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How often do you get to team up with one or more other tandem teams with similar abilities to your own?
We usually ride by ourselves. On one or two occasions, we have teamed up with another tandem for a bit & traded leads. It seems like 2 or 3 well matched tandems could REALLY fly.
When we have tried to cooperate with singles, it seems like if they can contribute on the flats, they can outclimb us & we can outrun them on the downhills.
Finding 2 well matched tandem teams seems like it would be pretty rare (unless you are on a tandem rally or tour).
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Tandem teams working together not only "fly" on the flats and the downhill but also provide a especial kind of camaraderie. We are fortunate on that respect. Just yesterday, we did about 70 miles and some hill climbing with 3 other teams. All four teams are very closely matched but some climb better than others.... 2 or 3 re-grouping points usually takes care of that. We ride with other teams at least once a week and more often 2 or 3 times a week
We have ridden on two Fleche teams http://www.rusa.org/teamrando.html (http://www.rusa.org/teamrando.html) with four tandems. Cornucopia72 is correct about the camaraderie with other tandems. It is a lot of fun and worth the trouble getting together.
We find that working with singles is just irritating and we either just pull or let them go. The single bikes following a group of tandmes will begin to refer to you as the “pain train” on the flats – then they will leave you on the hills.
A few years back it was weekly; however, some of the teams now have children or careers that have demanded more of their spare time.as of late it has been reduced to our monthly 'tandem club of georgia' rides, such as the one we hosted yesterday where 4.5 tandem teams rode together from our home.
Aside from that, as we come into the summer we will attend 3 or 4 tandem rallies (GTR, TTR, STR, and perhaps one other further from home) where between 50 and 100 tandem teams will gather for 3 days of riding. There are also a smattering of informal get togethers now and again among the folks we know who live in Tennessee, Georgia and the Carolinas and several of the 'gang' will develop their own week-long vacation / tours, e.g., California, Colorado, Canada, France, Italy, and perhaps this year the Finger Lakes region of New York.
We ride by ourselves mostly as there are very few tandems in these parts. We really enjoy traveling to various charity rides for a chance to ride new areas and see new sights. Don't usually ride those events with other tandem teams either but enjoy meeeting them a lot and checking out their rides. The rides are always great to do and we usually end up having great fun with an assortment of various solo riders along the way.
Bill J
We've got one couple who we ride with quite frequently who are dear friends. It was because of them that we took the plunge and bought our tandem. They've got about 15 years more wisdom than Pam and I, so when we ride with them it's a very social pace, with lots of laughing and joking.
Another couple we know just bought a tandem last year and we rode with them several times over the summer and fall. He's more of a hard-core rider who likes the go-fast club rides, and they bought the tandem to "even out" their abilities. They are probably pretty closely matched to us as far as speed, but they haven't learned to "smell the roses" when they ride and we can sense their impatience when we stop at the convenience store or because we see something interesting.
Any guesses which couple we prefer to ride with?
We started the local tandem club to meet others who ride our pace. It worked. Two years in a row we trained with a handful of other tandems practicing paceline techniques and then rode the STP (200 miles, Seattle to Portland) in one day. We averaged about 19mph the whole day. We could've never done that alone. It was awesome. And even on the weekend rides when we're not training for something, we enjoy riding with other tandem teams. We like to ride fast AND "smell the roses" both! We also like to ride with folks who are slightly stronger than us as it pushes us to get stronger.
If you're in the greater Seattle area and don't already know about the tandem club, check it out at http://www.evergreentandemclub.org. This coming Saturday is our annual Kick Off Event with 3 different length routes, a Tandem 101 class for the curious and/or newbies, followed by a social event with food and program.
Sheila
omg Riding with a well matched team is a blast. We rode nearly 5,000 miles over the years with another couple. It was like ballet. We have done numerous centuries with 4 or more tandems in our group. Effortless pacelines doing 30+, dozens of 1/2 bike klingons. To much fun.
bb
We've been leading tandems ride for the clubs we belonged to in Michigan and Arizona since 1975.
For decades led a monthly tandem ride (singles invited) here in Tucson area.
Have attended numerous tandem rallies/events all over US/Canada. Always fun to get TWOgether with like-minded folks!
Even organized/initiated the COYOTES (Coalition Of Young & Old Tandem Enthusiasts) for Arizona.
Now we leave it up to the younger folks to take over (none seem too eager!). Time for us to bow out.
If we'd have known that we were going to live this long, we'd have taken better care of ourselves!
Kay will be celebrating her 73 b'day next Sunday.
Pedal on!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem
we used to ride with RATS when we lived in Richmond and that was fun.
Unfortunately there's no tandem club in NE Florida.
Anyone in NE Florida interested in strating/joining one, PM me.
We're "Mules" (Missouri Union of Longbike Enthuiasts). The Mule Team must be a club because it certainly isn't an organization. We have club jersey's, get together at tandem rallys, and a few of us might ride together at other bicycling events but we don't really draft together for speed. We're more of a socializing group.
When we got our tandem last year we tried riding with our regular halfbike weekend group. Kind of awkward. The flats are fine as we end up at the front doing most of the pulling. Since most rides end up in or crossing the Cuyahoga Valley there are some hills. So its like cars and trucks on the highway, where the trucks (tandem) try to carry a lot of speed to roll over the next hill, but on longer hills get passed by the cars, only to repass them on the next downhill. It seems we are in each others way alot on the hills. However, riding the tandem does allow my stoker to have the enjoyment of not always being dropped like when she is on her single.
Found a link for GOATS, which appears to be an Ohio based tandem club, but the website in not functioning. Not sure what is up there.
We'd like to find some teams in North east Ohio (between Akron and Cleveland) to ride with on weekends. Any NEO teams out there interested?
I'd just like to clarify that our club (www.evergreentandemclub.org) is ALL about socializing. We have a large enough population that we have many paces and styles. The offer does a weekend wine country ride with short distances, liesurely pace and a sag wagon for wine purchases. We do a santa ride where everyone wears santa hats over their helmets at the holidays. I didn't want to leave anyone thinking our club is all hammerheads just because I mentioned pacelines. My husband and I do like to ride faster than the majority in the club. AND there are folks in the club that are much faster than us. One couple competes in tandem races. One couple rode in Paris-Brest-Paris last year.
If you don't have a tandem club in your area I'd encourage you to start one. It's not difficult and it's quite fun and rewarding. I wrote an article about how to get one going for the Tandem Club of America's newsletter "Double Talk". I'm happy to share it (attached) if anyone will find it useful.
Sheila
... our club (www.evergreentandemclub.org) is ALL about socializing. ....
Well, I beg to differ.
Sociable, but not just socializers.
My son and I attended the Tandem 101 session on Saturday, and it was a very positive experience. The systematic approach ( stoker-learner and captain-learner each take a short ride as stoker, then captain-learner does the ride with an experienced stoker ) was just what we needed. The feeling of riding the bike with someone else who had done it before was encouraging.
A plus was the wide variety of tandems which club members brought and made available for test rides. I heard several couples talking about how they like this or that bike.
-- Joel
One couple rode in Paris-Brest-Paris last year.
We rode Paris-Brest-Paris last year as well. As I recall there were three tandem couples from the Seattle area. We had lunch with one team that had a Litespeed before the ride and played tag with another while on the ride that had an Ericson. I think the third team, also on an Ericson, was way too fast for us to get to know. We are the Southern California couple that was on a blue Santana that had mechanical problems and still managed to finish on time. Please say hello to them for us.
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