Tandem Cycling - Etr

ETR is only a month away. Anyone from here going? How about on a triple or bigger? Hope to have some company for the little stoker. We told him there might be a kid or two.

ETR is the Eastern Tandem Rally (http://www.easterntandemrally.org/) (I had to search this, so now, no one else will have to).

We're going but our youngest is graduating high school this week. We just bought the bike the end of last season and are getting road ready again. We are looking forward to the event. It will be a nice change in that when we get on the bike it we pick a distance and just go.

It will be interesting riding in a different format, taking the time to enjoy the sites along the way.

Have attended dozens of tandem rallies all over, but never did ETR.
There are always kids at tandem rallies riding stoker . . . and quite a few trail-a-bikes and trailerkidz too!
Have seen triples, a couple quads and even a quint at rallies.
Enjoy the ride TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Sorry,
Didn't think I would have to explain ETR here! :p Last year was our first rally after 10 years. Didn't take the triple as the small stoker was still getting the hang of things. There was only one triple last year. Some of our friends have been going for years, and commented that there used to be a lot more kids.

TandemNH, look for the red triple! Maybe we will hook up again on the roads of NH

TandemNH, look for the red triple! Maybe we will hook up again on the roads of NH

What part of the state do you mainly ride? We live in the south/central.

Thought about it, but its been sold out for a while.

Every once and a while the sun and moon align such that we can combine a July visit to my folks up near Reading, PA with an ETR or MATES event, and this just happened to be one of those years.

Hope to see some old friends from ETR at Frederick, MD back in '01 and the MATES rally at Harrisonburg, VA and other events that have brought some of them well south of the Mason Dixon line as well as making new acquaintances.

What part of the state do you mainly ride? We live in the south/central.

We actually live in MA, but have a cottage in Grafton. Northwest of Newfound Lake. Near Ruggles Mine. The tandem or triple doesn't head north from home! Too many hills for the triple, and with the little one, there is no babysitter up there. We are thinking of bringing up the triple on the weekend of the 4th of July to keep him riding before the rally. We did find some flat terrain between the hills!:eek:

Anyone from here going?

My wife and I are signed up and will hopefully make it.

Just about any where we go in NH its all about the hills. Our typical evening ride involves 5+ hills, so we have come to look forward to hitting the hills. I am thinking ETR will be a breeze. Our biggest challenge may be just trying to take it slow and easy. We shall see. We may have to head south to ride some of their hills, just for fun!!

We're signed up and looking forward to the rally!

Bloomington, IN

ETR is only a month away. Anyone from here going? How about on a triple or bigger? Hope to have some company for the little stoker. We told him there might be a kid or two.

Hi. We'll be riding ETR with our 8 and 3 yr old stokers. We'll be on a blue Cannondale and a black Bike Friday. Heard that there are 19 children in attendance. Looking forward to meeting other cycling families.

Hi. We'll be riding ETR with our 8 and 3 yr old stokers. We'll be on a blue Cannondale and a black Bike Friday. Heard that there are 19 children in attendance. Looking forward to meeting other cycling families.

Excellent! Our little stoker is really getting into it this year. He is really pushing up the hills, and having fun. We have been doing 30 mile rides with him. Like to bump him up a little before ETR. Are you guys on 2 tandems, or some other combination? We could not get a room at the inn, but are registered. Staying off sight a few miles away.

Excellent! Our little stoker is really getting into it this year. He is really pushing up the hills, and having fun. We have been doing 30 mile rides with him. Like to bump him up a little before ETR. Are you guys on 2 tandems, or some other combination? We could not get a room at the inn, but are registered. Staying off sight a few miles away.

Great! Hope to meet you there. We've graduated this year to two tandems. Last year, it was a tandem, burley piccolo, and burley solo train, or tandem and single-bike pulling the burley solo. Not the best of situations, but it kept us together. Did a 38 mi organized ride last weekend, hope to be up to 50 by ETR. Stokers will likely do better than captains. :)

Great! Hope to meet you there. We've graduated this year to two tandems. Last year, it was a tandem, burley piccolo, and burley solo train, or tandem and single-bike pulling the burley solo. Not the best of situations, but it kept us together. Did a 38 mi organized ride last weekend, hope to be up to 50 by ETR. Stokers will likely do better than captains. :)

We bought our triple used. They had the triple and a tandem tag along! :eek::eek: Was their first tandem too.

Just found out they had a cancellation, so we will be staying at the host site. Were originally going to be off sight as it was booked upped. Trying to keep the kids together.

Heading to PA later this morning. Hope to see a few of you there and meet you. We will be on the big red machine. Red Bushnel triplet. Say hi if you want. :thumb:

Paul

Please post when and where ETR 2010 will be. This is usually announced at the event. We had to miss this one, but hope to get to the next one.

Please post when and where ETR 2010 will be. This is usually announced at the event. We had to miss this one, but hope to get to the next one.

4th of July weekend, in Saratoga Springs NY. Just got in from a 7 hour drive. :twitchy:

Sweet 2.5 hour drive!!!

Sweet 2.5 hour drive!!!

So how hilly is it really out there? They said rolling and valley rides. Trying to plan already for next year. They also said flat to rolling this weekend. 6 year old and a triplet, we are still looking for the flat section! :roflmao2: We did do a fast run at the end of Friday's ride running with 5 really fit teams in the 18-22 range. Of course we were done after that!

We are up in the Burlington VT area. If the topography there is anything like the topography here I would say that it can be plenty hilly, or just a little hilly. Our usual rides usually include ~1000 feet of elevation gain for every 10 miles (though we can find flatter and much hillier). Grades range from flat to ~10-12% with plenty of sustained 5-7% for less than a mile at a time. I've driven through that area before and there were plenty of climbs, but there were flat areas between the climbs (at least they seemed flat in a car at 50mph). Probably more rolling than flat. Next time we drive back to Ohio I will have to pay more attention when we are in that area.

Sunday's ride with Mel & Barbara K. of TandemsEast.com.... and other tandem friends.

Photo courtesy of the tenacious shutterbug and list member pablopsd. Thanks so much Paul :thumb:



Although not obvious, the tandem almost completely hidden from view and behind us is a brand-new, 3rd Calfee.

Just completed our first ETR... can't wait for the next!! We had a great time, even more than just the rides. Everyone was great to talk and ride with. So many bikes so little time. We are looking forward to NY. Compared to NH riding, PA riding was sweet! They did a great job n the jerseys, can't wait to see what they will do for the NY rally.

This is a great way to get use of yor tandem and spend time with a lot of nice people... bring on NY!!!

Sunday's ride with Mel & Barbara K. of TandemsEast.com.... and other tandem friends.



Although not obvious, the tandem almost completely hidden from view and behind us is a brand-new, 3rd Calfee.

HEy nice picture. Must have been an absolutely awesome dedicated photographer that chased you all of creation to get the shot! Hmm, wonder who that may be.....:D:D

Just completed our first ETR... can't wait for the next!! We had a great time, even more than just the rides. Everyone was great to talk and ride with. So many bikes so little time. We are looking forward to NY. Compared to NH riding, PA riding was sweet! They did a great job n the jerseys, can't wait to see what they will do for the NY rally.

This is a great way to get use of yor tandem and spend time with a lot of nice people... bring on NY!!!

tandemNH, we never got a chance to talk. maybe we will meet in NH before the next ETR.

Paul

HEy nice picture. Must have been an absolutely awesome dedicated photographer that chased you all of creation to get the shot! Hmm, wonder who that may be.....:D:D

Absolutely!! It's now one of my favorite photos as Mel & Barbara have become very special friends and we had a wonderful time with them at ETR... pretty much the first chance we've had to ride together despite knowing each other and corresponding for nearly 10 years.

Thanks so much for sharing... and if you'd like me to to add the credits.:thumb:

Thanks so much for sharing... and if you'd like to to add the credit.:thumb:[/QUOTE]

:thumb: No Problem! Just kidding. Had a good laugh when I scrolled through and saw the photo. That wasn't even hot of the FTP line before you posted it! I enjoyed running around and shooting since the stokers were a little under the weather. Nice to put a face to the screen name. Malcolm actually took a shot for us with my camera on Saturday when we finished up. It was the first time my 6 year old has smiled for a posed shot. He was the one hiding in back for the group shot Sunday.

That wasn't even hot of the FTP line before you posted it!

Like I said, it became and instant favorite for me given the special nature of the photo. Debbie and Barbara will no doubt not appreciate it as much as Mel and me; however, such is the bane of a stoker's existence sitting aft of the captain.

For others who don't have a clue what we're talking about, pablopsd was at ETR and on Sunday he found himself without a team to captain. Being a true patriot, he spent the day stalking tandems out on the Sunday ride in his Ford pick-em-up truck, being pre-positioned in strategic locations where bucolic Lancaster County scenes would provide the backdrop for Cat 5 cyclists such as yours truly and my lovely stoker and spouse, Debbie (hidden from view). I want to say we encountered pablopsd at least five times on Sunday, to include at the edge of three cornfields where an Amish buggy was in the wrong place at the wrong time and dashed his perfect approach shot as we neared the T intersection that would have us sweeping by as we took a sharp left-hander.

Ah, ETR... It was a grand time to be sure. I wish we lived a bit closer and/or that more ETRs were held in early July so that we could attend more often. Merlin would have a blast running with the DOGS at one of these events who were kind enough to let us tag along on Friday's ride... noting that they traditionally take it easy on Fridays. Were the latter not the case we'd have been riding solo to be sure. As it was, we shared most of the ride with the DOGS and finished the final stretch between Intercourse and the Inn with Malcolm & Judy because, well, no team should ride alone at a tandem rally.

To those who have never attended a rally, you don't know what you're missing. I'd venture a guess that at least 50% of the true tandem experience comes once you embrace the rallies and form fast and long-lasting friendships with other enthusiasts who attend rallies.

Here is the shot Malcolm was kind enough to take of us. Anyone else that saw me stalking the tandems on Sunday, I have a lot of pictures. Some from Saturday too. Friday for us was fun. we went on the ice cream loop, and had ice cream at 10 am. Stokers were smiling! We ended up coming back with a team that was running pretty strong, then met up with 4 other teams, and we all ran pretty fast for the last 15 miles. Maybe that is why my team couldn't ride on Sunday?

If anyone was on the road and saw me shooting pictures coming into lunch on Saturday, or on the road on Sunday, I would be happy to email you some files. Send me a PM or ask here. BTW, on Saturday, I was out near the road, not up near the farm while I was shooting. No cost for the pictures, just out enjoying myself.

Paul

Here is the shot Malcolm was kind enough to take of us.
I don't pretend to be an expert on tandems, especially triples, but don't those timing chains look a little on the loose side?

Hopefully we will cross paths someplace here in NE. We try to sneak in rides whenever we can and which ever direction hits us when we are ready to ride. Sorry we missed you at the ETR. As rookies we really enjoyed the rides and festivities.

Hopefully we will cross paths someplace here in NE. We try to sneak in rides whenever we can and which ever direction hits us when we are ready to ride. Sorry we missed you at the ETR. As rookies we really enjoyed the rides and festivities.

How could you miss us? We were big enough! :) Besides the middle stoker was talking with everyone too.

Paul

I don't pretend to be an expert on tandems, especially triples, but don't those timing chains look a little on the loose side?

Funny, I thought the same thing when I looked at the pictures. Doesn't look that bad in person though. Strange.

Funny, I thought the same thing when I looked at the pictures. Doesn't look that bad in person though. Strange.

They always sag more as the pedal loads increase and the longer the frame, the more pronounced it is. So, even though you'll think you've got it dialed-in on the workstand, what you get out on the road can be quite different looking. It usually takes one of four things to call out a sagging sync chain to your attention:

1. A fellow tandem enthusiast riding with you who notices and says something
2. Catching a glimpse of the sagging sync chain's shadow
3. Seeing your sync chain sagging in a photo (surprise, surprise)
4. Having a problem with your sync chain blowing apart or derailling

Had it in the shop after we picked it up, (used) but they are not really tandem guys, never mind triplets! I guess I have to mess with 2 eccentrics now!

Had it in the shop after we picked it up, (used) but they are not really tandem guys, never mind triplets! I guess I have to mess with 2 eccentrics now!

Just work your way forward and take up the slack.

All adjusted. Should make everyone happy now!