Tandem Club of America

Casual, family tandeming – how do we get started?

by Laura McCabe on May 26, 2016 Add Comment in News

Amber contacted TCA asking for advice on experiencing tandeming inexpensively as a family, just “to have fun with” and “tool around town.” We seem to get asked questions like this frequently, so here’s my advice for Amber and others like her:

1 – STAY LOCAL. If you find a local listing on Craigslist, Ebay, etc. that interests you, drive on over and take a test ride. But don’t buy sight unseen and don’t pay to have a bike shipped to you at this stage. For your casual interest level, don’t worry about brand, features, or price. You should be able to find something locally.

2 – START WITH YOUR LOCAL BIKE CLUB. Look for a family-oriented group that promotes safe cycling for kids. Maybe someone has a tandem to loan you. This time of year many locations run bike safety clinics and tandem rides for sight-impaired. These are good places to [...]

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Considering a trip to New Zealand? Read this!

by Laura McCabe on May 17, 2016 Add Comment in Touring

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Joberg2C a Dream Adventure

by Carlos Garcia on Apr 25, 2016 Add Comment in News, OffRoad, Races

We are in South Africa participating in Joberg2C (http://joberg2c.co.za/), the premier multi-stage mountain bike race in the world. This is a 9 day odyssey of mountain biking over beautiful terrain. Each day we’ll ride about 65 miles through farmlands, mountains, and savannas, climbing an average of 3500 feet.

A lot has changed since last year. Working with the race administration of Joberg2c, TCA was able to persuade the officials to add an official tandem category in the race.

Their media coverage did an amazing job providing coverage to the tandem racers. You can see the world-class 2015 summary video at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuhVAoU1Tn4

However last year, the inclusion was not at the same level as other categories, and that has changed significantly this year. This year the tandem category has complete coverage with a full podium category each day. In addition, the tandem category has prize money awards [...]

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She’s not pedaling back there!

by Sheila Hoffman on Sep 9, 2015 33 Comments in Whimsy

If you ride a tandem you have undoubtedly heard this quintessential remark made by people thinking they sound clever: “she’s not pedaling back there”. Once you’ve heard it several hundred times, it loses its charm. When you think about it, it’s actually insulting. It is the equivalent of passing someone and shouting, “You lazy slob. Why don’t you get to work?”

We ride a daVinci which has independent coasting. That means when someone says “she’s not pedaling back there” we can literally prove them wrong. Spencer (husband/captain) will stop pedaling while I carry on. That may be too subtle but we think it’s fun. And of course, not everyone says this dreaded refrain. Here’s just a few of the many creative and positive comments we have heard along the way:

Wish I had someone to help me up this hill!

Great teamwork you guys!

Hey, I didn’t think you had [...]

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Continental tire failures

by Alex Zucosky on Sep 5, 2015 43 Comments in Technical

We have experienced 2 tire failures on our tandem in the past few months. The first failure, August, 2014 was of a Continental 4 Season GP 700×25. This tire had about 1035 miles. March, 2015 we had a Continental Gatorskin 700×25 fail in the same manner. This tire had about 550 miles. Both tires had the tire sidewall separate from the bead. We have previously used Gatorskins for at least 10 years without a problem. See attached photos.

We have 40 years of tandem experience and this is the first time that I have seen this type of failure.

I sent the Continental GP 4 season to Bill at Santana and he did not seem concerned about this issue.

I contacted the USA Continental importer about 2 months ago and sent them the Gatorskin tire. I was concerned that Continental might have a manufacturing problem or if we were just unlucky twice. [...]

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Monster Cross 2015 – Race Report

by Carlos Garcia on Apr 9, 2015 1 Comment in News, OffRoad, Races

Date: 10 AM, March 8th, 2015 (originally schedule for Feb 22nd).

Tandem Friendly: 5/5 stars, requires wide tire cyclo-cross road or MTB tandem.

Course: 46.1 miles.

Elevation gain: 2,500 feet.

Terrain: mostly double track and walking/horse trails, some single tracks and gravel paths

Hike-a-bike: trail trandem rideable including muddy and sandy sections.

Web site: http://www.runriderace.com/

Monster Cross 2015

Monster Cross 2015 was a great early season race for tandem enthusiast. This year event was postponed by two weeks due to weather conditions and was held March 8th at Pocahontas State Park, in Chesterfield VA, about 20 minutes south of Richmond, VA. For us, this meant a 4 and a half drive down from Philadelphia, which was worth the effort finding much warmer weather and a snow-free environment.

The event included 5 tandem entries, however, only 4 showed up. Two of the tandems were full suspension Ventana ECDM, one was [...]

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“Life In Tandem: Tales of cycling travels” by Jackie Winter

by Mark Livingood on Nov 4, 2014 3 Comments in Touring

We are thrilled to have the opportunity to share a contribution from Jackie Winter, tandem enthusiast, member of the Tandem Club UK, and author of “Life In Tandem: Tales of cycling travels.”

I live in the UK and I’ve written a book about the 40 years I’ve spent riding a tandem with my husband, Allan. I’ve never learned to ride a bike but on the back of the tandem I’ve pedalled more than 100,000 miles.

This is my cycling life, seasoned with chunks of Real Life, such as marriage, children, work, friends and serious illness. Throughout all the good years and a few inevitably difficult ones, the tandem remains a constant thread.

I once cycled 124 miles in one day and can still be seen hurtling downhill at 40 mph, sometimes even with my eyes open!

“Life In Tandem” incorporates traveller’s tales gleaned from a lifetime of cycle touring [...]

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AORTA – A Mountain Bike Tandem Adventure

by Carlos Garcia on Jul 30, 2014 1 Comment in Events, OffRoad

This was our first year at A.O.R.T.A. (Appalachian Off-Road Tandem Adventure) organized by Alex Nutt from MTB Tandems (www.mtbtandems.com). The rally coincides with our purchase of a Ventana ECDM (El Conquistador de Montanas) mountain bike tandem a few weeks before. For us, A.O.R.T.A. would be our christening in this new sport.

We are not mountain bikers and neither of us even own a solo mountain bike. My total MTB experience accounted of borrowing my brother’s budget MTB to try it out in a local race a few decades ago. It wasn’t a bad experience; sure I was apprehensive going down some hills which seemed more like a vertical wall to me. After the guy in front of me miraculously made it to the bottom of the hill still attached to earth, I figured “if he survived, I guess I can too.” I did finished 3rd in that race [...]

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Midwest Tandem Rally: an Indiana Tradition

by John Calhoun on May 26, 2014 2 Comments in Rallies

The 2014 Midwest Tandem Rally (MTR), the largest tandem gathering in the U.S., will be hosted by CIBA/HOOTs (Hoosiers Out On Tandems) in Fort Wayne, IN over Labor Day weekend. Kent and Anne Ellis will lead the team expecting to host about 400 teams from around the country. It’s an impressive sight to see that number of tandem teams for the Saturday and Sunday mass starts. The rally will be hosted in the Fort Wayne Downtown Hilton hotel. With many dining and entertainment venues in the downtown area, you’ll be able to park your car on Friday and not get back in until you leave on Monday. The Friday ice cream ride and Monday breakfast ride will follow Fort Wayne’s extensive Greenway trail system (over 60 miles of trails!) with routes of 20 – 25 miles. On Saturday and Sunday, the mass starts will be escorted out of town by [...]

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Racing Group in DoubleTalk

by Carlos Garcia on Mar 31, 2014 6 Comments in News, Races

Carlos, Sophia, and SydneyBlu Garcia racing the Cascadille Hill Climb in Ithaca, NY

In the past years, I have enjoyed reading DoubleTalk…and I have to say over the last 10 years I have seen a decline in Tandem events and activities. As DoubleTalk transitioned last year, it was a wake up call for me to become more active in the tandem community. So please do count on me for volunteer work as needed. I might even try my hand at writing some articles 🙂

Over the years, I have been frustrated that there is no central calendar that shows race activities for tandems. BikeReg or even USA Cycling does not have a way to sort or filter tandem categories. By comparison, finding tandem rallies is easy, there are a number of tandem sites with that information but not a single one has a repository for racing category. So every year I have to go and “hunt” racing events to see which ones have [...]

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Casual, family tandeming – how do we get started?

Considering a trip to New Zealand? Read this!

Joberg2C a Dream Adventure

She’s not pedaling back there!

Continental tire failures

Monster Cross 2015 – Race Report

“Life In Tandem: Tales of cycling travels” by Jackie Winter

AORTA – A Mountain Bike Tandem Adventure

Midwest Tandem Rally: an Indiana Tradition

Racing Group in DoubleTalk

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