Well Mercer has started this off so I'm going to add my two pence and talk about the practice so far.
You may or may not have seen the old PG Tips advert with the monkeys riding on a tandem with the hook 'Can you ride tandem?'. Well these monkey's were bloody clever chaps because the answer to said hook was initially a very weighty 'No'. On the plus side we could fall off, wobble, ride in a trajectory modelled on a plate of Spaghetti and swear with quite some proficiency. But at first, two people in harmony - poetry in movement - eluded us like a podium eludes Ferrari in the F1.
It's a weird affair, this tandeming business. On a normal bike you push off and away you go, seemingly balancing as if it were as natural as walking. You can turn relatively tightly, dodge pot holes, skip over bumps and ruts. It's even possible to cycle without sitting down for whole journeys when you are your own boss. However, once you put balance in the hands of two proficient cyclists on the same machine, far from doubling stability, what actually happens is a crash. It is - at first - the least natural feeling you could imagine. This is especially true on the back, where in essence you are just another engine. Your job is to provide power and sit in a relatively upright fashion. When your natural instinct says steer, or adjust your balance you simply must ignore it. That's up to the bloke up-front to decide.
Starting off is perhaps the biggest trauma. The trick is to give it a jolly good push, and on the back at least, just sit tight. Forget about putting your feet back down - it's the man-up-front's job to keep the thing on two wheels whilst momentum is gained. If this fails to happen or someone goes out of rythm, that's it - bruised ankles at dawn. You have to remember that both sets of pedals are connected via a chain and if one person cycles, the other must follow suit.
If - by some chance - you do end up cycling in a straight and level fashion, there is the problem of getting to a corner. Both riders must lean into said bend equally, or it all goes a little jelly like. And forget about taking avoiding action for pot holes and ruts, if you haven't seen it 20 feet away and taken avoiding action, you're going in it. Simple as that. But eventually it clicks and you both work out what the other is doing.
Once this has happened tandeming is a joyous experience. You can keep momentum far easier than on a normal bike, and when on the back you can just sit and check out the scenery. Trust the person in front, or be trusted not to steer into a ditch, and it really is poetic. Yes, you look like a pair of screaming poofters, but those on their normal bikes aren't having half as much fun, and nor are they going half as quickly.
I'll get some pictures up on here - hopefully tomorrow, and more will follow. A video is in the pipeline, and once on the trip this will be the place to come to track our progress (or lack of).
Also, please let your friends and family know about this, and in the words of that unwashed and rather twatish Irishman Geldof; 'Give us your Fuck!ng money!'
www.justgiving.com/tandemtrek09
www.justgiving.com/tandemtrek2009
Ben
You may or may not have seen the old PG Tips advert with the monkeys riding on a tandem with the hook 'Can you ride tandem?'. Well these monkey's were bloody clever chaps because the answer to said hook was initially a very weighty 'No'. On the plus side we could fall off, wobble, ride in a trajectory modelled on a plate of Spaghetti and swear with quite some proficiency. But at first, two people in harmony - poetry in movement - eluded us like a podium eludes Ferrari in the F1.
It's a weird affair, this tandeming business. On a normal bike you push off and away you go, seemingly balancing as if it were as natural as walking. You can turn relatively tightly, dodge pot holes, skip over bumps and ruts. It's even possible to cycle without sitting down for whole journeys when you are your own boss. However, once you put balance in the hands of two proficient cyclists on the same machine, far from doubling stability, what actually happens is a crash. It is - at first - the least natural feeling you could imagine. This is especially true on the back, where in essence you are just another engine. Your job is to provide power and sit in a relatively upright fashion. When your natural instinct says steer, or adjust your balance you simply must ignore it. That's up to the bloke up-front to decide.
Starting off is perhaps the biggest trauma. The trick is to give it a jolly good push, and on the back at least, just sit tight. Forget about putting your feet back down - it's the man-up-front's job to keep the thing on two wheels whilst momentum is gained. If this fails to happen or someone goes out of rythm, that's it - bruised ankles at dawn. You have to remember that both sets of pedals are connected via a chain and if one person cycles, the other must follow suit.
If - by some chance - you do end up cycling in a straight and level fashion, there is the problem of getting to a corner. Both riders must lean into said bend equally, or it all goes a little jelly like. And forget about taking avoiding action for pot holes and ruts, if you haven't seen it 20 feet away and taken avoiding action, you're going in it. Simple as that. But eventually it clicks and you both work out what the other is doing.
Once this has happened tandeming is a joyous experience. You can keep momentum far easier than on a normal bike, and when on the back you can just sit and check out the scenery. Trust the person in front, or be trusted not to steer into a ditch, and it really is poetic. Yes, you look like a pair of screaming poofters, but those on their normal bikes aren't having half as much fun, and nor are they going half as quickly.
I'll get some pictures up on here - hopefully tomorrow, and more will follow. A video is in the pipeline, and once on the trip this will be the place to come to track our progress (or lack of).
Also, please let your friends and family know about this, and in the words of that unwashed and rather twatish Irishman Geldof; 'Give us your Fuck!ng money!'
www.justgiving.com/tandemtrek09
www.justgiving.com/tandemtrek2009
Ben
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