Young tandem teams--are we really THAT weird?

[ou98dtbiggs]

DrPete I wrote you did you get the message? I live in Arlington VA and ride with the PPTC I have ridden with a few other tandems, we usually ride at the B level right now.

[DrPete]

Yeah, I did--I sent a private message... Check your inbox!

DrPete

[Ritterview]

Mrs. Ritterview and I have had our Tandem since 1991, when we were in our early thirties.

[MMPC]

I see this is a pretty old thread, but I'll drop in. We're new to tandeming and my wife is 29 and I'm 33 - so I guess we're another team of "whippersnappers" out there... ;)

[LWaB]

We're older now (39 and a few years younger) but have been riding tandems for over 15 years. I guess we are moving well into the older demographic.

[speedsixdave]

Hola!

Just joined Bike Forums, saw this thread and thought - huzzah! I can be considered young here! Dr Strange & I have just bought our first tandem, I am 33 and she 30. But we like Radio 4, a cup of tea and a nice sit down, so we may be prematurely fogeyish.

The new tandem is brilliant - I cant wait to get out on it again.

dave

[Brian]

I know I've posted in here before. We're 37 and 41, and I consider us to be young.

[Trsnrtr]

My wife and I were 32 when we started tandeming. I see many couples at tandem rallies that i would classify as mid-30s Yuppies, for lack of a better word. Of course, there are a lot of gray haired couples, too. :)

[tim]

My wife and I were both 25, now we are 40 and just love it (tandem riding).

[Sammyboy]

Me 34
Her 25

Our tandem - probably somewhere in between! We've only had it a week, but we're enjoying it far more than we ever managed to enjoy riding solos together. Do I care if other tandemeers are older? Not at all.

[Catherine+2]

I have to class a tandem with a Harley--I wanted one when I was younger, but couldn't afford one until now. ;-) So I had a single and a trailer bike (and a Honda). Actually now I want a triple, but can't afford one for another couple of years.

Me 46
DD 5
DS 5

riding a tandem plus trailer bike. Hey, that means our average age is almost 19, making us a young team!

Catherine

[t4mv]

I got my first and (so far) only tandem when I was in my early 20s, and my GF (now SO/wife) was in her late teens. We managed to go on a fair number of rides, including at least a couple double centuries, before marriage and kids, so I don't think it's that weird. Come to think of it, there were like 3 of us at the campus bike shop that had tandems, so I guess it's not weird at all where I'm from

[djembob02]

I can't believe I haven't written on this one yet. We got our triplet in late 2005, I was 23 , my wife was 34 and our daughter was 4. While I very rarely get any "heh, lets go riding", my stokers are willing to ride with me quite a lot. The little one and I are over 3,000 miles in the year and a half. The group that we ride with (single bikes) is mainly middle age adults, probably 35-55. There are a few younger ones. I am the youngest (not including my daughter). Our tandem groups are the same way, maybe even a bit older. There seems to not be a relationship in age and performance unless we're talking CAt 1 racers.

Check out the touring stats and you'll find that those who tour are much more likely to be "older" riders. We rode the Bike Across Kansas last year and I would guess that 80% were over 45. Much of that is probably related to time. We're going around Ohio this year.

I have been disappointed that there are no races in my area that have a tandem category. I've done only one race on my own and did OK in a Cat 5, but I would love to ride the tandem in a race (except that they probably wouldn't allow a triplet). It would be so fun to put an avid cyclist on the back and take the three of us on some fast paced rides with full pace lines and everything...maybe someday...(actually I am thinking of moving to Oregon in a few years when I graduate, then we can enter the comotion classic!)

[mrfish]

Me 46
DD 5
DS 5
riding a tandem plus trailer bike. Hey, that means our average age is almost 19, making us a young team!
Catherine

OK, me 31, wife 29 plus daughter 0.5 = 20

Need to add another baby before we beat you on average age :) I think we may get the average down to 16.5 in a few years.

[zonatandem]

At ages 74/72, most couples are younger than us; some are as old as our kids (50s) and some are as young as the grandkids (20s).
We don't think that 'young tandem teams are weird' . . . heck, all tandem teams are weird (us included)!

Pedal on TWOgether (into senility?)
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

[stapfam]

Hola!

Just joined Bike Forums, saw this thread and thought - huzzah! I can be considered young here! Dr Strange & I have just bought our first tandem, I am 33 and she 30. But we like Radio 4, a cup of tea and a nice sit down, so we may be prematurely fogeyish.

The new tandem is brilliant - I cant wait to get out on it again.

dave
Nothing wrong with Radio4 and a cup of Earl Grey is worth it. As to being young- wait till your first real hill to find out how old you really are.