Tandem Cycling - First ride on the new tandem...
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And it was a doosey (sic). Mt. Diablo in the SF Bay Area. East bay to be specific. It was Kathryn's first time to the summit which made it even more special! We picked up the DaVinci Joint Venture 700 over at Crank-2 yesterday. Chris King Headset, Campy/SRAM groupo, Avid disc brakes front and back, DaVinci wheels with White hubs. Just an all around great feeling ride.
So we attacked the South Gate Road because it is closer to our home in Dublin. Since the bike loaded is about at the 360 lb range :-O, we took our time. About 9-10 miles to the top (98% of it climbing) at about 3900'. I was skeptical on the last ramp to the top where the gradient gets in the high teens. We just kept our heads down (no standing yet) and grind-ed up to the top. Felt good because there were singles walking. I do this ride often but this is my first on a tandem. At the top, we were greeted with applause. It made her feel "on top of the world"!
bobthib
08-30-09, 07:46 PM
Wow, looks great. Never get any vistas like that in So. Fla. Thanks for sharing. We get to "live rides" in other parts of the world with pix like this. We'll have to take a ride to South Beach and snap some pix to share. We'll wait till winter. That's our "season"
uspspro
08-30-09, 08:21 PM
And it was a doosey (sic). Mt. Diablo in the SF Bay Area. East bay to be specific. It was Kathryn's first time to the summit which made it even more special! We picked up the DaVinci Joint Venture 700 over at Crank-2 yesterday. Chris King Headset, Campy/SRAM groupo, Avid disc brakes front and back, DaVinci wheels with White hubs. Just an all around great feeling ride.
So we attacked the South Gate Road because it is closer to our home in Dublin. Since the bike loaded is about at the 360 lb range :-O, we took our time. About 9-10 miles to the top (98% of it climbing) at about 3900'. I was skeptical on the last ramp to the top where the gradient gets in the high teens. We just kept our heads down (no standing yet) and grind-ed up to the top. Felt good because there were singles walking. I do this ride often but this is my first on a tandem. At the top, we were greeted with applause. It made her feel "on top of the world"!
Were you driving around Rockridge yesterday after coming from Diablo?
We were having lunch at Zachary's Pizza after our "Berkeley Hills Death Ride" and saw a DaVinci such as yours on a roof rack.
Were you driving around Rockridge yesterday after coming from Diablo?
We were having lunch at Zachary's Pizza after our "Berkeley Hills Death Ride" and saw a DaVinci such as yours on a roof rack.
We rode today and no we rode from home in Dublin. Also, I have a mini-van so no need for a roof rack. ;-)
BTW, I LOVE ZACHARY'S!!!!!!!!!
Red Rider
08-30-09, 10:28 PM
We rode today and no we rode from home in Dublin. Also, I have a mini-van so no need for a roof rack. ;-)
BTW, I LOVE ZACHARY'S!!!!!!!!!
Zachary's FTW! Excellent pizza and customer service.
toytech
08-31-09, 12:39 AM
MMMmM Zachary's. now I am hungry again :D
gpelpel
09-01-09, 09:51 PM
Congrats on the lovely tandem and on cresting the mountain.
We also had our first ride of the tandem last weekend ('93 Santana Visa). It felt great for both of us but we set the bar lower, we stayed at valley floor level on the Iron Horse trail. The second ride was a bit more ambitious loop between Lafayette, Orinda, and Moraga.
Mt. Diablo is in the plans. I love climbing it on my single but we will need some more practice on the tandem before tackling it. Getting both out of the saddle is still a challenge.
zonatandem
09-01-09, 10:14 PM
Congrats on the tough maiden voyage of the new daV!
Stoker deserves a special hug for her effort!!!
Through the years we have seldom stood while climbing; we've got gears and we use them.
Pedal on TWOgethert!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem
Congrats on the tough maiden voyage of the new daV!
Stoker deserves a special hug for her effort!!!
Through the years we have seldom stood while climbing; we've got gears and we use them.
Pedal on TWOgethert!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem
We're working on climbing out of the saddle but have not perfected it like USPSPRO and his lovely wife have. We stayed seated on most of the climb and only stood to test the waters a bit. I love being out of the saddle as most of single riding is done on my fixie so for me, that is the biggest challenge. We'll get it I'm sure. That's what made the summit ride even more meaningful! Man, that last 1000' feet is tough when seated. Actually it's tough when out of the saddle as well:thumb: