Tandem Cycling - 2 close shaves on the tandem

1: Two weeks ago on the way to picking up my VI stoker for a ride, a work vehicle and trailer pulled into my pathway and because of heavy traffic, stopped, blocking my way. I could either smash into him or ride up a driveway and onto the nature strip, I chose the later and thankfully avoided any damage.
I informed the company about their driver's careless driving and received a genuine apology...WOW.

2: Last week while riding with my VI stoker we found ourselves in a very dangerous position on a downhill narrowing road. It seems the Cosmos sometimes causes vehicles to arrive at a certain point at the same time. We faced a garbage truck on the opposite side of the road with a car passing it as a large semi truck bore down on us from behind. The road was disappearing very quickly and we were heading for the dirt, I held my line and moved as close to the semi as I could with barely inches between him and the road's edge. We squeezed through and survived intact, but man, was that close!! Glad I've got years of road racing experience and used to riding in tight formations.
My stoker wanted to know what had happened, with all the noise, blaring horns and me yelling abuse.....I said, "Dave, this is one time you should be glad you cannot see".

These things will not stop us riding, just make us more aware.

Glad you and stoker are ok. We've had some close calls including a semi headed towards us on a narrow country road pulling out to pass 3-4 vehicles leaving us almost no room (at 50-60 mph). Also a few close calls with RV and horse trailers; some of these folks really need lessons on towing a trailer. I wish they could bicycle a mile in our shoes.

I thought this was going to be another "do you shave your legs?" debate with a tandem twist.

Glad to see you survived both close encounters of the scary kind.

FWIW - on our team, stoker shaves her legs, captain does not shave his.

Our only close shave has been while signalling right (we drive on the wrong side) to make a turn onto a side road from a single carriageway main road half-way up a hill just after a slight curve in the road.

I looked back, saw nothing. Luckily my 6th sense and ears hear a diesel roar and decided that we should not move out into the middle of the road. A second later a large truck obviously going full tilt (est 50mph) to crest the hill passed us just as another truck came past downhill.

The trucks were a reasonable distance apart as they passed us, but I doubt they could have stopped or avoided us if we had been in the middle of the road about to turn.

regomaniac, does your name come from excessive consumption of REGO?

http://www.scienceinsport.com/rego.htm

Personally I think it's great and prefer the chocolate variety.

If it was "regomaniac”, that might well have described some behaviors of my earlier days.

Now, it's actually "regomatic", taken from "vegomatic" (you'll have to look it up). It's a nickname given to me from friends / work associates.

It started as a reference to a reputation of “can do” attitude and resourceful reliability. I try to live up to the same rep by setting and maintaining a steady pace and smooth line on the bike every weekend.

Our only close shave has been while signalling right (we drive on the wrong side) to make a turn onto a side road from a single carriageway main road half-way up a hill just after a slight curve in the road.

I looked back, saw nothing. Luckily my 6th sense and ears hear a diesel roar and decided that we should not move out into the middle of the road. A second later a large truck obviously going full tilt (est 50mph) to crest the hill passed us just as another truck came past downhill.

The trucks were a reasonable distance apart as they passed us, but I doubt they could have stopped or avoided us if we had been in the middle of the road about to turn.

mrfish, just wondering. Since you ride backwards, are your shifters on the opposite side of us too? :)

I thought this was going to be another "do you shave your legs?" debate with a tandem twist.

Glad to see you survived both close encounters of the scary kind.

FWIW - on our team, stoker shaves her legs, captain does not shave his.

Back in the day....when I solo raced and had tanned, hairless and "Oh my GOSH" muscular legs, but now SWMBO has the last word on that subject. Needless to say, now I'm like a gorilla.

I hope we don't have too many more close encounters for awhile.

We only count the hits and not the misses.
Close encounters only make us more experienced . . .and experience helps us make good decisions.
Have been hit on the tandem by one car and by one pickup truck (at 45 mph). Both times the drivers were ticketed; the pickup driver had his restricted license revoked.
All's well that ends well!
Pedal on TWOgether!
RUdy and Kay/zonatandem

mrfish, just wondering. Since you ride backwards, are your shifters on the opposite side of us too? :)

No, just the brake levers are reversed (right hand = front brake). For more info, see the "Which brake which side" section of Sheldon Brown's article on braking (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html).

My shifters are the same way round as eveyone else's.

I'm a bit odd in that I ride with my front brake operated by my left hand. One of the bikes I had aged 10 was wired that way round so I got used to it. Then subsequent bikes were the other way round. Then I bought a Colnago and decided that I didn't want to ruin the paint with rubbing cables and swapped back. After all brakes and cable routing is designed to work that way. Since then I have been happy to use my left hand on the front brake and all my bikes are set up that way.

Sorry regomatic - It was late last night and my reading ability obviously failed me.

thankfully i ride low travelled roads.

Would having your front and back lights on flashing help some of these situations? Most of my problems are with dogs.