Tandem newbie Inclinations

I'd only ever ridden a tandem twice before. The second time was with my wife on the back, and it mentally scarred her so much it just reinforced her fear of bicycles. Many years were to pass before she was to step over a top-tube again. The next time she rode it was as a result of the Bikewise ride to work month. All of a sudden she was commuting the 20kms into Wellington and back, and even joined the Voodoo Lounge team one year when we went over and did the 100km Grape Ride in Marlborough. She even did a Frocks on Bikes ride. That was probably the last time we had a summer in Wellington, so since then riding has not been high on her agenda.

I was starting to pine for the outdoors in the wake of the Kiwi Brevet and suggested that we load up the Jville Cycles Tandem and head for a short  over-nighter somewhere close to home. Finding somewhere was a lot harder than we thought, so we ended up just taking the Hutt Valley River trails and riding from Lower Hutt to the top of the Rimutaka Incline and camping out there.

The little Trangia stove

Tandems are a bit of hard work. (I now have massive respect for the people that used them in the Kiwi Brevet). They are so bloody heavy and getting them around the many stiles we encountered on the Hutt River Cycle way was a real team effort, a kind of two stage process whereby both of you loft the front wheel up in the air, and grab the second set of handlebars and steer it on the rear wheel. In fact the Rimutaka Incline itself was a doddle compared to the Hutt River Cycle way with all its little hurdles; all to keep bogans on motorbikes and 4wds out I guess. What really impressed me was that except for a few hundred metres you can get all the way to Te  Marua on the River Trail. So much work has been done on these trails over the years. Credit needs to go to someone.

I noticed the rear cog on the tandem was very hooked, and had to wonder if it was not just my imagination that someone was pedalling backwards at times! Getting a sore butt seemed to be the major problem for Kay so many short stops were called for. I think the fact that you really need to be still on a tandem so as not to cause balance issues is partly to blame, as the seat was comfy, and also sported a suspension seat post. Obviously a lack of ride time for my stoker was the main issue, but by the time we finished our ride there was less protestations on the downhills and I got far less arm-pump from over braking than I did on day one.

On the way back

I installed my two Freeload racks on either end of the bike, and my handlebar harness was made from an old Webstock Conference satchel. Other than that we had small back-packs on with a few little bits and pieces.

We borrowed my daughter's tent and managed to repack it into a smaller package for stowing. Other items we took were two sleeping bags and mats and a small cooking kit with my little Trangia stove which I brought for the Kiwi Brevet but had not yet been used. One dehydrated meal for tea, a couple of porridge sachets and some Milo and we were set.

More suspension than we could handle!

It was a nice warmish night in our little tent, although I gave my air mattress to Kay and I put up with the crappy closed foam one which is a poor substitute even on the smooth ground. Overall it was a big success with only the sore botty detracting from it. We will have to work on that ! With a few more miles in the legs for Kay it would have been a far more enjoyable experience.

If anyone is interested in hiring the Jville Cycles Tandem then get in touch with its minder, Peter Colvin who is building up a fleet of hire bikes and currently has 3 tandems. Peter and his lady have toured overseas so he knows a thing or two about setting one up. By the way this one seemed to have about 6 inches of travel on the front so it was a bit wasted on us! 
Contact for Pete: 021 480 775

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Wind tunnel testing for Brevet

Well I know I said I wasn't competitive about this thing... but there was a tunnel, and it had wind in it...

I left work at 4pm on friday with the idea of a getting a longer ride in, leaving the weekend open for all the other stuff like, house maintainance, market and veggie shopping and as it turned out, BBQ prep. 

I loaded up on batteries and a cookie time, with the idea of heading to the top of the Rimutaka Incline summit, travelling as much as I could on the gravel. Unfortunately I always get lost at the bit up the Plateau road, so I bypassed this and had to do some tarmac from Moonshine North. Next time I will sort it out.

I was testing my new home modified aero bars and I was rapt with the way they felt. Actually more comfortable, more aero and lighter than the Profile T2's that I used in the Brevet last time. The position is a bit more extreme than the position on the T2 as the pads are ON the handlebar rather than BEFORE the handlebar. I was amazed at how much control I had when I had built up my confidence, and that was with the narrow CX tires on. Unfortunately it was quite a short ride, with a tail wind on the way out, and downhill on the return, it was a little bit over 3 hours and not even dark when I got home. Maybe next time I will drop down to Cross Creek to make it a bit longer.

Its great getting out on the gravel river trails, no stress from the traffic and quite relevant to XC or Brevet riding. I have tended to completely ignore them in the past but no more! People don't tend to think of the Hutt Valley as a Picnic/River destination but its as good as many other places in NZ that people rave about.

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Big Coast - loaded

Last saturday was a chance for us to check out our rigs with a bunch of other like minded Brevet riders and a random sprinkling of adventure racers. The "Big Coast" ride is about 120kms and takes in quite a variety of terrain including about 4 abandoned railway tunnels on the Rimutaka Incline. Unbeknown to myself and Mister Cleetus, we were the only ones riding with full brevet kit! DOH!

We started at Trevs place where we hooked up with Jill, Jerry, Colin, Paul, Dave and Barryn, I think that was it, and headed off into a damp and stiff southerly. Trev has the most elegant stainless steel aero-bar in the world, and it came in handy as we hunkered into the teeth of the southerly near Pencarrow. You are kind of committed to the aeros though... theres no taking your hands off to grab the flats when it gets a bit sideways!

We ground along in our hi-zoot Ground Effect tops, on state of the art full suspension 29er wheeled cad designed machines, sipping on hi-energy Gu's and electrolyte replacement bars, paragons of hi-tech. Then, around the corner came a young guy on a warehouse bike with a pink helmet. Then a few minutes later was a young girl, then another. What were these kids doing out on a day like this in their t-shirts? After about 10 minutes the queue dried up the last one came through. I said hello. And he said "Hi Jeff". It was Leon! Leon is our painter (I fully recommend him) Hes a staunch member of the Mormon church and this little ride was one they did from Ocean Beach each year during the holidays. Awesome.

The bit across the river beds was a bit gnarly and a couple of the guys got punctures. By the time we had got off the coast it had started to rain in earnest. The good news was, it wasnt cold unless you stopped pedalling, so Cleetus on his wagon wheels went to the front and we sat on 40 plus kmh for a very long time along the side of the Lake to Cross Creek. A firm tail wind helped.

After another short food stop at Cross Creek we headed off to the summit. There was a cold wait there for a while as Cleetus had punctured right back at Cross Creek. Watching how these adventure racing guys keep warm was worth seeing first hand and duly noted.

After regrouping we headed back to the Hutt, which was a lot warmer than the other side of the tukkas! Down the Hutt River trail to town, and my brakes exploded about 2kms from home. Well timed. A good ride with lots of really good tips picked up.

The photos are from Paul Chaplow. Thanks Paul.

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