Weekend Ride Videos

Mr. Beanz, those were great rides! Can you tell me what brand of sunglasses your group uses for rides? It looks to me as if everyone is using the same brand and model of sunglasses. I must be mistaken?

Thanks a ton

Bob

BobCochran said:

Mr. Beanz, those were great rides! Can you tell me what brand of sunglasses your group uses for rides? It looks to me as if everyone is using the same brand and model of sunglasses. I must be mistaken?

Thanks a ton

Bob

Thanks Bob!

We all wear different glasses. Gina and I do both wear Oakley M frames though. I like them cause they somewhat wrap around the face and shield my eyes from the wind. Plus there is no frame around the lower and side sections of the lens. I've tried glasses with frames (Oakley) and they hinder my peripheral vision which to me is need for safe riding.

Gina paid $120-$140 for hers, has two pair of black with black lenses. The pair I wear is brown with an amber lenses. She originally bought them for her but didn't like them so she gave them to me. You know how the married life is ha ha! :lol: But I like them, the lens color and the fact that mine have fixed ear pieces. The ear pieces on her glasses swivel. I myself don't like the hinge style because they are harder to get into your helmet when not in use.

The other guys? The guy in the white jersey I believe wears Ray Ban fly type glasses. The guy in black and red wears some Ray Ban imitation glasses. The guy in blue wears some Oakley knock off glasses.

Gina's are like these.

Have ridden the tandem down Glendora? If so, how do the linear pull or 'V' brakes perform on the descent?

CAMPYBOB said:

Have ridden the tandem down Glendora? If so, how do the linear pull or 'V' brakes perform on the descent?

Ha! I want to ride the tandem up GMR but Gina is hesitant thinking it would be too tough. I don't know why, we climb better on the tandem than she alone on her single. She's made the climb a zillion times on her own.

But I really don't care to try the downhill on the tandem. Figure I hit 40 on the short straight section on my single. I'm thinking 45-50 on the tandem. :o Besides that one straight section, there are about 50 switchbacks that worry me the most.

It's a 6% average grade so it's a little steep for the tandem and the weight of our tandem team. On our local midweek rides we descend 4% grade at 30 MPH so the 6% worries me. It does stop well on the 30 MPH 4% grade but I don't know about the 6% and riding the brakes heating up the rims. I do think the v brakes with the roll-a-ma-jigs we have will stop the tandem but I worry about riding the brakes.

I've seen other tandems descend over the years, maybe 2 and they are flying down the mtn. I'm not willing to try it yet. :lol:

Thanks! I understand you not having worked up to trying that descent yet. You guys do have those runaway truck sand pits every few miles, don't you? 😄

I'll let you know how the drag brake works on my rig...next Spring probably. We are extrememly limited in long descents here. I may have to travel over to Pennsylvania or down to West Virginia to get a chance to test the brake function and see how much heat I can put into those rims. And to do that, I want some seat time before attempting to fly off Fancy Gap in West By God!

If I managed to sail me and my wife off some guard rail-less fast sweeper in the Appalachian Mountains and into an abandoned coal mine's spoil pile and kill us, she would never forgive me!

I know these modern tandems grew several inches longer in the stoker's quarters and that didn't do much for the sports car-like handling, I'm certain. The other day I was comparing pictures of a 1970 Schwinn Paramount touring tandem (as opposed to their racing model) to the newer Burley-Co Motion-Santana-Ibis-Da Vinci-etc. designs and that Paramount was a downright short wheelbase road racer compared to even Santana's self-described 'Team' and 'Elite' model line of tandems.

All I read is how fast tandems go down and that air-braking by sitting up will keep you around 50 MPH on most descents (depending on grade percentage and wind, of course).

I'm machinist enough to retro fit a modified weld-on disc mount, complete with chainstay reinforcing trusses, onto the 160 MM wide hub and lose the drum brake. One of those huge tandem discs at the rear and a good linear pull up front should get even a daring pair of riders safely down anything I want to slog a tandem up. This will be an interesting ride and learning experience, for sure. After years of wrestling Harleys around with drunk chicks on the back...I think I got this one!

Fancy Gap, the old road prior to I77. It's fun on a motorcycle!

The Blue Ridge Parkway near Fancy Gap by bike:

[media]

Coming off Reed's Gap on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Up to a 17% drop. Put it on hi-res and stay off those brakes! Out of gears in under 15 seconds!

[media]

George's Gap on the Blue Ridge Parkway:

[media]

Mr. Beanz and CampyBob, you both constantly wow me! Thanks for the posts and the videos. I'm not that far from Shenandoah National Park, and I can see the Blue Ridge Parkway is wow cycling stuff. I must go there some day rather soon.

Bob

CAMPYBOB said:

Coming off Reed's Gap on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Up to a 17% drop. Put it on hi-res and stay off those brakes! Out of gears in under 15 seconds!

Wow that is a screamer! :o

There's a truck towing and repair service at the bottom of Fancy Gap. The parking lot is full of wrecked rigs and semi tractors and trailers that burned after the drivers over-heated the brakes.

Some of the county backroads the Appalachians would freak out an experienced Rock Mountain rider. Steep and technical doesn't begin to describe what you'll experience riding down the 'hollar' (or 'holler' in some parts). I guess all rock faces are about the same hardness though and the absolute scariest drop-offs I've ridden down at speed were in Arizona...really long falls if you get it all wrong.

SE Ohio has some descents that will test my cornering skills and common sense, but I'm not sure I've experienced anything on a single around here that would be a safety test of a tandem's rim brakes...at least any tandem with a experienced captain that knew how to ride through a fast corner.

Fancy Gap...oops. Not again.

Hot brakes or no brakes...

A sand trap for runaway vehicles.

What amazing videos. You guys certainly had a blast ! Wish i was there. That is the sort of ride that gives me am adrenalin rush, and i just love the feeling. Man you really are a pro rider! I cant imagine myself speeding like that on a descent. Keep posting more videos. Nice time.

That was last March, right? The Fancy Gap pileup?

Bob

No clue, BC. Every time it gets foggy, freezing rain, snow, some semi sets its brakes on fire or a car load of tourists heading to Florida loses it the pictures tend to look all the same.

Evevry time I head South and come off Fancy Gap on I77 I'm thankful for having survived another run. I think the car hits 70 MPH with my foot off the gas so even the interstate is freaky steep. The semi's go pretty slow down the descents, but on the interim upgrades those boys with the big motors hit the bottoms of the climbs doing 80+ MPH in an effort to carry momentum up the long drags. I stay right and let them roll on by...I'll catch them over the top.

The Santa Ana Trail is great, nice ride!

PanjoJames said:

The Santa Ana Trail is great, nice ride!

It sure is! 60 miles round trip no stops and no cars! B)

Hope to see you out there one of these days