Tandem Roller Riding and Racing!

[cowtandemstoker]

Hey Tandem Fans,

We're new to this forum and have really enjoyed hearing from all the other tandem folks out there.

We're wondering if anyone out there besides us have tried riding their tandems on rollers in the off season? If you're like most people we've mentioned it to your first response is probably "that sounds crazy". We thought so too until we tried them. We were literally up and riding in seconds and within a few sessions feeling comfortable and confident. I can say without any hesitation that riding our tandem on rollers is the best training we have found. They are head and shoulders above any indoor spinning bikes or stationary trainers we've tried. We've always heard the term "spin in circles", but never truly understood the concept until we got on the rollers. It has really smoothed out our stroke.

Anyway, the bike shop where we purchased our "tandem extension" for Krietler rollers asked us to come to their winter roller races and put on a demonstration. By our third race (I mean demonstration) other tandems were showing up and pairing off. It was really fun and a great workout. We're hoping they'll add tandems as an official category next year.

We are trying to spread the word amoung tandem enthusiasts how great roller riding and racing is. We are putting on a little "tandem roller riding" demonstration at the Midwest Tandem Rally in Appleton Wisconsin Labor Day weekend so if any of you are planning to attend we'll see you there and you can try out the rollers.:D

Pat & Gabrielle Coughlin
Team Cow (Iowa)

[Wil Davis]

Sounds like a great idea! Pics please…

- Wil

[cowtandemstoker]

Here are a few roller photos as requested.
We couldn't figure out how to attach larger, easier to see photos like we see on the other posts so if anyone can advise us we'd sure like to know how it's done.

Pat & Gabrielle
Team Cow (Iowa)

40455

40456

40457

40458

40459

[Wil Davis]

Thanks! Neat colour scheme!

- Wil

[mrfish]

That looks excellent fun.

Where did you get your cow print outfits?

[cowtandemstoker]

We had the shorts and jerseys made at Hidden Bay.
You can find them on the web at hiddenbay.com
Pat & Gabrielle:)

[asu_gt]

Pat,

My wife and I have been riding rollers on our tandem for a couple years now. Agreed that it is a great workout, though we typically do not wear our helmets. I assume Bike World made helmets mandatory. We typically watch a movie or some other show that she selects.

Riding rollers with my wife led me to develop an exercise intervention that we are testing with Parkinson's patients in which they ride rollers with a non-PD individual. However, in that case we cheat a little as we use the fork stand.

Jay

[FoC]

Hey Tandem Fans,

We're new to this forum and have really enjoyed hearing from all the other tandem folks out there.

We're wondering if anyone out there besides us have tried riding their tandems on rollers in the off season? If you're like most people we've mentioned it to your first response is probably "that sounds crazy". We thought so too until we tried them. We were literally up and riding in seconds and within a few sessions feeling comfortable and confident. I can say without any hesitation that riding our tandem on rollers is the best training we have found. They are head and shoulders above any indoor spinning bikes or stationary trainers we've tried. We've always heard the term "spin in circles", but never truly understood the concept until we got on the rollers. It has really smoothed out our stroke.

Anyway, the bike shop where we purchased our "tandem extension" for Krietler rollers asked us to come to their winter roller races and put on a demonstration. By our third race (I mean demonstration) other tandems were showing up and pairing off. It was really fun and a great workout. We're hoping they'll add tandems as an official category next year.

We are trying to spread the word amoung tandem enthusiasts how great roller riding and racing is. We are putting on a little "tandem roller riding" demonstration at the Midwest Tandem Rally in Appleton Wisconsin Labor Day weekend so if any of you are planning to attend we'll see you there and you can try out the rollers.:D

Pat & Gabrielle Coughlin
Team Cow (Iowa)
I hate to ask since I dont know if links are permitted, but could you tell me where to look at buying the rollers at?
If youre not allowed to post the link, could you email it to me? :)

williamdavidtipton@yahoo.com

Im really interested in looking at buying but have no clue how to find them for sale on line.

thanks
wm

[cowtandemstoker]

Hi WM,

There are a number of companies that make rollers, but the only one I know that makes a tandem extension is Krietler. According to everyone I talked to Krietler are the best rollers anyway.

I purchased mine throught the local bike shop because Krietler did not have any information about tandem extensions on their website. They only had the standard roller information.

I contacted Paul Aieta at Krietler to tell him he needed to update his website with tandem specific information. We sent him a testimonial letter and video that he said he plans to use to update the website soon.

Anyway, if your local bike shop cannot order them for you Paul said you may contact him directly. His e-mail address is paieta@mrpbike.com The Krietler website is http://www.kreitler.com/

When you contact Paul please tell him that Team Cow from Iowa sent you. Paul sent us two sets of tandem extensions free to use in our roller race series in exchange for me telling everyone I know how much we love Krietler Rollers...plus it's true!

He told me that they only sold two sets of tandem extensions in 2006 and I told him we could easily double his sales in 2007, ha, ha!

If you decide to buy let us know how it goes. We just followed the Roller Riding Tips page on the Krietler website, which essentially tells you to set them up in a doorway to practice. Even though everyone says it is harder to ride rolles on a tandem than a single we think in some ways it was easier to learn. The reason is that she (the stoker) could keep both hands on the door frame while I could keep both hands on the handlebars and get used to steering. She would practice taking her hands off for short periods of time and she could quickly grab on again if she felt a little squirly or scared. After 10-15 minutes she was no longer grabbing the doorframe and we were rolling.:)

Pat & Gabrielle Coughlin
Team Cow (Iowa)

[Wil Davis]

That's pretty impressive. On my rollers (single, no tandem) I use one milk crate on each side to make it easier to get on and off; I can straddle the bike while on the saddle, it just takes a bit more care not to whack the crates with the pedals, but that's good for technique; plus if you knock the crates out of the way, dismounting becomes an totally new experience! ;)

Great idea, great shirts & gear; thanks again!

- Wil

[Buckshot77]

Pat & Gabrielle,

I swear I've seen that bus on the south side about 2 blocks from our house. My wife and I bought a tandem over the weekend and are giving it a try. I've got pretty limited experience riding and my wife has even less than me so if you'd be interested in giving us some tips, we'd be extremely grateful. We took the bike out for the first ride last night and had a pretty good time with it. It's a T900 that we bought used from BW West on Saturday. It was a bit chilly yesterday for our first ride, but at least it wasn't as bad as the test ride in their lot on Saturday!

Reply here or drop me a PM if you want.

Thanks,
Rick

[Doggus]

I hope to someday be confident enough in my bar room brawling abilities to wear a cow outfit on a cow tandem.

- moo -

[cowtandemstoker]

If I can't take 'em the team will back me up.
TEAM COW ROCKS!!http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=41720&stc=1&d=1176166111

[tim]

Hi to all the roller riding tandem enthusiasts. I have nearly completed my extension to a set of standard rollers, which, after 15 years, have made a welcome return to my garage. I was wondering what speed you can get to on the rollers on a tandem, also, what cadence can yo maintain? I am in Australia and I am unaware of anyone else here who has ridden a tandem on rollers down here? Are there any other Aussie members out there?

Cheeeers, Tim

[cowtandemstoker]

Tim,

We have the 15 pound flywheel and the Killer Headwind Fan attached to our rollers when using the tandem. This of course makes it more difficult to pedal (like climbing a small hill), but it also smooths and lengthens the take off and roll down.

When we ride outside we typically ride 18-22 mph. When we train indoors on the rollers we typically ride 15-17 mph. However, when we competed in the 2-mile roller races we ran 21-25 mph, that is with the flywheel and fan wide open which is "allegedly" equal to a 10 mph headwind.

I have never measure cadence, but our best time in the roller race is 5:20.

Pat & Gabrielle

[malkin]

If we ever tried riding our tandem on rollers, I would need body armour in addition to my helmet.

[tim]

Hi CowT-S,

Well, I've just completed my extension, and I've even given it the first test run!!!!!!!!!!!!! Exciting, but my wife (who's at work) thinks I'm inside studying. I won't be able to get too excited tonight when she gets home...

Our rollers don't have any resistance, such as the flywheel or fan, so even on my single bike I can ride at around 40mph. It's all a lot of fun, much more than the study, but it's not time to do that..

Cheeers and have fun on the rollers, Tim

[mrfish]

Rollers are good fun. As a student I used to regularly 'max out' the rollers to see what speed I could get to. On 53x12 56mph was the usual max, which according to Sheldon Brown equates to 161rpm, after which things would get extremely sketchy. To get there the rollers used to go through 3 modes of vibration. On the third mode at about 42mph, the whole floor used to vibrate, which led to complaints from my housemates. I imagine your rollers are rather better quality than mine, and that you don't use them on the second floor of an old house...