AndyGrow
Well, we did it. 45 miles on our 3rd tandem ride!
The bike is an older Trek T50 that we borrowed from some family friends.
The Leelanau Harvest Tour is a beautiful ride that’s been going on for 22 years. Rides of 25, 45, 67, and 100 miles are the choices. This year – for our first tandem ride – we chose the 45.
We weren’t sure if we’d be able to make it, as we hadn’t ridden much the past 2 weeks due to serious colds and some really crappy weather. And – we had not ridden the tandem at all. Actually we had only ridden 5 miles on a tandem – ever.
Saturday night we took the T out for a 15 mile ride, to try and get it setup correctly (it was a size medium – a bit small for both of us, but it was pretty comfortable once we had set it up as best we could). Had a great ride – very fast! We had a great time – decided then that we would definitely do the 45 miler on the tandem (we had brought our singles as well, just in case…).
We averaged 15mph for the 45 miles. Total ride time was 3hrs01mins. One thing that is definitely true – tandems are fast on the flats, and SCREAM on the downhills. And oh yeah, slower than heck on the climbs! Keep in mind, where we live is F L A T. But where the Tour was is HILLY as all getout. We were hurting a few times, but just settled in and spun away at the hills.
We are DEFINITELY getting a tandem now! Unfortunately we’ve got to wait for the ‘06s to come out…and then we will have to wait for the snow and cold to leave…THEN we’ll be riding again!
We actually found that our communication was great - no fighting, no arguing. We settled into the Captain/Stoker roles right away. And we had fun doing it.
Shoulda started tandeming sooner...
Andy and Vickie
EDIT: Found these two pictures of us on the tandem at the LHT website. I remember seeing the guy taking them, but I didn't think I'd ever get a chance to actually get the pictures! Cool!
The bike is an older Trek T50 that we borrowed from some family friends.
The Leelanau Harvest Tour is a beautiful ride that’s been going on for 22 years. Rides of 25, 45, 67, and 100 miles are the choices. This year – for our first tandem ride – we chose the 45.
We weren’t sure if we’d be able to make it, as we hadn’t ridden much the past 2 weeks due to serious colds and some really crappy weather. And – we had not ridden the tandem at all. Actually we had only ridden 5 miles on a tandem – ever.
Saturday night we took the T out for a 15 mile ride, to try and get it setup correctly (it was a size medium – a bit small for both of us, but it was pretty comfortable once we had set it up as best we could). Had a great ride – very fast! We had a great time – decided then that we would definitely do the 45 miler on the tandem (we had brought our singles as well, just in case…).
We averaged 15mph for the 45 miles. Total ride time was 3hrs01mins. One thing that is definitely true – tandems are fast on the flats, and SCREAM on the downhills. And oh yeah, slower than heck on the climbs! Keep in mind, where we live is F L A T. But where the Tour was is HILLY as all getout. We were hurting a few times, but just settled in and spun away at the hills.
We are DEFINITELY getting a tandem now! Unfortunately we’ve got to wait for the ‘06s to come out…and then we will have to wait for the snow and cold to leave…THEN we’ll be riding again!
We actually found that our communication was great - no fighting, no arguing. We settled into the Captain/Stoker roles right away. And we had fun doing it.
Shoulda started tandeming sooner...
Andy and Vickie
EDIT: Found these two pictures of us on the tandem at the LHT website. I remember seeing the guy taking them, but I didn't think I'd ever get a chance to actually get the pictures! Cool!