So we bought the tandem

"Claire Petersky" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:bZ_ic.36397$_L6.2096805@attbi_s53...

Quoted message said:

o Amusingly, I can literally kiss his ass, especially on downhills in a
tuck. Heh.

On long downhills when we are sailing fast I've been known to put
my head down on his back and take a little nap. Comfy!

Quoted message said:

o It's easier for me to reach the water bottle when tucked into his back
jersey pocket than on the bike. Maybe after we both feel more confident on
the thing, we can reach down for waterbottles, but we're not quite there
yet.

Well, okay, the above wouldn't work it I put water bottles in his back
pocket. Don't worry, you'll be stable enough to grab water bottles
from the cages in no time.

Quoted message said:

This tandem thing might prove to be fun.

It certainly has for us. Good luck!

Claire wrote:
....

Quoted message said:

o My husband's used to riding at a higher cadence than me. Maybe it's just
as well I get used to that.

Cadence=aerobics. Not all bad.

Quoted message said:

o He'll eventually learn to warn me when he decides he's going to coast, or
suddenly start pedaling again. Especially since the suddenly start pedaling
again thing could have potentially damaging consequences to my crotch.

As they say in day care centers, "use your words." A few times of
shrieking in his ear will learn him right quick. Ditto on the bumps
(if yours doesn't have a special trampoline seatpost). I've broken in
several captains, and I am the world's best captain myself at
notification of road surface and so forth. (I even say "bump" to my
auto passengers!)

Quoted message said:

o Our speed was totally kick ass. We were cruising along, at an effort that
would have produced in our mutual estimations about 17 mph in him and 15 in
me, but I know we were going probably 22 at a minimum. We rode past a couple
of This Is Your Speed signs (speeding along the lake is a real problem), and
were at 17 mph on an uphill stretch, and 25 on a flat. Maybe we'll
eventually buy a computer for it.

Two computers. The Rear Admiral position can get boring, and if you
have your own buttons to push you can do mental calculations or
announce the details to all the singles drafting you. On my tandems we
each have a computer, and it's funny to see that the rear of the
Counterpoint travels further than the front.

Quoted message said:

o I'm close enough to him to *smell* him. And this was on only a 15 mile
thing largely in the late afternoon shade. Makes me wonder if we'll really
do the Flying Wheels Century together on that thing. He'll be pretty ripe on
a summer's day after a hundred miles.

Baby wipes, no beans.

Quoted message said:

o Amusingly, I can literally kiss his ass, especially on downhills in a
tuck. Heh.
o It's easier for me to reach the water bottle when tucked into his back
jersey pocket than on the bike. Maybe after we both feel more confident on
the thing, we can reach down for waterbottles, but we're not quite there
yet.

Stuff the cue sheets in there too, or get a hunter's license holder
for the back of his jersey. Captains are good for more than just
driving.

HTH
--Karen M.
so what kind is it? Photos???

Karen M. said:

no beans.

uh-oh. any tips for a vegetarian captain? besides starving, i mean.
--
david reuteler
[email hidden]

In article <[email hidden]>,

David Reuteler said:

Karen M. said:

no beans.

uh-oh. any tips for a vegetarian captain? besides starving, i mean.

Stoke.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

Karen M. said:

Two computers. The Rear Admiral position can get boring, and if you
have your own buttons to push you can do mental calculations or
announce the details to all the singles drafting you. On my tandems we
each have a computer, and it's funny to see that the rear of the
Counterpoint travels further than the front.

Clearly, the stoker must be working harder.

--
Benjamin Lewis

Accordion, n.:
A bagpipe with pleats.

Claire Petersky wrote:
..
:: o Our speed was totally kick ass. We were cruising along, at an
:: effort that would have produced in our mutual estimations about 17
:: mph in him and 15 in me, but I know we were going probably 22 at a
:: minimum. We rode past a couple of This Is Your Speed signs (speeding
:: along the lake is a real problem), and were at 17 mph on an uphill
:: stretch, and 25 on a flat. Maybe we'll eventually buy a computer for
:: it.

Get a computer, cheapo!

:: o I'm close enough to him to *smell* him. And this was on only a 15
:: mile thing largely in the late afternoon shade. Makes me wonder if
:: we'll really do the Flying Wheels Century together on that thing.
:: He'll be pretty ripe on a summer's day after a hundred miles.

Well, you can sit up front and he'll smell you ripe 🙂

:: o Amusingly, I can literally kiss his ass, especially on downhills
:: in a tuck. Heh.

Well, you can sit up front and he can kiss your ass. 🙂

::
:: This tandem thing might prove to be fun.
::

Sounds like you two will come to know each other even better! 🙂

Enjoy!

Roger Zoul said:

Claire Petersky wrote:
.
:: o Our speed was totally kick ass. We were cruising along, at an
:: effort that would have produced in our mutual estimations about 17
:: mph in him and 15 in me, but I know we were going probably 22 at a
:: minimum. We rode past a couple of This Is Your Speed signs (speeding
:: along the lake is a real problem), and were at 17 mph on an uphill
:: stretch, and 25 on a flat. Maybe we'll eventually buy a computer for
:: it.

Get a computer, cheapo!

<even worse stuff snipped>

Somehow, flaming Claire comes across to me a little bit like flaming Mother
Theresa. There's no reason to, and everybody knows only an ignorant jackass
would do it.

Austin

Claire Petersky said:

Yesterday we just took it up and down the street, then around the block a
few times, and then finally out to the arterial and back. My husband's
never ridden a tandem, whereas I have some stoker experience and I've been
a captain on our other tandem with the kids. So it took some practice to
feel steady and stable on the thing. It's much easier to get started with
the two of us than me and a kid -- it really helps I think to have a
stoker and a captain with a clue.
(...)

Is the husband *always* captain ? I understand it conforms to the usage of
the male more often driving the car or assuming (apparent) leadership,...
But I am still surprised to see that in practically all reports I read on
tandeming there is practically none where the husband is stoker and the
wife captain.
Ok, no problem with me, I prefer being captain, but I would expect women
to challenge us more than this.

Jacques

AustinMN said:

Somehow, flaming Claire comes across to me a little bit like flaming Mother
Theresa. There's no reason to, and everybody knows only an ignorant jackass
would do it.

i kinda like it when people flame claire. her replies get funnier and
better with the intensity of the flame so knock yourself out. i'm sure
she can take a challenge. i could use a laugh.

i don't think the flame in question really was, tho. possibly in poor
taste but it didn't read like a proper flame to me. i'd be much more
irritated at being compared to a religious character myself.
--
david reuteler
[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

Is the husband *always* captain ? I understand it conforms to the usage of
the male more often driving the car or assuming (apparent) leadership,...
But I am still surprised to see that in practically all reports I read on
tandeming there is practically none where the husband is stoker and the
wife captain.

Since the male is often the larger/heavier rider, bike fitting is simplified
and handling of the tandem (starting/stopping and to a lesser extent
steering) are better suited to having the larger/heavier rider as captain.

This topic came up recently on the tandem e-mail list, and while the vast
majority of mixed teams had male captains, quite a few women captain's
participated in the discussion.

Chris Neary
[email hidden]

Chris & Tracey
1999 Co-Motion Speedster

AustinMN wrote:
:: Roger Zoul wrote:
::: Claire Petersky wrote:
::: .
::::: o Our speed was totally kick ass. We were cruising along, at an
::::: effort that would have produced in our mutual estimations about 17
::::: mph in him and 15 in me, but I know we were going probably 22 at a
::::: minimum. We rode past a couple of This Is Your Speed signs
::::: (speeding along the lake is a real problem), and were at 17 mph
::::: on an uphill stretch, and 25 on a flat. Maybe we'll eventually
::::: buy a computer for it.
:::
::: Get a computer, cheapo!
::
:: <even worse stuff snipped>
::
:: Somehow, flaming Claire comes across to me a little bit like flaming
:: Mother Theresa. There's no reason to, and everybody knows only an
:: ignorant jackass would do it.

That's not a flame, it was suggestion, jackass!

::
:: Austin

David Reuteler wrote:
:: AustinMN <[email hidden]> wrote:
::: Somehow, flaming Claire comes across to me a little bit like
::: flaming Mother Theresa. There's no reason to, and everybody knows
::: only an ignorant jackass would do it.
::
:: i kinda like it when people flame claire. her replies get funnier
:: and
:: better with the intensity of the flame so knock yourself out. i'm
:: sure
:: she can take a challenge. i could use a laugh.
::
:: i don't think the flame in question really was, tho. possibly in
:: poor
:: taste but it didn't read like a proper flame to me. i'd be much more
:: irritated at being compared to a religious character myself.

why did it even seem like a flame? She even commented about getting a
computer, I was just encouraging her along that path, since i find them fun.

Roger Zoul said:

why did it even seem like a flame? She even commented about getting a
computer, I was just encouraging her along that path, since i find them fun.

it didn't. not to me, anyway.
--
david reuteler
[email hidden]

Roger Zoul said:

That's not a flame, it was suggestion, jackass!

see now, that's a flame.
--
david reuteler
[email hidden]

David Reuteler said:

Roger Zoul said:

That's not a flame, it was suggestion, jackass!

see now, that's a flame.

No it's not, I deserved it. 😉

Austin

--
I'm pedaling as fast as I durn well please!
There are no X characters in my address

Jacques Moser said:

Is the husband *always* captain ? I understand it conforms to the usage of
the male more often driving the car or assuming (apparent) leadership,...
But I am still surprised to see that in practically all reports I read on
tandeming there is practically none where the husband is stoker and the
wife captain.
Ok, no problem with me, I prefer being captain, but I would expect women
to challenge us more than this.

Well, for my wife and I, I do captain. For many reasons, such as, I'm
much taller/heavier, I'm stronger, I have several orders of magnitude
more time on the bicycle than she does, etc. It would be basically be
unsafe for her to captain our tandem. As for driving the car, my wife
does all the driving unless she's ill or very tired. She tends to get
motionsick unless she is driving, and I confess I don't like to drive.

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g
"If its sinful, it's more fun."

Claire Petersky said:

Notes:
o My husband's used to riding at a higher cadence than me. Maybe it's just
as well I get used to that.

My regular cadence is a little fast for my wife, but she pronounced it
as reasonable. When I started spinning up for downhills and to try and
pickup speed she was very quickly convinced she needed clipless. 🙂

Quoted message said:

o He'll eventually learn to warn me when he decides he's going to coast, or
suddenly start pedaling again. Especially since the suddenly start pedaling
again thing could have potentially damaging consequences to my crotch.

We're working on this skill. We've only managed to get out three times
now (including this weekend). We took a spin over to Mercer Island for
a children's event.

Quoted message said:

o Our speed was totally kick ass. We were cruising along, at an effort that
would have produced in our mutual estimations about 17 mph in him and 15 in
me, but I know we were going probably 22 at a minimum. We rode past a couple
of This Is Your Speed signs (speeding along the lake is a real problem), and
were at 17 mph on an uphill stretch, and 25 on a flat. Maybe we'll
eventually buy a computer for it.

I'm really hating the speedo that came with the tandem. It doesn't do
automatic stop/start, which all the others I have do. Our speeds are
not nearly as nice as yours, but then my wife is not a regular cyclist
(and she does have the rather good excuse of being 24 weeks pregnant 😉
Still, we go considerably faster than if we were constrained by her
being on a single.

Quoted message said:

o I'm close enough to him to *smell* him. And this was on only a 15 mile
thing largely in the late afternoon shade. Makes me wonder if we'll really
do the Flying Wheels Century together on that thing. He'll be pretty ripe on
a summer's day after a hundred miles.

Heh. I don't think this has come up yet. I'll have to show her your
post.

Quoted message said:

o Amusingly, I can literally kiss his ass, especially on downhills in a
tuck. Heh.

Heh. I haven't received any smooches, but someone does occasionally
develop wandering hands. Of course, she claims it just to place gloves
in my back pockets...

Quoted message said:

o It's easier for me to reach the water bottle when tucked into his back
jersey pocket than on the bike. Maybe after we both feel more confident on
the thing, we can reach down for waterbottles, but we're not quite there
yet.

Tina is having some problems with this, but our balancing does seem to
be getting smoother. Our starting is noticably better now.

Oh, and congrats on the new bike!

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g
"Heck was created for those who refuse to believe in Gosh."

Quoted message said:

o He'll eventually learn to warn me when he decides he's going to coast, or
suddenly start pedaling again. Especially since the suddenly start pedaling
again thing could have potentially damaging consequences to my crotch.

Likely he will eventually learn to subtlety decrease/increase power as a cue
for you to do the same.

Chris Neary
[email hidden]

Chris & Tracey
1999 Co-Motion Speedster

"Roger Zoul" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

::: Get a computer, cheapo!

Since we had ownership of the bicycle for less than 24 hours, you may want
to excuse us for not having installed every component we would like the bike
to have.

Quoted message said:

That's not a flame, it was suggestion, jackass!

My, my, such language. And in mixed company, too.

I appreciate AustinMN chivalrously standing up for me, but really, there was
no offence taken.

Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
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