

bikingshearer 

"Not sure what the point of my post is other then to say WHOOT new bike day x2!"

Like you need another reason?

Congrats. Tandems are tres cool, and a great way for people of differing abilities/experience to ride together. You are wise to want to bring your wife along at a reasonable pace - just don't be surprised if she develops quickly.

As a captain, be sure to over-communicate. Call out everything - meaning all shifts, braking, stopping pedaling, resuming pedaling and especially all bumps in the road. This willmake for a happy stoker. Over time, you will figure out between the two of you what stuff you no longer need to call out (my usual stoker is so good at going along with my coasting or pedaling, braking and shifting tht I don't need to call that stuff out), but start by calling out all of it.

And enjoy. Tandeming is a blast.

gpelpel

Do you mean BBM can spend a whole ride behind you without any complaint?
You must be a heck of a captain.

And yes, tandem riding is great.

mebaxter

KJ don't go scaring the crap out of her now.

bayareawheeler

were going on the maiden voyage Sun! Nice ride on a MUT from E SJ to Gilroy nice and easy. Cant wait!

DRietz

Pictures or it didn't happen.

BlastRadius

Very nice. I'm hoping to get my wife riding with the kids in GGP sometime this year.

bayareawheeler

finding myself looking for supported rides more then the ncnca race calendar

cccorlew

That looks swell!

bayareawheeler

thx! have been doing alot of shopping the past month and found this to only be a few hundred more then multiple used 10 year old co-motions with dated technology...this seemed like a great "bang for buck" purchase! Ultegra 6700 - thompson seatpost - disc brakes - stiff light aluminum frame and its new

DRietz

That thing is sweet.

I wish you and your wife many happy miles.

bikingshearer 

BBM not complaining? Surely you jest. He hasn't seen my tandem, much less been my stoker. Another friend of mine is my usual stoker, and the tandem is at his house in Palo Alto so he can ride it with his rapidly growing son.

And yes, as a matter of fact, I am a heck of a captain.

hhnngg1

Tandems ROCK. I myself haven't been on them, and admit that for awhile, I had a prejudice against them, thinking that tandem bikers weren't fast, and were only in it for social reasons. Not that you HAVE to ride fast on a bike, but I had never seen a fast one until coming to Norcal.

Since then, I've tried to desperately draft at least 3 different tandem bikes that have showed up on some fast and fairly technical rides. All were M-F combos, not M-M combos,and they were HELLA fast, and even were able to negotiate the technical downhills faster than I could on my solo bike. I think on one desperate hang-on stretch, I was drafting one at 27mph on a flat for a good 4-5 miles (theywere pulling into the wind) before a thankful stoplight forced a break.

Since then, I've learned to respect that tandem when it shows up at the group ride - they're awesome!

rdtompki

Flatter would be something like Lighthouse or Wine Country, but it's all relative. You look young and fit (clothed anyway) so you could be deadly fast on the flat even with a stoker who is a casual cyclist. Climbing tends to be at the average pace (give or take) of the team so a 10% grade may be nothing to you, but you might be carrying a bit of extra weight up the hill - it comes with the territory unless the team are of equal abilities. Cadence will be another thing to work through; If you like 95+ and your wife is comfy at 80, guess what, you're going to be doing a lot of 80 rpm for a while. When you're busting your gut on a hill you could easily climb on your single - keep it to yourself; you are wise to be looking for flatter for now

More flat organized rides:
Delta Century, May 1 - I haven't ridden this, but it is very flat
Sunrise Century, May 14, Lodi - think we rode this last year. Usually out that way the 100K is really flat with the Century having maybe one climb
Mile High Century, June 18, Lake Almanor doesn't looke like it has too much climbing
Fresno Classic, May 21, has one climb, but we haven't done this. Does look pretty easy for a tandem
Cheese and Wine Century, October, Riverbank, CA - think we did the 100K with little climbing
Foxy's Fall Century, Oct 15, Century has only about 3500' or less

Tandems are a blast and the downhills are something special. I can tell you're going to be one of those annoyingly fast tandems that pass us old folk on these centuries.

bayareawheeler

thank you Rick that is a very helpful post! cant wait~! o wait ive already said that...we are taking it out this weekend and if all goes well i am signing us up for the metric century in Linden the following weekend. Please let me know if there are any tandem specific groups or mailing lists i can rub elbows in.

also a question for the experienced - should I go right out and buy a suspension seat post for the stoker right away? and if yes is there a preferred model. need to keep my partner happy!

mebaxter

Not doing Snelling?

specbill

Congrats on the new tandem....excellent choice!
You have just given yourself a special opportunity with that purchase....
FWIW, there is a lot of great Tandem info in the Tandem section right here on BF if you are curious about anything Tandem related.
The biggest thing initially, and it sounds like you know it already, is to go WAY out of your way to do everything possible to make it FUN and enjoyable for your partner. For the early rides....forget the macho stuff.....resist the temptation to ride at your normal pace, distance or intensity until your partner is wanting to ride that long or to expend that much effort. You'll know if you hit it right, if at the end of your early rides, your partner is smiling, excited and immediately talks about your next ride....However...if your partner gets off the tandem on your initial rides sore, tired out and grump'n...you messed up something so be ready to listen and make a change...
Lots of patience early on and you may well have found the perfect way to enjoy your cycling passion for a life-time, and better yet enjoying that passion the whole way with your partner.
You are at the threshold of something special.....best of luck!

Bill J.

bayareawheeler

prob not, extending base out longer so i dont burn out early like years past and miss alot of great local racing (Pescadero ect) Also the huge pileup last year in the pro-1-2 race 200 meters after the start kind of left me bitter after waking up at 4am driving 2.5 hrs and to have it end 5min in...what about you you still bagging the 4's?

bayareawheeler

thanks Bill I appreciate your advice and will be very attentive to my stoker's needs!

cccorlew

This may be obvious, but you do know BF has a tandem forum, right?

bayareawheeler

yes sir, guess i was asking i the hopes of finding groups that were local to me...like the Nor Cal forum

mebaxter

Yep, doin the 35+ 4's at Snelling and Merco. Then baseball season starts for my oldest and I won't be racing much.

Ygduf

Regional forums are actually above anything bike related on the tree. You can post about whatever you want in here.

I'm jealous of your tandem. Looks like fun.

rdtompki

I'd recommend a suspension seatpost. The tandem is not as maneuverable as a single and you will fail to miss stealth potholes and such. We have a Cane Creek Thudbuster LT (long travel) and "we" have been happy with the performance. Some folks find that at high cadence there is a bit of bounce, but my wife isn't for doing much over 90 so we don't seem to have a problem. Of course, serious go-fast teams wouldn't be caught dead with such a heavy, geeky apparatus and I believe a number of lighter stokers have had good success with a CF seat post. Try some shorter rides without suspension, but be vigilant about cracks and potholes.

There used to be a tandem club in the Bay area, but it disbanded some time ago, long before my wife and I bought a tandem. I think a Google group or similar would be the right venue for organizing 2-3 tandem rides/year, but I haven't overcome inertia to the point of starting one up. Bryon at Crank-2 in Pleasanton (tandems only LBS) has sold a ton of tandems in this area and would provide contact information for getting a group going, so maybe I should get off my butt.

gpelpel

+1 on the suspension seat post. Even more important with an aluminum frame.