Yeah, those tandems can really get up to high rates of speed. I guess that's why they have disc brakes.
My first experience on a tandem was after my friend Richard decided to drill into a ceiling fan without wearing safety glasses. I had to take him over to the hospital 12am on a Friday night where they drilled metal fragments out of both of his eyes and then patched them. He was told to wear the patches for three days. I drove him home with another friend of mine, John and we sat at his kitchen table, we got down the liquor and we all took a few shots. He looked so despondent, he kept saying how he had all these great bike rides planned for the weekend and now he was stuck sitting around in his house, blinded and even his girlfriend was out of town.
The next day, my friend John, whose brother owns a custom bike shop, shows up with a $3000 custom built racing tandem. Neither Richard nor I had ever ridden one but we decided to give it a shot. It was a scream, I was scared out of my gourd. I, of course, sat up front (probably my only chance to be the one who steers) and he sat in the stoker seat. We took that thing all over hell, what amazed me was just how much faster you can go on a tandem.
The funniest thing was the reactions we got from people when we stopped. There was no way you could miss these two big eye patches and the fact that I had to lead him around. The great thing was that he forgot about his condition and it was a great adventure based on a great deal of trust. Afterwards I brought him home, his girlfriend had heard about his accident and came home early. Boy, was she pissed off at me. She didn't speak to me for about two years.
At any rate, I found out later that there is a tandem bike club in Chicago that routinely takes out blind people. What I like about the tandem is that it is one way for a husband and wife to ride together and not have one dropping off the back all the time. Before we were married, my husband would ride with me, but now he tells me I don't know how to have fun on a bike and very rarely will ride with me. It's amazing what they're willing to do BEFORE you marry them. -ggg-
BTW my sister-in-law did that Aids ride down the coast one year. She trained for it on a stationary bike. I crack up every time I think about that. Some serious hills on that ride. |
