Tandem Cycling - Anyone catch an edge and go down?

In the past few months I have had a couple of scary moments when the front wheel caught an edge in the pavement and I was barely able to keep the bike from going down. The first time we were going downhill at 20+ mph and I tried to move from the shoulder into the roadway. The roadway was higher than the shoulder and I almost lost it. The second time was just this weekend where there was an edge between the asphalt pavement and the concrete curb. This one took me longer to control and really scared me. I hope that this hasn't happened to anyone else, but then again, I don't want to be the only one either.

Why are you riding so close to the edge? Ride like you own the road, after all you have paid your taxes, so you actually do own a part of it.

I know that this might seem obvious and that road conditions can change suddenly, but after more than 40 yrs of cycling I've learnt to be aware of what's going on around me and to be very observant of the conditions I'm riding in. Look ahead and judge the circumstance, what might seem a safe course to take might finish in a huge pothole, look around but don't sight-see all the time...anyone remember Micheal Palin in Monty Python's Flying Circus Bicycle Tour and how he crashed all the time?

~30 years ago I took a nice tumble on my first ride on my first 10-speed... had grown-up on a "kid bike" of the 70's with small diameter wide wheels, and had no idea how to mount a curb with large diameter skinny wheels. I've never made that mistake again.

Whenever possible, tackle such creases at an angle as close to 90 degrees as you can get. Never less that 30 degrees, especially at speed, and hold your handlebars like they're your ***** -- don't let the crease guide you or you're done for.

EVERY TIME YOU SEE A CREASE ;


tackle such creases at an angle as close to 90 degrees as you can get. Never less that 30 degrees, especially at speed, and hold your handlebars like they're your ***** -- don't let the crease guide you or you're done for.

The first time I saw a guy try to get from the concrete curb back to the asphalt, he went down right in front of me. I was lucky (some would say skillfull, I'll take either one that doesn't involve blood or broken bones) not to crash as I ran over his bike.

I learned three things that day;


If you're on the shoulder, never cross a crease at speed if you can't do it at an angle wide enough that it has no effect on control.

Never ever ride on or get forced onto the narrow concrete between the curb and the asphalt.

Carbon tubes make loud noises that sound very expensive when they get crushed.

We ride on the road, not the sidewalk, and we stay far enough away from curbs.

When I was new to road cycling, I manages to get my front wheel in an expansion groove on a highway overpass. Didn't know enough then to avoid these or how to "bunny hop" (literally pull the bike up and out of the groove) and went down real hard (ER visit). If a road does not have a significant (18 inch) paved shoulder, you have to ride on the roadway, so that a passing vehicle must move out of your lane to pass safely. I usually plant myself 12-24 inches front the right side of the roadway. On a 2-lane road, this usually means cars have to cross the center line. If you're too close to the edge of the road, they will try to stay in the lane, passing you with a dangerous lack of clearance.
By the way, any larger crack or deep groove in your path that is parallel to the road should be avoided as a potentially serious hazard.
For the past few years, my stoker has been wearing a very bright flashing red strobe on the back of her helmet. I'm sure we get more roadway respect since then.

Why are you riding so close to the edge? Ride like you own the road, after all you have paid your taxes, so you actually do own a part of it.


We ride on the road, not the sidewalk, and we stay far enough away from curbs.

Sometimes hazards are where you don't expect them: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004334045_attorney08m.html

I have never gone down, but I do find the tandem's length and weight seem to make it feel much more likely to happen vs riding on a single. Sometimes thick paint lines even make it feel like the front wheel has "caught an edge" on the tandem, whereas on a single you don't even notice.

"bunny hop" (literally pull the bike up and out of the groove)

You can hop out on a tandem?, first time I dropped the tandem was when I tried to jump a curb as I would on a single, picking up the front wheel, but it did not budge, hit the curb broadside at low speed and we were down.

By the way I thought I had wandered into a skiing forum when I read the subject of this thread.

I had a near crash like that this summer on my single while riding in a small town in Oklahoma. Making a right turn at an intersection, I was concerned about what a lady in the car passing me was doing and didn't see the crack between two concrete sections of the road. My fault completely, but I ran straight into that thing, the bike came to a screaming stop and I kind of ran out of the pedals leaving the bike standing in the crack. In hindsight, it probably looked pretty funny, but not to me at the time. I didn't actually fall, but did incur slight wheel damage on the front.

I think the bottom line is that you've always got to be cautious because any crack or height difference in the pavement is enough to take you down if you hit it at the right (or wrong) angle.

At about mile 60 of Seattle-to-Portland, there's a railroad track in Roy that cuts across the road at a 45 degree angle. I slowed the bike down to a reasonable speed, but didn't get perpendicular enough to the tracks. The bike organizers had laid a carpet over the rails, which may or may not have helped our front tire slip into the groove. In any case, due to this error in my bike handling, we went down pretty hard and both of us were very bruised. We were very lucky we didn't do worse. We managed to limp to mile 100, then limp to mile 206. We finished at about 8:45 p.m. No bike damage.

Link (http://www.asce-sf.org/images/bike/rash.JPG)

I am very mindfull of any cracks, tracks, edges, etc that I can not cut almost perpendicularly. I must have been around 8 years old when I lost it triying to cross the RR at an angle. One of those things, like car doors that open sudenly on your path, and lately, front tire blow outs, that you never forget.

[QUOTE=Xanti Andia;7502675]You can hop out on a tandem?, first time I dropped the tandem was when I tried to jump a curb as I would on a single, picking up the front wheel, but it did not budge, hit the curb broadside at low speed and we were down.

My bunny hopping has been limited to my single. However, I have pulled the front wheel on our tandem up and over a variety of obstacles (RR tracks, curbs, large pavement ridges, etc) mainly to reduce the front wheel impact load. I imagine it would get the front wheel out of a groove/crack in the pavement on a tandem. Once your front wheel is clear, you should be able to steer the rear out of the groove.

It would be interesting to try bunny hopping with the stoker pulling up the rear of the bike. Probably more coordination than realistically possible.

don't let the crease guide you or you're done for.

This advice works for when you're riding bicycles too. Oh wait..

At about mile 60 of Seattle-to-Portland, there's a railroad track in Roy that cuts across the road at a 45 degree angle. I slowed the bike down to a reasonable speed, but didn't get perpendicular enough to the tracks. The bike organizers had laid a carpet over the rails, which may or may not have helped our front tire slip into the groove. In any case, due to this error in my bike handling, we went down pretty hard and both of us were very bruised. We were very lucky we didn't do worse. We managed to limp to mile 100, then limp to mile 206. We finished at about 8:45 p.m. No bike damage.

Link (http://www.asce-sf.org/images/bike/rash.JPG)

It's hard to say enough about being careful crossing railroad tracks. We had a very similar experience on our tandem in January and a broken femur to show for it. All healed up now without pain, but much more cautious on cracks and tracks.

Femur (http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp200/mountainaerie/femur3.jpg)

It would take at least several minutes just to list all of the various hazards and risks that can cause problems for cyclists and tandem teams.

Some are fairly obvious -- like railroad crossings, pot holes, and dead critters -- and others are not and even some of the most seasoned cyclists will still get bitten by even the obvious and avoidable hazards. Moreover, how and where we ride also factors into the risks we must accept when we saddle up and ride.

The only thing I know for sure is, when I saddle up on the tandem I'm now responsible for the safety and well-being of whoever is sitting on the back of that bike and if I exercise poor judgement or let my attention lapse the person on the back of the tandem is more likely to get hurt than me. Unfortunately, the more experience we gain as a team and the more comfortable we get on the tandem the more I find I must guard against taking unnessary risks or using poor judgement caused by the surreptitious nature of self-confidence, lest I be reminded by my stoker (e.g., 'slow down!') or, worse yet, doing something that turns us into a wadded-up mess on the road.

Bottom Line: Metaphorically speaking, we've all 'caught an edge' and will likely do so again in the future... it's just the nature of things.