Tale of a Stokerless Weekend
 

My fearless stoker is visiting her brother in St. Louis so I sucked it up and did a 56 mile ride on my Giant Aluminum single. Well, I did move my saddle over from the tandem. Let me say I'm not doing that again. Hadn't ridden that long on the single since last April and I felt every pebble; sure, I accelerated a bit faster and climbing was easier, but only 1/2 the fun. I've got four choices:
1)forbid my Wife to go out of town, 2)find a backup stoker, 3)strap 50 lbs of weight to the back of the tandem in lieu of a stoker or 4) buy a spiffy, cushy carbon or titanium frame (or maybe steel, like our tandem).

I'm opting for 2. If this happens again and I know in advance I'm posting a "help wanted" ad on the clubs elist although I probably should work this problem in advance. How many of you have a backup?

The worst part is there were 4 tandems on this ride and it would have been great to ride with our "kind"

Check out the RoboStoker thread . . .
Or ' ' ' put a "Help Wanted" sign on back of the tandem and entice one of the solo biker chix?

There was a thread on stoker replacements and the trouble you can get into, no clue how to search for it now. Maybe somebody who posted there can remember.

I would have to go with option #4, a zippy carbon one.....that would be far cheaper than what a female option #2 would cost in me in divorce court... if I lived long enogh to get there :)

My stoker is quite willing to let our adult daughter go with me as a backup stoker. Beyone that she is quite protective. That's when the Madone (option #4) gets out!

Any excuse for a new bike, right???

been there done that
 

My 10 year old Giant OCR1 had spent the last 5 years on the trainer until my work schedule changed giving me every other Friday off. Well one ride on that aluminum shock machine had me searching e-bay. I now ride a Lemond Zurich half carbon half alloy on my lonely days.

One technique for primary stoker motivation is to find a secondary stoker who is fit, pulchritudinous, nubile and wears corrective lenses. You designate this stoker as "vision impaired". Should your primary stoker be unavailable, indisposed or disinclined, you adopt a selfless air and say, "Don't worry, I'll just ride with my VI stoker, Kaitlin." I'm thinking that the primary stoker might have some ambivalence about the riding with the VI stoker, and be more inclined to participate in the future so as to reduce the necessity of resorting to the VI stoker.

But, I haven't tried this, so maybe someone here can try it, and report how it works out.

I like option #3. Even though I love riding my tandem, I love having the option of pounding the pavement when Kathryn is busy. Also, I'd suggest getting a fixie ;-). No, really.

My assessment of the responses so far:
1. forbid my wife going out of town - no votes. Has significant repercussions
2. backup stoker -some interesting possibilities, but high risk, high reward. Might have to wait for my 7 y/o grandson or buy a kid stoker setup
3. 50 lb. weight on back of tandem - no votes despite obvious training benefit
4. spiffy carbon bike - positive reaction from voters, potential repercussions less than 2, above.

I think what I'll do is keep my eye out for an inexpensive carbon frame and just move over everything from my Giant. Even though the Giant has reasonable gear I know based on not being able to sell my wife's men's small, almost new Giant OCR1 that I wouldn't get anything for the bike.

Thanks, all for your excellent suggestions:thumb:

True story.
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h1...Ryan/bears.jpg

Yeap....I'll have to second "option #4." A "female option #2" would get me in some serious trouble......LOL, and there aren't too many other folks (speaking of males) that would fit back there anyway.

Option 5
 

I would recomend a zippy carbon mountain bike! Just got back from a nite MTB ride, we had scheduled a tandem ride for this evening but stoker did not to want to ride in the rain. Perfect opportunity to go for a night MTB ride.

I had my son riding at 8 y/o with crank shortners. Much easier to install/uninstall than a child stoker set-up.

Another vote for option 4. BTW, I ride an aluminum Giant single almost 2000 miles a season. Buy a better seat and or wheels - money well spent. Back to option 4. Remember that the formula for the ideal number of bikes to own is X+1 where X=the number of bikes currently owned.