Yes, that's the other consideration. If the stoker says "brake", you can't ignore them. And the front rider needs to avoid any potholes in the road.Originally Posted by mr brightside
We generally schedule in lots of cafe stops to keep spirits up and conversation friendly.
Do you take it in turn to 'drive'; sexual equality and all that?
I should declare that I've never ridden on a tandem, although in my racing days I regularly rode so close behind that it probably looked like I was riding one
Last edited by Marco; 24-03-2022 at 01:54 PM.
Never cycled up Hartside, but have driven up it a few times. Should be a good test, and I hope it goes well for you - the weather forecast certainly looks favourable
I'm always on the front. We're quite different heights so it works well not changing. I'd be fine swapping over, but Mrs Noel isn't as confident a cyclist.
Our main differences of opinion are around cadence. I like to spin whereas Mrs Noel likes to crank. Normally we find a happy medium.
There is a technical solution for this. Whilst there are many factors that influence your preferred cadence, crank length is a significant one. When I was waiting for surgery, and unable to pedal with standard 170mm cranks, I bought (by special order) 155mm cranks which I could ride. I geared down, expecting to ride slower but found I was riding just as fast as before but at a higher cadence; the bike just wanted to rev faster.
Whilst I've never seen a formula, the general rule is that shorter cranks feel 'right' at higher cadences whilst longer ones feel 'right' at lower ones. This gives you three options:
1 Reduce the length of Mrs Noel's cranks by 5mm so that her preferred cadence is higher
2 Reduce Mrs noel's cranks by 2.5mm and increase yours by 2.5mm
3 Increase your crank length by 5mm so that your preferred cadence is lower
Assuming your tandem has chains on both sides at the back pedalling position, then options 1 and 2 are too expensive. Option 3, however, is fairly cheap and if you are the type of tandem crew that freewheels around faster corners then there's no real downside to it.
Mainly for Graham's interest, I should state that I have the 155mm cranks I mentioned, 165mm ones that came with the bike I rescued from a shed (in a shocking condition), several pairs of 170mm cranks and 175mm ones that came with a very cheap bike 17 years ago. I have even mixed sets, riding a 155mm on one side, and a 170mm on the other (very difficult 'out of the saddle', but otherwise ok).
Mmmh. I did it today and then over to Draughton - 26 miles, 2600 feet, it being the 26th of course - on my skinny road tyres and I thought it as gravelly as it usually is.
What has changed is that while the land slip is still there with signs galore saying Road Closed the bollards that previously did close the road have been moved to the side of the section where the road is slipping away so actually the road is passable.
Which is probably why I met six vehicles in the three miles or so! It did occur to me that the Duke of Devonshire's staff would not wish to take the long way round and so sooner or later the bollards would be moved - and so they have been.
"...as dry as the Atacama desert".
So you've found an excuse never to do more than 31 miles or 3100 feet of climbing in a day - although you might get a bored at the beginning of the month.
In his lifetime he suffered from unreality, as do so many Englishmen.
Jorge Luis Borges
We have a drum hub brake on the Campag equiped Mercian Tandem, controlled by the stoker - I disconnected it
Can't have braking when going downhill
We also have incompatibility - I'm a twiddler and Sue is not
Presumably I'd need to do this without Mrs Noel knowing about, otherwise she'd realise she was being manipulated into pedaling faster.
I'm reminded of The Twits by Roald Dahl, when Mr Twit convinces Mrs Twit she's got the shrinks by increasing the height of her chair. Classic.
Big ring of 56 to maximise the watts?
"...as dry as the Atacama desert".
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