Our tandem X-country so far; team age, 127
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Our tandem X-country so far; team age, 127
Tandem friends:
I wasn't sure we'd make it past the Sierra Nevada, self-supported on our Co-Mo Speedster and both of us in our 60s. But we find ourselves in Kansas, my wife of 42 years and I, on a tour from SF that has gone exceedingly well so far.
So I thought I'd drop a line here and a few pix, in case we can inspire other tandemmers to do the same! Our route is Adventure Cycling Association's Western Express and Transamerica routes (progress map at bottom).

Above: Westcliffe, Colo., heading eastward toward the prairies.
Below, several mountain ranges earlier, arriving in Hite, Utah, at 10 a.m., temperature approaching 100.
Bottom pic: Marienthal, Kansas, early morning.


Below: our progress after 33 riding days; each segment is one travel day (map via ridewithgps).
I wasn't sure we'd make it past the Sierra Nevada, self-supported on our Co-Mo Speedster and both of us in our 60s. But we find ourselves in Kansas, my wife of 42 years and I, on a tour from SF that has gone exceedingly well so far.
So I thought I'd drop a line here and a few pix, in case we can inspire other tandemmers to do the same! Our route is Adventure Cycling Association's Western Express and Transamerica routes (progress map at bottom).

Above: Westcliffe, Colo., heading eastward toward the prairies.
Below, several mountain ranges earlier, arriving in Hite, Utah, at 10 a.m., temperature approaching 100.
Bottom pic: Marienthal, Kansas, early morning.


Below: our progress after 33 riding days; each segment is one travel day (map via ridewithgps).

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#2
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Very inspiring...keep at it and enjoy the sights!
#3
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Are you camping along the way, or is this inn-to-inn, or…?
#4
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Awesome, keep posting!!. Are you blogging or chronologing your trip?
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Camping, mostly. Occasionally staying in free lodging offered to cyclists, some noted on the ACA maps. We carry tent, pads, sleeping bags, stove, 2 days’ worth of dry food and buy food at local markets. We’ve stayed in motels a few times.
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#7
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Fabulous!
Thanks for sharing this. My partner and I have talked about doing a small version of this and you are showing that it is possible to go self-supported on a tandem. I better not show her this or she'll want to go tomorrow!
Thanks again. Keep it up!
Thanks again. Keep it up!
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Thanks for the update! Stay safe and keep the rubber side down!
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Below, our finished legs:

A few pix from our final five states:
Kansas early morning:

Missouri:

In Illinois, waiting for ferry on the Ohio toward Kentucky:

In the hills of Appalachia in Kentucky:

Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia

Arriving in Yorktown, Virginia:

#13
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Astounding ride! We would love to have more stories!
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That's great! Congratulations! As I've posted elsewhere, I just picked up a used, coupled Co-Motion for touring both here and abroad. You're awesome inspiration!!! My cross country tandem adventure would be shorter than yours because I'd be starting in Oakland 
Thanks for sharing!!!

Thanks for sharing!!!
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A sampling, some not tandem-specific:
-It was fabulous to travel while communicating constantly in real time, pedaling in sync. People seem to assume a couple would be quibbling a good deal of time, but not so for us.
-America is hilly! Dang! The toughest climbs for us were in Appalachia, short but steep and hot/humid. We developed a climbing regimen for the toughest: shift to lowest gear early; take quick breaks every 15 minutes; stoker reports data from GPS to cheer us on (e.g: "900 feet climb left over 2 miles"); slow is good--repeat the matra at low riding speed: "We're hiking, no hurry." We never had to get off and walk.
-People were far friendlier to us cyclists than I expected. Passing drivers were 99.8% considerate/safe: no close calls, surprisingly, and only 4 observed middle fingers from passing drivers.
-The Adventure Cycling Association maps are a goldmine, including the routing (mostly lovely rural roads) and info on camping/lodging.
-There's pretty good infrastructure for cyclists all along the Transamerica route, including city parks that let you camp, churches that put you up, and hostels (see pic below for one example)
-An early-morning start is invaluable, at least for summer travel. We typically got going at 4:30 a.m.: several hours of cool temperatures, much less traffic (on one road nothing passed us for 3 hours), the beauty of the sunrise, being able to call it a day mid-afternoon when it's getting hot, etc.
-Being visible is crucial. We travel with two headlights, one on the dynamo, and two tail lights, one on the dynamo. We use a big ACA safety triangle and have a flag that sticks out about 2 feet to the left with a bright flashing red light at the end. Quite a number of drivers we met after they passed us said they saw us a mile down the road. (see pic below).
-Our division of labor worked out well. As pilot, I just steered and shifted and called out bumps and such. The stoker navigated--Garmin 830 + ACA paper map--and watched her rearview mirror, calling out traffic as it approached
-The chains sure do wear out fast! (Yes, I should have known.) By Kansas, less than 2,000 miles, both our rear and timing chains were beyond worn. I had to replace chain, cassette, middle/low chainrings to get back to normal. I swapped the timing chain/rings for a Gates belt drive.
-It was fun! Even more fun than we expected!
Leaving "Al's Place" bike hostel, 2nd floor of the old jailhouse in Farmington, MO., early morning:

Trying to be visible:

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In the hills east of Richmond:

Delta levee road from Brannan Island, early morning:

Heading toward Sierra foothills:

#19
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Thanks for taking the time to share your post-ride thoughts and lessons learned! All are helpful and useful for anyone planning a long trip.
The chain wear surprised me! Our Rohloff tandem came with Gates belts, and we have over 28,000 miles on the original set. They’ve been no problem, and have required no maintenance. It just never occurred to me that chains would wear so quickly. We travel with a backup set just in case.
We have GPS units for both the captain and stoker, but the stoker does most of the navigating. Navigation directions are usually the only “quibbling” we tend to have. Maybe I (captain) shouldn’t use the maps screen on my GPS computer.
I’m really glad that your final comment was that it was fun - and more so than you expected!
The chain wear surprised me! Our Rohloff tandem came with Gates belts, and we have over 28,000 miles on the original set. They’ve been no problem, and have required no maintenance. It just never occurred to me that chains would wear so quickly. We travel with a backup set just in case.
We have GPS units for both the captain and stoker, but the stoker does most of the navigating. Navigation directions are usually the only “quibbling” we tend to have. Maybe I (captain) shouldn’t use the maps screen on my GPS computer.
I’m really glad that your final comment was that it was fun - and more so than you expected!
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Looks like a fantastic adventure! Well done.
Thanks for the nice tips and observations, too.
Thanks for the nice tips and observations, too.
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Very inspiring ride you two! Thanks for all the information, while we may never do this, it is on my list!
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We started out with several 3-day self-supported trips. Then two 2-week tours. Then this.
The shorter trips confirmed we could do it and liked it, and they helped us settle on gear and develop some routines. In the end, it didn't feel like much of a jump to two months' riding from two weeks.
Meanwhile, an update: We're now team age 128 (64/64).
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please keep posting pictures and stories about the different sections of your trek!
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Meanwhile, check our each of our 61 riding days on Instagram: karenstevetandem
I didn't figure out Instagram until we were done, so I went back and recreated it, with the route map for each day and a few pix.
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Got it thanks! I'll check your trek on Instagram!