Tandem Cycling - Such a beast!

Well going for my first few tandem rides was SUCH A BEAST of a thing....it was SCARY!

I picked up the Tandem from Adventure Cycles in downtown Auckland, took the wheels off and popped it on the bike rack....PERFECT! fits just fine. It was an Extreme MTB type tandem? had these meaty as tyres on it...I think they were at least 26x2" slicks...fat as. Heavy too! rockin. Drove north with the g/f and arrived at their family holiday home. Lo and behold, a gravel road! woopeee! Took it for a short spin around the paddock amongst the sheep droppings. Found it fun as to how little traction there was on the back wheel while I was braking down the hill.....then a bit p!553d when I couldnt get traction whilst spinning a low gear up the hill again. FUN!
Took it out onto the gravel road, and went up and down a few times. Found the turning circle to be HUGE. More fun!

Getting going.....well! hah! despite all the advice gathered here we kinda got going like so: Got our asses planted on the seat, with right pedal at about 45deg from top with feet on them. Left feet planted on ground. Count down, 3, 2, 1, go! and we would push down and get going with a wee bit of wobble. Got it OK on second try (first time we wobbled until we had to stop and foot down quickly) I decided it was safer to go with platforms and sneakers. All good, did a few up and downs on the road, which meant going up and down some hills, as well as manually turning around (not enough room for a U turn) Elysse mentioned once or twice that the speed was a little scary, but was OK.

Unfortunately I got a call to say there was an urgent training day that i needed to attend the next day (which was perfectly sunny and nice!!!) so we got no riding in on Sunday. (I snuck in a 30min blast in Auckland traffic on my Cervelo)

On monday we were back in Auckland, with a spare hour or so after we finally got up and all, so we geared up to go out for a ride. We walked to the top of the street, crossed the main road, and set off down the hill to the Auckland Waterfront. Did a lap of the waterfront, and really really enjoyed ourselves. As there was a curb to launch off from (start with foot on curb) Elysse could put her seat up to an optimal height without losing her balance at the start. This improved her pedalling style and made it much easier to ride as a team. At one point we had a easy tail wind, clear road, and so I let rip and got us wound up in top gear along the flat. Elysse reckoned the speed was cool :D. All in all much fun. And on the way home she didn't get scared by the slight 40k/hr downhill that I took on. We rode about 20k, in under an hour, I enjoyed it, and Elysse really enjoyed it too. Much better than running she reckons (that a gal! come to our side!) to cap it off she mentioned she didn't mind looking at my butt at all ;) knew there was a reason for wearing my good cycle shorts :D

It really numbed my hands a bit cause I didnt dare let go of the bars, but for sure I'd do it again. Thanks guys.

Brendon

Have you been convinced enough to buy one? You'll get used to starting and stopping (the hardest bits) with practise. The best way is for Elysse to get on the pedals while you support the bike, so only one of you is having to push off from the ground.

We hired one from nelson about three years ago and enjoyed it so much we bought an Apollo Tandemania Elite; good equipment without breaking the bank. We've toured around East Cape and Marlborough and taken it to Europe. We did the 2002 Round Taupo (I think there were about 30 tandems) and we were still riding when my wife had three weeks to go before our baby was due. Now that Alex is 9 months old we're looking forward to getting out on it again.

Ian

well We are about to start our Tertiary Education (I am 17, Elysse is 18) and don't live together. We live about 55-60km apart. We have very tight budgets for even going to the movies! SO in the interim, I am going to get her on the road on her single hybrid. Good luck with the Tandem riding. Are you doing Taupo this year? Hope you have accommodation....its pretty full up! I am aiming for a sub 5hour time on the Cervelo.

Brendon

We're currently in Britain, until end of December, so we'll miss Taupo this year - it's not really a goer anyway with the young one . We might look into doing it again in 2005, when Alex will be 18 months, perhaps as a relay leg or two, or me doing the first half on a single and then picking up the tandem for the second half. Who knows.

I know what it's like being on a budget, so have fun with the riding and perhaps hire a tandem again for a spin when you can.

Ian

Hi both of you form Silver Fern Country,

Sorry we beat you in the Tri-Nations but I reckon we had to get a chance as well.

Tell me more about this Taupo race. Is it big, awesome etc. Is there a website I can peek at???

We have various large races here and a big one coming up soon is the 94,7 Highveld Classic. There will be approx 25 000 cyclists taking part in this one. It normally draws in the region of 400 to 500 tandems. We start in the elite tandem class early in the morning and about an hour later the social tandem class. Last year we started in the elites but wil definitely not make the grade this year. Work pressures etc. The race winds through Johannesburg and suburbs. We will have total road closure for the day and the total reign of the town.

Other races like the Cape ARGUS comes to mind where we have in the region of 35 000 cyclists taking part. Here we circumnavigate the Cape penisula with some of the most awesome vistas you can imagine. It also has some mean climbs.

We also have various other big races all mostly in the region of 100km in legnth. They vary form large races to normal club events that draw anything form 5000 cyclists in the larger ones to 200 cyclists for the club events.

We also have a strange way of racing where the Elite race takes place as part of the main event. In most events we are seeded on a National Seeding register. In most races we are timed with a timing chip that records the times at the start an finish.

Keep those wheels spinning.

Big H

If 25,000 cyclist showed up around here for a ride, the authorities would call out the State and local police, the National Guard... and detain the perps...

A scene I would like to see...!

The year we did it i think there were 7500 people. There's a lot who do the whole 160 km, but there's also many who do it as part of a relay - either 4 x 40 km, 2 x 80 km , or any combination you can think of.

It's a great ride on a good day, right in the centre of NZ, with views to Mt Tongariro and Ruapehu, some good hills and nice flats too. Take a look at:

http://www.cyclechallenge.org.nz/index.asp

Ian

Hi

The photo below is the mass start of the Social Tandem bunch. .... Yes we are there... somewhere in the middle of the pic. They have now changed their starting order, we are now seede with the half bikes and start with them. This start is situated at the sea right under the majestic Table Mountain that towers over Cape Town... Our Mother City.

Keep those wheels spinning.

That. Is. HUGE! mint! If I ever go to SA I'll keep it in mind!

Last year there was 9,000 or 9,500 started Taupo. They are hoping to crack 10,000 this time around. Yeehaw! I aim to qualify for the classic race within the next couple of years (complete a race in under 4:20 in social grade)....they start half an hour before the social.

Brendon

You Kiwis and Southafs seem to get all the 'big' turnouts for cycling events! Good go!
Our local 'large' event is the El Tour de Tucson with 5,000+ participants last year. Choice of 108, 80, 50 or 35 mile distances coming up in November.
This will be its 22nd year; first year we had about 180 riders. So far have only missed one year of the event (boss was anti-bike, and would not let me take vacation time) so the next year I retired!
This year a group of folks who have Parkinsons disease are looking for tandem pilots to give 'em a helping hand/pedal, so have volunteered to do that. Should be fun to share with someone who otherwise would not get to ride the event.
Pedal on TWOgether!

What always amazes me about cycling in NZ is that you can get all these people to do a fun ride/race whatever and yet when it comes to using a bicycle as a form of transport (get to work, go to the shops etc) and they've never even thought of doing it. I realise that the road system, especially in Auckland, doesn't do much to encourage bicycle commuting, but it just seems the bicycle is for the weekends.

Ian

Same here in South Africa... cycling as public mode of transport does not feature. Cycling is seen as the sport of the upper class rich(not true!!!) ..... and that is seriously damaging the sport currently.

Go and look as www.cycleour.co.za for the ARGUS and http://www.highveld.co.za/cyclechallenge_2004/index.asp for the 94.7 cyclerace in Johannesburg. NZL Cyclist, if you want to enter you have untill the end of this month only!!!!!!!

Oops!!!! the link above should be www.cycletour.co.za .............. Sorry !!!!!