OT: Alleycat on a tandem?
 

Anyone have any experience doing one? Me and another guy from the shop are doing one tomorrow and being new to the whole captaining thing myself and never having him as a stoker before I am starting to think that traffic should be fun. Any thoughts?

Helmet camera video please.

Ooh, good idea, I keep forgetting about ever using mine. I meant to take it to the last race we had that was an indoor warehouse race where I rode my swingbike.

Oh good god, go ahead if you want to kill your stoker by trying to filter through a red light and forgetting the extra length of the bike.

No seriously though it sounds fun. You have to use brakes though because its really hard to coordinate a skid on a tandem.

I did one on an old single speed Schwinn tandem with my wife. It was really fun, but we stopped for food and ended up DFL. :D Two couples did one last summer on road tandems and kicked ass. They ended up coming in first and second. Or first, second, third and fourth, however you want to look at it.

This isn't OT. And it sounds like a really fun idea.

Only put off topic since we'll be running geared on a newer cannondale tandem. Hopefully there will be no skids, but it's raining tonight and a high of 25 during the day tomorrow. Video hopefully tomorrow evening.

that is why i love az btw- you would definitely earn points for rocking a tandem in an alleycat!

Definitely link that video!

No video :( apparently my cheap camera doesn't work when it's below freezing. 20 degrees seems pretty frigid down here in KY but we all had a great time. The tandem was fun, a little hard to get used to in the cornering (the stoker described the flexing as feeling as if he were on a boat.) We made pretty good time overall, the wind killed us in a few spots those. I'm still debating the wisdom on putting my hookworms on there, they smooth out the ride really well, but have a massive contact patch.

Hah! 20 degrees. Tour Da Chicago went down this morning with -30 windchills.

Someone should organize an alleycat where everyone is required to ride a tandem.

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/200...at_orros10.jpg
The Tandemcat!

aww, sad cat!
I know 20 isn't bad at all, Chicago doesn't have anything on ND though where I grew up commuting with windchills down to -50 ;)

i certainly give you props. i was watching those numbers on weather channel this morning before i went out. i think it was -47 today in minnesota.

Yes! I've been playing with this idea too, a friend of mine is going to steal his dad's really nice Cannondale tandem and we're going to give it a try this summer. Seems like you could just destroy people in low traffic areas/straightaways. Glad to hear somebody else give it a try.

While we're speaking of temperatures, is everyone else in the MW suffering like I am right now? My window has ice on the INSIDE of it right now. Like, a foot from my face is a quarter inch of ice like on the inside of a freezer. ****ty house, I hate you.

riding right now is miserable. i leave 10 minutes early, then still need 10 minutes to undress while class has already begun.