cgblack

We're on our tandem three to four times a week if we're training for a ride, and at least twice a week otherwise. We try to get in at least 75 miles a week, and pushed it to 125 preparing for Tahoe.

124Spider

OP here.

Our summer is over now, so the tandem is put away (the rains have started, and are not likely to go away until late spring); we'll be doing almost all of our riding on our smart trainers (alas).

But we sure enjoyed our introduction to tandem riding this summer. We got the bike in May, but spent almost all of May out of town. Then we put about 1700 miles on it since then.

It's been far more fun than we ever would have expected!

Mark

noimagination

Keeping riders of differing fitness and skill levels together is definitely a major benefit. Without the tandem, rides with the wife are not challenging at all - she learned to ride as an adult, and besides not being able to do the things that I can do without thinking (pedaling out of the saddle, cornering at speed, etc.), she is very uncomfortable in traffic.

Another major benefit, from our point of view, is that it is a cooperative activity. It is amazing the amount of feedback you get from the pedals - I can tell how my wife is feeling without turning around just from the feedback from the pedals to my feet (one of the reasons we hated the DaVinci when we tested it: that feedback is missing). Tandem riding is a very different animal from riding my single, it satisfies different needs. I love both.

budhaslug

Depending on your trainer setup (usually dropout width range) you might be able to put your tandem on one of the trainers and ride together all winter. It is what we do, and its still a lot of fun and keeps us in sync for the next season. Admittedly we do it because my stoker/wife doesn't ride a single at all.

124Spider

Yeah, we're thinking about that. I'd have to buy a 9-speed cassette, but it would be fun to do it occasionally
.

velojym

There's the overall difference in rider ability, but also different types of ability. That's nothing new to most here, but I thought it bears mentioning.
My wife and I bought a Santana tandem a few years back, in order to stay together on rides while still getting a decent workout. While I was generally faster overall,
she could sprint like nobody's business. On the tandem, I was a diesel, keeping a high pace for long distances without too much worry of tiring out. When a burst of speed was needed,
however, once or thrice she almost threw me out of the saddle with torque.

Those were good times, and we didn't have nearly the communication problems we have now. The Santana is sitting in our basement gathering dust right now, and we're both way outta shape.

I wonder, if I bring it out and service the thing...

jim_pridx

We've been married 44 years and riding tandem for 33 of those years. If anything, tandeming may just be the primary reason why we've stayed together.......

Carbonfiberboy 

This is maybe our last weekend in "summer trim." I'll probably put on the full fenders and winter tires this next week. We ride outside at least once a week year-round. Rain rides are actually really fun. You have to have fenders and appropriate clothing, but it can be nice and cozy out there in the rain on our tandem. Of course we also ride our trainers in winter, go the gym, all that, though we also ride our trainers in summer for some specific workouts, too. We usually limit our rain rides to once a week, partly to keep the bike maintenance down to a reasonable level, and partly because that's a lot of laundry because we don't have as many changes of winter clothing as we have of summer clothing.

Carbonfiberboy 

Other riders and gym members frequently ask us how we keep on doing it at our age. The answer is "never stop."

GuyRocket

Although we both ride singles too, we love our tandems. We started on a mid 90's Santana MTB and for our 15th anniversary invested in a Calfee Tetra. They've become a central feature in our lives over the years, to the point that they now hang in our bedroom because they're beautiful, it reminds us we're a team, and reminds us to go ride them. We occasionally attach a tandem trailer and have a 30' long train with the kids. I'll post photos someday if I ever get my post count high enough...

velojym

Thanks, carbon. I don't think we'll be "upgrading" the Santana anytime soon. It's just too good a bike for what I think our riding will ever be. Casual touring (I hope) and club rides. I can see swapping the saddles for Brooks models, and maybe match up the handlebar tape. that'd look sweet on the purple frame. Beyond that, I can see riding it into the sunset pretty much as-is.

Oh... yeah... need to find a NOS Arai drum brake for it, unless I can find a deal on something else that's compatible.

Hermes

Recently, we did two time trials on a local 20km course. We raced it on our tandem and as a two person team on our time trial bikes. The tandem was 30 seconds faster and in both races were just under 25 mph. We have power meters on all bikes. It is hard to beat a tandem time trial time on tune trial bikes as a team.

Below is the pic from the team time trial. My wife hates this pic because she thinks she does not look fierce enough and has her head up. The reality was she was approaching the start. This was a 3 lap race so she was watching the start area since there were racers starting and possible other traffic. I was off her wheel more for the same reason. Even though we race team pursuit as a team on the velodrome, she had a problem with the exchanges in the race. She would signal for an exchange but not stop putting in power. I would have to accelerate to pass her and now I are going faster and she had to burn a match to get on my wheel. In team pursuit, the track exchanges are easier to make.



Below is a pic from the tandem time trial. It is not that obvious in this pic but I am sitting higher so that I have better forward visibility. If I changed the setup to my tested most aero position, we would be even faster on the tandem.