Tandems have been of interest to me for a few years now and
I wanted to give it a go my first plan was to hire one for a day or two and go
around the bridges on it , a quick search on the web found a hire shop in
Edinburgh which was actually a little out of town so even getting around the
bridges would be a two day journey especially on something new to you , I felt
that £100 for a two day hire even though it would be top notch new stuff was a
bit of a loss to me , so plan of action two was to have a look at buying a new one
this was not cheap ! for something that
I wasn’t intending on becoming part of a bigger adventure (I may not even enjoy
it) so option 3 a check on eBay there was plenty but scattered all over the
country, I then decided to have a look on gumtree and discovered one very local
going for a good price, but before going to look at the bike I had to find one
other thing a willing stoker! this is the name given to the person on the back
of a tandem I’m not so sure I could be a stoker it’s like being a pillion on a
motorbike I’m not keen on relinquishing control, never mind the psychology of
it sheila was game for being a stoker to the extent she was willing to make the
call to the seller and drive us over to look at the bike. Before I knew it we
were standing in the pouring rain looking at the second hand tandem! when
saying second hand it may well have had a lot more than two previous honours
she was not new ( definitely a she ) , the stokers seat had ladies style cross bar
and there was a hint of pink in the paintwork . sheila liked it, I entered into
the bargaining process and got enough of the asking price to make it a bargain,
I am certain it was well over priced in the first place as this was an old bike
the gears were on the down bar which I think stopped being a style of gearing
in the late eighties! Also the frame was butted again an old style of tubing. I
would say at least 30 year old, still at £150 if we get 3 good days out in it
and sell it for half what I paid then it will be a bargain, I bought her and we
took her home in the rain partially cable tied to Sheila’s roof rack( they are
too long for normal bike carriers we improvised) , once home I started calling it Flossie which
sheila didn’t like and said that because it was German bike it should be called
Helga , we bought it in the rain at night so not even a trial ride could be had
before we got her home and straight into the garage before going out to
celebrate excited at the adventure to come
It was
a few days later before we got a weather window to have a ride out on the new
wheels (new to us), first of we had to adjust Sheila’s seat the fella we bought
the tandem from said he only ever had his daughter on the back age unspecified, on
a tandem The front rider is called the pilot or captain
(I like both of these names!) The captain controls the steering the brakes and
the gears. Although in Flossie’s case she actually has brakes for the stoker
also which is great because Reliable brakes are vital. For a
tandem having, a V-brake front and rear is sufficient. BUT if you’re also
carrying luggage or towing a trailer, its worth adding a drag brake – a kind of
hub brake that’s designed to be held on during a long or steep descent to slow
you down rather than stop you. When two adults ride tandem, the stoker often
controls the drag brake (and Flossie has this hub drag brake fitted).
there was a lot to learn right from getting on the bike it’s weird not knowing
does the stoker go on before the pilot ?maybe I should have done a slight bit
of research first! but we were out in a weather window and couldn’t wait to get
going. I threw my leg over the stokers handle bar and straddled the bar holding
the handle bars while sheila got into her seat, now I was proper thinking on my
feet who peddles first ? Go for it I guess suck it and see and learn on the
hoof was the way that day was going to go. we wobbled off the handle bars
weren’t wide so as soon as we took of the combined weight of two adults was hard
to steady at slow speed for the nervous first time pilot, a totally weird
feeling it was trying to get my peddling in sync with Sheila’s and keep the
bike straight a wobbly start but we were off, not for long though I bottled it
at the bottom the road as it was a tight pathway turn I wanted to walk us round
it, then another wobbly panic start this time on a main road I let out a
nervous giggle as we took off , we didn’t have far to go before our first turn
, this is a great thing about tandems I went to put my hand out to signal but
sheila had already had a look behind us and said no need for me to signal , Talking together is very easy on a tandem because you’re
obviously much closer together, so the ride is more social you are on a close
journey together each reliant on the other so communication is key we learned
very quickly how important it was to talk and this worked out
well we got slicker at it by the end of our first short trip, I would only have
to say we are going left up here and sheila would be looking behind telling me
what’s happening and doing the hand signal if we were good to go,
Where
I live is on a hill so we weren’t too much into our journey before we hit our
first reasonably steep downhill which unfortunately is a narrow road with a
bend to the right , we were both shocked at how quickly we picked up speed ,of
course it makes sense when you think of it that you are much heavier but
streamlined , we hadn’t built up enough trust in each other or the bike yet and
had the brakes on for the bend,The stoker has to trust the
pilot completely and not try to steer the bike or tense up.! Once you’re
moving, both riders are literally chained together and have to pedal simultaneously.
Inexperienced adult tandem riders may struggle to synchronize their pedaling
efforts effectively which of course we were both! sometimes our cadence (RPM)
was so out of sync we were both wondering who is spinning these pedals him or
her at this speed we navigated the next section of the ride along a flat cycle
path easily , then I said we would be turning right to head up a steep hill for
which I would like to go right down the gears for the hill , I dropped the
gears right down to quickly it’s not easy as the bike is old the shift handle
is on the down tube so you have to take a hand of the handlebars, I dropped the
gear too much and our cadence went whirring somehow dislodging my chain Sheila’s
chain stayed on , no problem we got off and fixed the chain before attempting
the hill that’s where we noticed we had made our next mistake !
The hardest part of tandem riding is starting
and stopping, particularly for two adults. To get on, the pilot straddles the
bike feet on the floor holding the brakes on. Leave the left-hand pedals at the
bottom of the stroke, so that the stoker can use the rear left pedal as a
mounting step to get onto the saddle and ready to go, not such a big issue with
Flossie no mounting step required for sheila (it’s a ladies bike at the back).
This ensures the stoker won’t spin the pedals backwards when stepping on, which
could spin one of front pedals into one of the pilot’s shins. Ouch. With the
stoker on board, you can roll the bike forward to put the right-hand pedal over
the top of the stoke, ready to tread down onto, setting off and simultaneously
rising up onto the pilot’s saddle. That’s the theory. Two adults will need some
kind of signal to start pedaling simultaneously. When I put the chain back on(captain-to-stoker
chain for tandems, called the "primary" chain )I
never considered that the peddles for the pilot and stoker should be right
pedal up left down on the front and back cogs and we were even more out of sync
this time as our pedals were at entirely different angles , we set off up our
steepest and longest uphill of the day pedaling like this , this could possibly
again be the age of Flossie , because further inspection(plus a bit of research
down the line) after our out of sync cadence caused the chain to come off again
at the next downhill section ,I have discovered our old tandem doesn’t have the
modern , Eccentric Bottom Bracket (EBB) this a device used to add tension to a bike chain or belt. A
traditional bottom threads into
an EBB in an off centre location, which allows tension to be increased or
decreased by swivelling the EBB clockwise or counter clockwise., nope Flossie
has an older idler
pulley or sprocket fixed rigidly to the frame, this is used to adjust the slack
(not actually the tension) of a tandem sync chain, This system is used on
inexpensive tandems, as a cheap substitute for an eccentric bottom bracket. The
pulley should be in the return (slack) run of the chain, for minimal wear and use
drag as a sort of a poor-man's eccentric bottom
bracket. When the captain (me) stopped pedalling for the downhill and the
stoker continues, the bungee that replaced the un-tensioned spring loaded up,
and the chain slackened and fell off. It was easy to put it back on though and
I made sure the peddles were at the right angles this time!
We
hadn’t been out long but the weather forecast was for bad showers and from the
horizon we could see one coming, we turned for home before we got caught out in
a storm our first practice run nearing an end we still had our first main roundabout
to negotiate on the way home and the communication was tense but fun slow up
speed up lets go for it we can make it all that sort of stuff, building some
team trust at a busy junction and trying to keep the bike moving! But perfect
timing we kept rolling all the way home where we put Flossie in the garage just
as the rain came on first mission excitingly completed
I don’t mind admitting because there was so much to learn
and I felt an added responsibility for my stoker I was slightly nervous about
our next trial run, But Sheila was excited about it and keen to get back out,
we made three different route plans while other distractions held us back, then
my sister phoned she was visiting mum and that meant we had less time than we
originally thought, we opted for a loop around Linlithgow and back around ten
mile , these were all trial runs for a bigger trip anyway and it would perhaps
help to settle my nerves ! I f it wasn’t too big a trip second time out
Right
from the start I felt our confidence had grown substantially especially Sheila’s
we had a quick conversation about routines and conversations , we agreed that
like most things in life communication is the key , we discussed how we will board
Flossie and set off with our now practiced technique which we continued
successfully for the rest of the day . I boarded and turned the peddles to
where I wanted them to be for the push of, I would then hold the brake while
sheila got into her seat with both her feet on the peddles, I would say good to
go she would check the traffic situation behind us and say ready, I would count
1 2-3 push on the peddle and we were off. This worked a treat for the rest of
the day we were off we went up hill slightly and got lucky with traffic and opted
for the main road out of town , then a debate on the bike about the big
roundabout coming up will we won’t we ? It ended up being easy! I still find it
strange but fun to look over my shoulder and see someone on the bike this is
different from a motorbike which is not social with a pillion who is almost
like luggage this is like a co-pilot who is very much part of a two person team
right at your shoulder , I remember from my motor biking days that it was part
of your training what to tell your pillion , you had to instruct them to hold
onto something at all times do not take their feet of the pegs and move their
bodyweight with the biker, and I believe you should have a similar talk with a
child on a tandem , I suppose the holding on thing should be the same on a
tandem 90% of the time you would be fine not holding on but there is a
possibility of hitting a pot hole or bump while the stoker wasn’t holding on
which could potentially unseat them if they have not been pre`warned to hold on ,
The
first part of the journey was on roads we were navigating traffic lights and
moving through traffic with plenty conversation about what would be the best
plan, speed up slow down go for it all much more exciting than cycling by
yourself for some reason , we soon hit our intended path of the roads but as
usual the council planners had one of these stupid two piece barriers over our
intended path the most stupid looking barrier ever( who plans these things )
thankfully you could cycle right round it on the grass as we would struggle manoeuvring
a tandem through a tight chicane stupid road planners its incompetence and a
waste of public money . we looked ahead our next obstacle was clearly visible a
tight zig zag path up an embankment to get us on the canal sheila reckoned we
could do it ! I was worried but she was keen for us to try so we did and it was
a laugh I failed on the first bend it was like getting a bus round a narrow
street corner swinging my front end out wide enough so the back would get round
, the next two were fine although I was shouting at a couple of walkers to excuse
us as we should have L plates ! they were laughing and moved aside for us , I
have noticed a distinct difference from the people around us while we are out
on the tandem people smile at you more make comments and if they’re in company
they will point us out , a smile is infectious though and the more people
smiled at us the more smiling we done ,we were on the canal path now it’s a
gravel path and tight ive cycled it walked it and ran the self-same path
countless times but on Flossie it was different we changed up a gear but didn’t
want to be flying along there was other canal path users to consider ! with our
vehicle being longer I was very aware to make sure people either went to the
right of us we were trying to stay on the left just like the main road but
something happened on the canal path that day that has never happened to me
before . On two occasions people and us were in serious doubt of who should
pass who on which side? I worried about this as the wrong choice would catch
someone mid`tandem and 3 people getting potentially hurt! we coped ok though
and it was fun, we took our time and sheila commented on how pleasant it was
being able to look around and relax, the next issue was the tight bends in the
path at the canal bridges, I was much more nervous about these than sheila and
she would say keep the speed up its fine while I was saying I am going to slow down,
it certainly brought a smile to our faces,
We got
off to walk over the aqueduct it’s all cobbled and narrow and high up a very
scenic walk over .once over our climb on and take off was seamless we have our
technique nailed, it was time for a very pleasant bowl of soup and a beer at an
inn at the side of the canal before the cycle home, we were happy with the full
event and now ready to start planning the proper adventure
we had hoped to take a few days staying over night around the forsth estuary , but it was october and weather windows can be interesting in scotland at that time of year ! our planned weeks cycle trip round the forth estuary , got shortened to a swift journey around the bridges on the only dry non windy day ,
We didn’t get started as early as we could have or had hoped
to but it was still before 11am when we set of the weather was glorious so I
opted not to put the panniers on and didn’t bother with a jacket , I put a
little oil on the tandems chain the tyres were fine I packed some tools plus
spare inner tubes and we were off , the weather was lovely and we were out the town
quickly and smoothly our trial rides had paid off and we set of confidently
,before long we were taking a left turn before Linlithgow and heading under the
motorway and over a small bridge on the river Avon which had a good volume of
water running under it , the previous bridge here an old wooden one had been
washed away once when the river was in spate , the same fate will not fall on
this bridge it arches up and is heavy duty metal , once over the bridge it was
the first real test for Flossie the tandem ( well us really ) it’s a steady
long uphill cycle here to reach a back road of bones called the flints , the
thing about being on a tandem is you really are a team you are in the battle
together I m moved the gear changer right down but done it too far and the
chain fell off right at the start of our uphill . fortunately I put the peddles
at the right angles this time when I put it back on ,(note to self-take hand cleaners
with you every time ) in the lowest gear we still had to push hard , we had a
discussion about it after the trip and Flossie’s gear ratio is too limited she
could really do with a lower gear and a higher there is only 7 gears and the
range is not wide enough for us , we discussed if we were going to stand up on
the peddles and push but Sheila was against giving this a go and we stuck with
sitting pushing hard , we were glad of the level road at the flints and felt we
had earned the views out over Linlithgow and cockleroy ,
There
is A busy main road between bones and Linlithgow and we were heading to it at a junction where
we were going straight over , the communication for this sort of stuff is good
for tandem riding I spoke with Sheila about our options saying I wanted to slow
right down and be in a low gear just in case we could dash over the road
without stopping the preferred option or if we stop being in a low gear for a
quick take of , we had to stop for a postie van none the less we got across
easy and quickly enough and coped with the next incline up to Bo`ness golf club
easily we stopped here for a minute to do some go pro footage and take in the
fantastic views right up down and over the forth estuary , I explained to
Sheila we were heading for a steep downhill on a very narrow country road with
bends so we shall have to keep the speed down in case we meet any oncoming cars
there wasn’t room to pass , as soon as we got down the steep downhill and round
the last bend I felt Sheila go for it on the peddles but I wasn’t prepared for
it and neither was the chain the cam shifter thing done its usual and shoved
the chain of because our cadence was out of sync , easy fixed though ( more
hand cleaners required ) and we were off up the pleasant country road cross
over and onto a busy road for 5 minutes and back on the champagny road to
blackness , we opted to stick to going down to the shore instead of going with
the main road and headed down through the picturesque town of blackness and up
through the gates behind the castle we really should have just came through the
shorter route at the park , but we had a pleasant chat with a couple of
cyclists from Glasgow
I was
worried about this next section as it was a gravel type path through the woods
which used to be pot holed and suitable only for walkers or a mountain bike !
not now it was excellent I need not have worried we flew along this lovely forest
trail skirting around the beautiful country house of Hopetown it’s a majestic
country estate and grounds that has a dear herd and walled garden’s supplying
the farm shop my only major concern now was a turnstile type gate that used to
be tricky on a normal bike ! but the gate like the path has been upgraded and
it was no problem we stopped for photos and the classic gates of the grounds
and then had a lovely new single track road right under the new bridge ,
this
was the first time I had been under the new bridge and was sadden to see the
old water sports centre had closed down and was all boarded up , further
research once home showed it had just changed location ,
Flossie was parked in the beer garden and we
went inside to order our soup and beer I asked what kind of soup is it today it
was butternut squash chilli and coconut ! the same as what I had made at home
so it wasn’t going to be soup for me we ordered wrap’s with fries and sat in
the beer garden to eat them I pressed pause on my Garmin sports watch but it
only stays paused so long and jumped to saving in 10mins so my route details
ended in two separate electronically recorded events ,I do love the internal
décor of the red lion but it was sunny and we were warm from our cycling, but
it was early October and by the time we had ate our wraps and fries we were
frozen and wishing we had brought more layers or sat inside , this was 30mile into our days cycling so I
knew from experience we had around 10 mile left to complete the circuit
Flossie was put in the garage and we were keen to compare our stats ,
Sheila was using strava on her mobile phone and it said she had done 68.9km in
4hrs 16mins I was using my Garmin sports watch and it said we had done 3hrs
2mins 47.2km 29.3mile plus one hour 7
mins 19.5km (12.1mile) so 42.3 mile 66.7km in 4hrs 9mins , a slight but
acceptable difference
