Tandem Cycling - Florida State Time Trial Champions

The Florida State Time Trial Championships were today. We won the Mixed Tandem division. Pretty windy day, head to a cross wind on the way out. We were expecting somewhat of a tail wind on the way back, and it was really still a hurting cross wind on the way back.

40k in 1:02 for 24mph average. Missed our goal of sub one hour. Me running the bike off the road at the turnaround didn't particularly help the time.

Hail To The Champions!!! Congrats!!!

is there a FL Champions jersey for you two to wear?

Great job champs! Love them turn-arounds on a tandem.

You guys really work it ...Very, Very Cool, Congrats!!!

Bill J.

Congrats!:thumb:

Yes, those tight U-turn arounds can be a bit close on a twicer!
Years ago beat out a couple 20 years our junior in a TT because they ended up in the dirt at the turn around with their tandem.
Our then tandem had an utlra-short wheelbase (60 and 1/4"!) which made it just fine.
More palmares for your trophy case!!! Congrats!
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

:cheers: to both of you. You put a lot of work into the effort and it paid off. Congrats Champs.:thumb:

Nice work!! :thumb:

So did you use the wheelcovers on the rear wheel? How did the speed levers work out for your stoker?

Way to go!!! Congrats!

Good job folks.

PK

Nice work!! :thumb:

So did you use the wheelcovers on the rear wheel? How did the speed levers work out for your stoker?

We did; took a fair amount of cobbling to get it to lay flat. First enlarging the hole around the hub, and then cutting a slit. Covered the open part with packing tape, not shown in the pic, which worked pretty well from an aero point of view, but looked pretty bad.

The speed bars worked pretty well. The pressure on Deb's forearms in that position casued her to have a tennis elbow like pain in her forearm, and she ended up only using them about 60% of the time.

I think more practice with them, and some work on core stregthening and they would have worked better.

I checked the start times for the event. Were you the only entry?:D 95% of winning may be just registering and showing up. This is especially true in the tandem division:thumb:

At the NorCal / Nevada District 40K TT Championships, we get about 10 to 15 teams spread over different categories - men, women and mixed and further broken down by age groups. We do the 110+ mixed and usually get 2 to 5 entries. It takes a 55 minute time to be competitive to win in our age category.:thumb:

I figured I was going to have to confess that at some point.

I think it actually worked against us just a bit. Some competition I think would have pushed us to be a touch faster.

In past years here, there have been some extremely fast tandem teams do the State TT, and some more recreational teams. We were hoping some of the latter would have shown up.

55 minutes is very fast. That would win Masters National Mixed 110+ more years than not, looking at old results.

Merlin, did you ever consider trying a set of aerobar armrests for your stoker, without the rest of the bar as a way to get narrow and fairly low without putting causing stoker arm discomfort.

Well done and congrats! Glad your hard work paid off.

Merlin, did you ever consider trying a set of aerobar armrests for your stoker, without the rest of the bar as a way to get narrow and fairly low without putting causing stoker arm discomfort.


We did, played around with a set of aerobars, with various amounts of bar from the full extension, to no bar at all, and couldn't get anything to really work, given the limitations of the length of the stoker's cockpit.

The speed bars are essentially just like riding in the drops, albeit narrower. She just wasn't used to riding in the drops for an hour, which I think would probably be harder, for me at least, than riding in aerobars for an hour.

I figured I was going to have to confess that at some point.

I think it actually worked against us just a bit. Some competition I think would have pushed us to be a touch faster.

In past years here, there have been some extremely fast tandem teams do the State TT, and some more recreational teams. We were hoping some of the latter would have shown up.

55 minutes is very fast. That would win Masters National Mixed 110+ more years than not, looking at old results.

In race reports, I report the field size because it is relevant. However, IMHO, a win is a win. All other teams had the chance to train, register, show up and finish and they elected not to. I think it is more fun to race with competition and develop the relationships. However, you won and I think it is great.

Last year, the winning time in our district for the 110 + group was 55:18 and we were second with a 62:18. I suspect if my stoker had not competed in the 20K ITT in the morning, we may have got below 60 minutes. Our competition has won Natz on the tandem.

Last year, both my wife and the other team's stoker competed in the morning at 8AM in a 20K ITT and the women joined the captains to compete in the 40K TTT at 10:30AM. So both teams thought it was a fair competition. So the 55:14 was with the stoker having a 20K ITT under her belt. Two years ago, she set a National Record for the 55 to 59 age group in the ITT.

Congratulations. :thumb: