It's odd how long it took us to discover this simple fact.
It's this: the best bike set up for Liza-John rides is with me on a single speed and her on her geared bike.
Simple but powerful. We've tried a number of rides and configurations on the tandem to make it work. We both really want it to work, but so far it just hasn't. Maybe it's the tandem.
But maybe not. One persistent issue is cadence. I tend to spin faster than Liza on the flats. She likes shifting way down into spinsville for climbs, while I prefer to muscle it through and grind. Cadence isn't a showstopper. But it's persistent.
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| Spider at Pia Mission |
The deal with the single speed is that while Liza spins away up a climb on her geared bike, I can either stand and hammer, waiting at the top, or, more likely, as I did the last couple days: stand and slowly grind. This allows me -- much to Liza's delight -- to continue talking at her even as we climb, without so much as missing a beat.
Everyone wins. And the overall pace is comfortable for both of us.
I think we could do a lot of riding lik this. I think we could tour the country like this. It's at least worth trying an overnighter.
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| Tig-welded S&S coupler. |
4 comments:
Brilliant! I might have to try it with my wife!
I bet a lot of couples will be trying this after reading it here. Good call.
RE: Tandem and cadence.
I Spin, usually.
Kira Mashes, usually.
Next time, we'll try an egg timer and compromise for equal intervals.
What works for us is me on the boxbike with 2 kids (~70 lbs total) and my wife on her 3 speed. This only really works on the flats (because I can't climb much with all the cargo), but it's very nice.
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