Reasons for getting a Tandem ...

This has always been one of my favorite threads I've ever read, and so I don't lose it (in case the bikelist website goes down) I wanted to re-post it here for archive purposes.

source http://search.bikelist.org/?SearchS...ming"&SearchPrefix=*msgsubject&SortBy=MsgDate[a]&Scope=tandem

Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=tandem.10311.0276.eml
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 05:49:09 -0800 (PST)
From: "Yode" <rye37(AT)cox.net>
Subject: [T(AT)H] Re: Reasons for getting into tandeming in the first place (La Vida Tandem)

Many of us, at one time in our lives, found ourselves married to someone we loved, but with whom we had one problem or another sharing our love for cycling. Most, but certainly not all, of those mates, had some positive cycling experience, but were not up to trying to keep up with a former,(or present) racer, or at any rate, a stronger cyclist, but were willing to trust their lives to another cyclist, by becoming a stoker. For some of those (this is a weeding out process y'know) folks, tandeming has become a passion.

There's no way of knowing the percentage of people who, having given tandeming a try, have decided, like us, that they enjoy it and wish to have it remain part of their lives. OK Mark, a big part. As this is not riding season for many of you. Not us, it's perfect cycling weather here, so please stay away, particularly on November 22, when we, together with 5000, or so of our closest associates, will engage in El Tour d' Tucson, (If this was WORD, I'd be getting those red lines with "sentence structure" all over this post.) Lets share stories of how and why we have become tandemists. We might even hear from those who tried it and decided that it wasn't for them.
Yode
(not an English professor)

 

Re: Reasons for getting into Tandeming...

Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=tandem.10311.0282.eml
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 06:23:59 -0800 (PST)
From: "Steve Freides" <steve(AT)fridayscomputer.com>
Subject: [T(AT)H] Re: Reasons for getting into tandeming in the first place (La Vida Tandem)

My wife grew up on Ferry Road, down the road from the Shrine of Czestochowa outside of Doylestown, PA ,) - no shoulders and lots of car traffic on the two-lane country road going to the shrine and no opportunities to putter around on a bicycle on a regular basis.

Tandeming was her first real chance to ride. It lead, over time, to her getting her own single bike and actually preferring to ride that to the tandem most of the time. Bronwen's skills and fitness as a cyclist have improved to the point that we can enjoy riding single bikes together without me feeling like I'm going terribly slowly and that's what we do the majority of the time when we want to get some exercise on the bikes together.

We still ride our tandem, choosing it when we want to spend time more "together" than focused purely on "exercising". We got our first tandem 8 years ago and still try to take a tandem ride on the day of our wedding anniversary each year. We now take most of our tandem rides as captains, each of us with a child (often not one of our own!) behind us. We'll be married 20 years next June.

Steve "kin ahurra - as they say where I'm from" Freides

 

Re: Reasons for getting into Tandeming...

Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=tandem.10311.0285.eml
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 08:27:52 -0800 (PST)
From: jrf99(AT)att.net
Subject: [T(AT)H] Re: Reasons for getting into tandeming in the first place (La Vida

I'd like to expand this thread to include reasons for staying in tandeming.

We got interested for the most commonly expressed reason--one of us was a stronger rider than the other and we wanted to ride together. Before the tandem, we were about equally experienced riders on singles but there was a definite strength difference. For us, the tandem worked exactly as advertised. We love riding together and our total yearly mileage has gone up by at least a factor of four.

Now for reasons for staying in tandeming:

1) Riding together and ease of communication. One of our favorite activities is the "after work decompression ride". We can get out after work and enjoy some exercise while discussing the day's events and unwinding.

2) Tandem Rallys. Tandeming seems to be populated with lots of friendly and helpful people. We have really enjoyed meeting new teams at both at commercially run rallys and at the more traditional rallys.

3) A big reason for us was recovery from an illness. Two years ago Paula was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her treatment included the usual surgery, chemo and radiation. All and all, a pretty scary and demoralizing experience. Throughout her treatment, the tandem allowed us to keep riding together when she would not have been able to ride alone. She managed to log over 1000 miles on the tandem while in treatment ( I'm still in awe of this accomplishment-as are her doctors). This boosted her spirits, gave her some physical activity, and most important, gave her a feeling of being in control of her life.

Jim & Paula (still peddling madly but together) Fines
Tewksbury, Ma.
TH = 3.61 (325*111)

 

Re: Reasons for getting into Tandeming...

Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=tandem.10311.0294.eml
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 10:42:45 -0800 (PST)
From: Chuck Harmon <bikechuck(AT)yahoo.com>
Subject: [T(AT)H] Re: Reasons for getting into tandeming in the first place (La Vida Tandem)

For me it was a chance to share an activity that I
loved with my two daughters. My older daughter loved
tandeming and we shared over 10,000 miles together on
the big bike throughout her teenage years. My younger
daughter hated sitting on a bicycle seat, which is
fine with me I never pushed it.

Now I have become twice blessed. My kids have grown
and are away at college. My wife has begun to ride
the tandem and we have shared several thousand miles
together including week long supported and self
contained tours.

My tandem has brought me more smiles per dollar spent
than anything else that I have ever purchased in my
entire life.

 

Re: Reasons for getting into Tandeming...

Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=tandem.10311.0295.eml
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 10:43:26 -0800 (PST)
From: Whitmon <whitmon(AT)vineyard.net>
Subject: [T(AT)H] Re: Reasons for getting into tandeming in the first

I got into Tandems when my oldest Gaia was growing out of her bike seat at 4
years of age.

I bought a Burley Rock & Roll with a Kiddy Crank and we continued to Tow
Little sister Gracie behind the Tandem.

I bought a Piccolo and Gracie moved up behind me on the Tandem and Gaia
became tail Gunner on the Piccolo.

As we all know kids grow and along came Boooger The Wonder Triplet.(-;

I personally can't imagine not riding.

In one way Tandems/Triplets keeps me in the saddle.

In another way it is the best thing I could do for them.

My two girls as many of you know are both within the Autism Spectrum though
with Gaia and early intervention and a great deal of work you wouldn't know
it if you didn't know her history.

Cycling is the best thing for children, Typical or other wise.

I don't know where we would be with out bicycles.
They are so much more than a machine to transport us from point A to point B.

It is a way of life I have hoped to raise my children in, an example that I
have tried to be to them.

The bicycle whether it be Single, Tandem, Triplet, Quad or what ever is in
my very humble opinion, a device of Divine Inspiration.

Gaia, Gracie & David, AKA David & The Stokettes, AKA Team Boooger

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Re: Reasons for getting into Tandeming...

Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=tandem.10311.0299.eml
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 11:09:53 -0800 (PST)
From: "ronin" <ronin(AT)nac.net>
Subject: [T(AT)H] Re: Reasons for getting into tandeming in the first place (Team
Lanterne Rouge)

Since you asked:

It was the Spring of 1994, Linda and I had just purchased single bikes using my "male-logic" (yes, that is an oxymoron) that pedaling would overcome the 10 inch difference in inseam length that made walking/running together difficult. Unfortunately, Linda had leared how to dismount a bicycle by watching Artie Johnson on "Laugh In" and was covered with bruises by early Summer. Clearly "male-logic" has a few flaws (okay, more than a few, but who's counting).

In January of 1995 I (George) stopped in our LBS to pick up something, and saw a tandem hanging in the store -- there was the answer to our cycling difficulties. I brought home a bunch of brochures from that builders that the LBS sold, and I started making calls to see if anyone made a tandem that would fit the two of us. The problem we have is that my inseam is 35 inches while Linda's is 25 inches and no off-the-floor maker, builds a frame for a difference that big, of course I only found that out after many calls to various makers. Only Burley held out the hope that they might have something and actually put together a team of an associate and the son of another associate with our same measurements. The bad news was that they didn't have anything close. The good news was that they had a dealer in New Jersey who specialized in the "hard to fit team." They sent us to Tandems East where we met Mel & Barbara Kornbluh. Mel had two tandems that were "close" (one a bit too small for me and another a bit too big for Linda) and we got to try them out. By the end of a long Saturday we were convinced that tandeming was for us, albeit with a custom made frame to be built by Dennis Bushnell.

On 1 July 1995 we swung our legs over our Blue to Silver faded Bushnell made to our measure. We've had many adventures, some not-so-good and some absolutely terrific! In 1996 we went to our first Eastern Tandem Rally, and through a series of strange circumstances, wound up running the 1997 ETR; from which came Doubles Of the Garden State (DOGS). Last year we "got serious" and took almost 90 pounds off the GVW of our tandem.

Now we are both in early retirement and get to ride our tandem just about every day (weather permitting, we hate riding in wet conditions).

The DOGS are doing well with 83 members and growing. We've heard that there is a team in MA that has been tandeming for over 30 years and is in their 80's, we only hope to match their record. All we can say is that, for us, tandeming was a life changing event.

Linda & George Wells
(Alias: Team Lanterne Rouge, Team Half-Fast)
Leaders - Doubles Of the Garden State
166 Brook Drive
Dover, NJ 07801-4705
ronin(AT)nac.net
http://www.d-o-g-s.org

 

Re: Reasons for getting into Tandeming...

Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=tandem.10311.0306.eml
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 11:39:50 -0800 (PST)
From: "Ostertag, Tom (MN17)" <tom.ostertag(AT)honeywell.com>
Subject: [T(AT)H] Re: Reasons for getting into tandeming in the first pla

My wife and I started to ride bicycles in 1972 and by 1975 were doing
multiple day touring at her speed which I didn't mind. In 1979 Fran
suggested riding a tandem so we started doing some research and one of the
articles in Bicycling Magazine at the time said that the stoker should have
a "Yahoo" mentality and love roller coasters. Fran has neither, so we
didn't follow up on the research until 1987. At that time, one of the people
in our bicycling club, Keene McCammon, put an ad in the club newsletter
offering his 1972 Atala tandem for sale. It was the right size for the two
of us, so we called and said we'd try it.

Keene took us and the tandem out on a country road, told us how to get on
and what to do... the first 15 seconds would have been prize material for
America's Funniest Home Videos... we were all over the road, weaving back
and forth and then we found the balance and started to ride. We had the
bike up over 20 mph and as Fran's normal riding style was 10 mph uphill,
downhill, with or against the wind, I figured I was in trouble. I asked
Fran how she liked it and much to my surprise she said "I love it." We
turned around, rode back and told Keene that we would buy the tandem.

He took us back to his home and sat us down to talk about riding together
and communicating what was going on with the bike. Then he said that he
would knock $25.00 off the price if we would join the Tandem Club of America
and the Twin Cities Tandem Club. We started to do the tandem rides with
TCTC and whenever we showed up, Keene would come over and look at "his" bike
to make sure we were taking care of it.

Keene and Bonnie, his wife had purchased a custom made Osell tandem and
didn't want two tandems (I don't know why not... we have three). Keene was
72 at the time.

Fran and I continue to do multiple day tours and club rides and she's never
passed me in the 16 years we've been riding tandem. On the other hand, she
has put only 44 miles on her half bike in the last 16 years.

Tom and Fran Ostertag
St. Paul, MN

 

Re: Reasons for getting into Tandeming...

Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=tandem.10311.0307.eml
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 11:49:33 -0800 (PST)
From: gary gromet <garygromet(AT)yahoo.com>
Subject: [T(AT)H] Reason for getting into tandeming in the first place (La Vida Tandem)

I bought a tandem so that my wife kirsten and I could
train to ride across America together.

Whether we ever get to the fitness level to make the
trip is still pending.

 

Re: Reasons for getting into Tandeming...

Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=tandem.10311.0308.eml
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 12:08:43 -0800 (PST)
From: Kenneth Stagg <kstagg(AT)harbornet.com>
Subject: [T(AT)H] Re: Reasons for getting into tandeming in the first place (La Vida Tandem)

In July just over a year ago Cindy was doing pretty well riding her single
- at least as far as propelling. She never has seemed to get comfortable
with controlling a bike, however. After a particularly grueling day (30
miles left her completely wrung out for 2 days) the subject of a tandem
came up again. This time she was willing to think about it (she wasn't
riding at all when the subject was broached previously) so I did some
calling around and we ended up going down to Portland to test ride a
Burley - not a single shop in Seattle had a small enough tandem for me to
captain available :-( If anyone had been watching it would have been
pretty comical for a mile or two but we kept at it and were feeling pretty
comfortable by the end of the shops test ride loop. The Burley didn't fit
but tandeming did - Cindy determined that she was willing to trust me
enough to relax. We bought the Erickson from long time tandem list member
Terry Zmrhal after I mentioned the poor fit of the Burley (**way** too
short in the stoker compartment!) on the list.

Now Cindy doesn't have to worry about controlling the bike so she can sit
back and wave, talk with other riders, eat, etc... and pedal - she may not
care much for braking and steering but she's shown some talent for turning
the pedals! We've only ridden about 3200 miles since we got the bike but
that's about 2900 more than she'd ridden in the 20 years prior to that.

Ken & Cindy Stagg
Tacoma, Washington

 

Re: Reasons for getting into Tandeming...

Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=tandem.10311.0309.eml
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 12:18:26 -0800 (PST)
From: Paul Meixner <meixner_paul(AT)yahoo.com>
Subject: [T(AT)H] Reason for getting into tandeming in the first place (La Vida Tandem)

Our story may or may not be typical.

I had ridden motorcycles for about 6 years prior to
getting married. At the time we got married, I was
still riding a 1978 BMW R100/7. Prior to getting
engaged, we even did a week of motorcycle camping in
VT and NH, even riding up and down Mt. Washington.

Owning a home and raising two children cut just a
little into available riding time, and the small
amount of riding I still did wasn't worth the price in
insurance and maintenance. Adding a sidecar to the
BMW to accomodate the kids was never seriously
considered. 8-(

Add to this a desire a shared desire to attain or
regain some level of fitness. The big lightbulb went
off in my head. We could start bicycling on a tandem!

Selling the BMW and associated gears and accessories
freed up some dough, and Mel at Tandems East was more
than happy to set us up with a suitable tandem and a
Burley trailer.

We haven't looked back since. Oh, yes, we do look
back, to make sure no one has fallen off the Piccolo!


Paul Meixner
NJ

 

Re: Reasons for getting into Tandeming...

Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=tandem.10311.0312.eml
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 12:29:34 -0800 (PST)
From: <bikenjoe(AT)mcleodusa.net>
Subject: [T(AT)H] Reasons for getting into tandeming in the first place

As for us we got into tandeming when my daughter and primary stoker was
about 9. She already had a couple of century rides under her belt by then.
Some friends of ours got a tandem and Angie though it was cool. Later some
other friends got a tandem and let us borrow it for a little while. We did a
couple short rides around town (total about 20 miles) then took off on a
weekend fully supported tour (3 days -280 mile) We had planned on doing it
on our singles but when the opportunity to use the tandem came up we decided
what the heck.

I said that we rode the tandem so she could keep up with me, she says it's
because I needed her to push my big butt up the hills. When we are on the
tandem I can really feel her power when we hit the hills, it's like have a
turbo-booster engine back there (she is a distance runner). Needless to say
we have logged many miles in the nine years we have been tandeming. In
addition to the miles we have accumulated many memories. With her away at
college now we don't get to ride together as often as possible but we love
it when we can. It is odd that her mom never even considered riding a tandem
until 6 or 7 years after we were divorced. I have to say she was an
excellent stoker.

I have had the opportunity to use the tandem to get many of my daughters
friends and some of my friends introduce to the joys of tandeming and the
joys of cycling in general.

As I mentioned we got the tandem so she could keep up with me I think it has
evolved to now we ride the tandem so I can keep up with her ;-)
Joe

 

Re: Reasons for getting into Tandeming...

Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=tandem.10311.0314.eml
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 13:25:18 -0800 (PST)
From: tandemcat(AT)juno.com
Subject: [T(AT)H] Re: Reasons for getting into tandeming in the first place


I just happened to pick up an old magazine around the house that had
an article about how great tandems were for helping cyclists with
dissimilar abilities stay together. Since I had been taking the kids
at my school out for rides, and experienced the frustration of
waiting for slow riders at every milepost along the trail, it sounded
like a really great idea. But of course I was sort of scared of the
starting, both in terms of learning to ride one as well as the cost
factor. Enter the Trail-Gator! I won the bid on one on eBay for $60. It
took a bit of coaxing to install it, but I had a little 20-inch 5-speed
bike that was just the right size to go behind my 27-inch single. After I
got it together, I duly followed the advice on various
Web sites and rode the combination for several miles without a stoker, to
get used to it. The first ride with one was a really big thrill, even if
it was a bit squirrelly, and I instantly decided that I had to get a real
tandem. I got my big toe wet with the Huffy Savannah, which was an ideal
starter tandem with its step-through frame, and has been great for
training new captains. Then I got excited all over again when I saw an
aluminum frame on the Chuck's Bikes site, and learned a lot as I built it
into a beautiful working machine--still my favorite out of all bikes of
any kind. After that it was a pretty fast progression to a tandem
Trail-A-Bike, a Trek T1000, and a Burley Piccolo. I'm absolutely delighted!
http://www.stmattpitt.org/milepost
(two pages of pictures)
Mark Shields

 

Re: Reasons for getting into Tandeming...

Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=tandem.10311.0316.eml
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 13:57:38 -0800 (PST)
From: "Burckhard, David" <david.burckhard(AT)ngc.com>
Subject: [T(AT)H] Re: Reasons for getting into tandeming in the first pla

Since cycling has always been an important part of my life, I considered the
concept of tandeming as a natural extension even before women were an
important part of my life. This was, however, a long time before I
considered owning a tandem.

At one long time in my life when downhill skiing consumed me, girlfriends
either skied or weren't girlfriends. Not coincidentally, hard-core skiers
and bike riding go hand-in-hand. My ski group and cycling group were
synonomous. In the '80s, a progression of girlfriends would stop by a
certain bike shop in Los Altos, California, and eye a variety of tandems. I
kinda thought that whenever I bought a tandem, I'd have married whoever was
the current girl. I actually resisted the urge to buy because remaining
single was a concept heavily defended by my bachelorhoodliness. Still, I
coveted those two-fers. As an aside, I did buy a mountain bike at the shop
for my girlfriends (whoever they may have been) because they were mostly
roadies.

Out of the blue, my life's True love appeared, not on the slopes, road
shoulder nor trail, but, in a restaurant waiting area. She was neither a
cyclist nor a skier but too perfect for me to allow her to get away. She
never got the skiing thing down but took to riding and looked as comfortable
as a life-long rider when we got her new Specialized Allez back in the days
when they were still steel. It's still a great riding bike today. We've been
married ten years.

I gave up skiing without regret although the memories linger. But we spent a
lot of time on bikes. Occasionally we'd stop by the Los Altos LBS and look
longingly at the tandems but wince at the price tags especially facing a new
mortgage and my job as court jester for a defense firm didn't pay very well.

In the '90s a riding couple we knew and were close with had a tandem. We
were even more motivated to get a tandem and started researching. Meanwhile
our friends began suffering some relationship problems and eventually split
apart. They offered us their tandem for a giveaway price and we couldn't
refuse. I still ride with each of them but, sadly, not all together.

We use the tandem for longer rides where we have to keep up with strong
singles. Keeping up usually means pulling. I think folks see it the tandem
as a real strong symbol of a strong union built on cooperation,
communciation and mutual goals and having a whole lot of healthy fun at the
same time. I'd like to think our marriage is built on the same principles.

dave burckhard

 

Re: Reasons for getting into Tandeming...

Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=tandem.10311.0325.eml
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 17:00:18 -0800 (PST)
From: "howard" <fressenius.fr(AT)verizon.net>
Subject: [T(AT)H] Re: Reasons for getting into tandeming in the first place

My wife and I got into tandeming in 1996 after she suffered a head injury
that left her unable to balance a single bicycle. We were faced with the
choice of either no longer riding together or buying a tandem, so we chose
the latter. She loves it!

Howard

 

Re: Reasons for getting into Tandeming...

Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=tandem.10311.0326.eml
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 17:19:23 -0800 (PST)
From: bike42 <r.friedman.1(AT)alumni.nyu.edu>
Subject: [T(AT)H] Re: Reasons for getting into tandeming in the first place



Why we got into tandemming. Easy, keep our marriage together. I ride
faster then her on singles. Telling her to go faster and she telling me to
slow up grew old real fast and a lot of silence.
Tried a tandem and we where hooked. Now she tells me to go faster.)

bob

______________________

TEAM FRIEDMAN

On the average all rides are flat.