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05-04-09, 12:25 PM
Last week, Velodiva and I spent a one week vacation cycling in Southern California with friends Sevenrider and his wife. We decided to take both our tandem and singles. My wife wanted more single work due to upcoming road races. It was a great time cycling with friends and enjoying an area where we used to live for 16 years.
By happenstance, we collected some interesting data comparing tandems and singles riding over the same course. Since cycling is very individualistic and condition dependent, YMMV by a lot. However, we thought we would share the information.
The other interesting point is that both my wife and I have been training and racing at the velodrome. So our spin is very smooth and 100 cadence seems easy. This was the first time on the tandem in a couple of months.
The ride along the coast from Carlsbad to La Jolla is one of our favorites and is pretty flat except for the climb up Torrey Pines Hill and then the descent into La Jolla.
The first time we did the route, we used the tandem but limited the ride to the top and Torrey Pines hill and then returned. The next day, we rode the singles and cycled from Carlsbad to La Jolla for lunch.
Results...based upon Garmin 705 data.
The active riding time from Carlsbad to the top of Torrey Pines hill was essentially the same both days. It was one minute shorter on the singles but within the margin of error. The division of work between the singles and tandem was about the same and maybe we pulled a little more on the singles than the tandem did. Riding with the other tandem on our singles or on our tandem did not seem to change the time. Clearly, as a group, we were limited by each others fitness / strengths and weaknesses. Our general impression was no advantage to the tandem or singles in this case.
Hill climbing...there are numerous threads and debates about hill climbing on a tandem versus climbing on a single.
I took some data points off the Garmin. Since we did not plan this, I do not have lap times and had to use estimates for a start and finish. The climb up Torrey Pines hill is approximately 1.6 miles long at an average grade of ~5% with some sections at 7 and 8%.
Tandem:
Time: 8:13
Typical Climbing Speed: 10 mph
Gearing 39/25 or 39/22
Level of Effort: Slightly above threshold
Team weight: 280 pounds
Bike weight: bike, water, bag, tools, rack other stuff ~42 pounds
Velodiva:
Time: 8:19
Typical Climbing Speed: 10 mph
Gearing 39/23 (my guess)
Level of Effort: Slightly above threshold
Weight: 108 pounds
Bike weight: bike, water, bag, tools, other stuff 18 pounds
Hermes:
Time: 8:33 (I slowed down a little at the top to see where V'Diva was)
Typical Climbing Speed: 10 mph
Gearing 34/21
Level of Effort: Slightly above threshold
Weight: 172 pounds
Bike weight: bike, water, bag, tools, other stuff 18 pounds
The times are all within my the error of my ability to select start and finish points on the graphs and note times. Even though the tandem was faster, it is well within the margin of error so for this climb, we did not see any advantage or disadvantage to the tandem or singles.
Our spin / cadence and power on this trip was the best ever. There may be something to riding a fixed gear bike, or more than likely, track racing and training at high cadence and power.
By happenstance, we collected some interesting data comparing tandems and singles riding over the same course. Since cycling is very individualistic and condition dependent, YMMV by a lot. However, we thought we would share the information.
The other interesting point is that both my wife and I have been training and racing at the velodrome. So our spin is very smooth and 100 cadence seems easy. This was the first time on the tandem in a couple of months.
The ride along the coast from Carlsbad to La Jolla is one of our favorites and is pretty flat except for the climb up Torrey Pines Hill and then the descent into La Jolla.
The first time we did the route, we used the tandem but limited the ride to the top and Torrey Pines hill and then returned. The next day, we rode the singles and cycled from Carlsbad to La Jolla for lunch.
Results...based upon Garmin 705 data.
The active riding time from Carlsbad to the top of Torrey Pines hill was essentially the same both days. It was one minute shorter on the singles but within the margin of error. The division of work between the singles and tandem was about the same and maybe we pulled a little more on the singles than the tandem did. Riding with the other tandem on our singles or on our tandem did not seem to change the time. Clearly, as a group, we were limited by each others fitness / strengths and weaknesses. Our general impression was no advantage to the tandem or singles in this case.
Hill climbing...there are numerous threads and debates about hill climbing on a tandem versus climbing on a single.
I took some data points off the Garmin. Since we did not plan this, I do not have lap times and had to use estimates for a start and finish. The climb up Torrey Pines hill is approximately 1.6 miles long at an average grade of ~5% with some sections at 7 and 8%.
Tandem:
Time: 8:13
Typical Climbing Speed: 10 mph
Gearing 39/25 or 39/22
Level of Effort: Slightly above threshold
Team weight: 280 pounds
Bike weight: bike, water, bag, tools, rack other stuff ~42 pounds
Velodiva:
Time: 8:19
Typical Climbing Speed: 10 mph
Gearing 39/23 (my guess)
Level of Effort: Slightly above threshold
Weight: 108 pounds
Bike weight: bike, water, bag, tools, other stuff 18 pounds
Hermes:
Time: 8:33 (I slowed down a little at the top to see where V'Diva was)
Typical Climbing Speed: 10 mph
Gearing 34/21
Level of Effort: Slightly above threshold
Weight: 172 pounds
Bike weight: bike, water, bag, tools, other stuff 18 pounds
The times are all within my the error of my ability to select start and finish points on the graphs and note times. Even though the tandem was faster, it is well within the margin of error so for this climb, we did not see any advantage or disadvantage to the tandem or singles.
Our spin / cadence and power on this trip was the best ever. There may be something to riding a fixed gear bike, or more than likely, track racing and training at high cadence and power.