A Great Week of Tandem Riding As We Gear-Up For Next Weekend!

Wow, we had a great week where we were able to get out on the tandem bike four times!  In previous years that wouldn’t have seemed like a big deal, but with the weather we’ve had this year it’s been a real challenge to get in any riding.  It always seemed like it wanted to rain on the weekends and once we moved the clocks ahead the rain came on weekday afternoons as well!

However, with very few miles under our belt I took advantage of a slight lull in the action at work to leave “on time” several nights last week so that I could arrive at home about the same time as Debbie and then join her for an early evening tandem ride from the house.  We succeeded in pulling this off on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights and were able to ride our 25-mile loop before sunset.

It wasn’t a blistering pace by a long shot, but we were happy with how we felt and the ride tempo we were able to maintain.  We  had  a little excitement on Wednesday night when a spoke on our composite wheelset broke: all of the gory details are contained in an earlier blog entry that you can find HERE.  Subsequent investigation and inspection of the wheelset disclosed that our rear wheel is also under duress.  Oh well, that’s why we have backup wheels, eh?

Friday was an “off-day” from work and cycling as there was a Georgia Tandem Club (aka, PEACHES) ride scheduled for Saturday and I thought my legs had earned a recovery day.  However, I’m not sure they really got it as I ended up spending most of the day on my feet  doing yard work, i.e., trimming hedges, working the lawn, and the like.  I was able to carve out some time to hop on the Harley for a short ride to and meet Debbie for lunch at the Red Eyed Mule.  After that it was back to the house with just a short detour to pick up some replacement cleats for my cycling shoes at the local REI.  I finished up my yard work and being the eternal optimist, loaded the tandem in the truck for Saturday morning’s ride. Friday evening included our usual visit to On the Border which was a great time as always.  All the while we kept our eyes on the weather as the forecasters had been warning of an all-day wash-out on Saturday. However, by the time we arrived at home the forecasts  had been updated and it was starting to look like a pretty good day!

I was up somewhat early on Saturday so I could verify the weather was still clear; it was.  We were up and out of the house by 8:00am and arrived on the other side of the Atlanta perimeter near Stone Mountain for our group’s ride start.  There were only five teams, but that’s almost par for the course these days… quite sadly.  But, it was a beautiful day, the temps were pleasant and our riding partners were a joy so we had a great time.  I believe all told we rode about 38.5 miles and climbed about 1,800-2,000′: no real steep stuff on that side of town.  Both Debbie and I shared that we felt pretty good during and after the ride, which is to say nothing ached, got chaffed or made us feel like taking up a different hobby!  We had lunch with our friends before heading back to our side of town where we’d take care of a few errands, take the hardtop off of her little red sports car for the spring & summer and then get ready to have a little bit of a Mark-Fest ahead on my birthday on Tuesday the 14th.

Mark-fest wasn’t all that extravagant; just dinner at our usual Saturday haunt — Olde Towne Tavern & Grille — followed up by a visit to our friend’s David & Deb’s Saturday haunt — Loco Willy’s — which was a good time.  We capped off the night by going to a recently re-opened club where our favorite local cover band Pretty Twisted would be playing so we could kick up our heels.   The place is something of a dive and struggling to get on its feet after being mis-managed and suddenly put out of business back in December.  But, despite some of the rough edges and challenges, the band put on a great show and Debbie and I were able to enjoy our time together watching the action as well as being part of the action on the dance floor.  I’m always amazed at how many folks who go to hear these bands have no interest in dancing anymore; seems like a shame to waste a good beat, a good band and a wooden or tiled dance floor when you find one!!  The highlight of the night– aside from my date — was a special, personal performance of the “dirty birthday song” by our friend and lead singer for the band, Jody.  We capped off the night by doing a repeat of our last night in Panama City Beach by stopping for breakfast at a Waffle House around 2:00am. We were both out like a couple of lights once we returned home.

Sunday started off surprisingly early for me as I was out getting Debbie’s little car washed and the soft top coated with UV protectant for the season, followed up by some work on my motorcycle and our tandem bike.  The highlight of our day was a nice motorcycle ride to a long and leisurely lunch via the long-way around, and then it was out to the garage to get our triplet down from the ceiling and prepped for next weekend’s Georgia Tandem Rally.  I must say, the garage gets crowded fast once that 10′ long bicycle built for three is on the floor!

Anyway, that was our weekend.  We were able to get in over 100 hard miles of riding on our tandems

2013 Tour de Cure: $3,085 Raised. Thank You All So Very Much!!

Wow.  What a tremendous outpouring of support!  We received  thirty-six contributions all told that — when added to our $400 donation — provided the American Diabetes Association with $3,085 for their continued search to find a cure for diabetes.  

A huge and sincere thank you to all of our friends in the tandem cycling community, Lockheed Martin co-workers, family members and blog readers allowed us to be your representatives in this year’s ADA fund-raising drive.

We truly take a lot pride in supporting the ADA given the good work they do in helping those afflicted by diabetes live with the disease while also searching for more effective treatments and a cure.  While we have several friends who are living with MS or who have successfully beat cancer and have contributed generously to help find cures for those diseases, we were quite surprised by how many of our friends and co-workers were living with diabetes, often times discovered when they needed help to avoid the onset of a mild diabetic coma or insulin shock. As we’ve gone about our fund-raising some of our sponsors have shared personal stories about themselves or loved ones living with Type I or II diabetes.

That sudden realization of just how pervasive diabetes had become, with some 6 million people being afflicted who don’t even realize it — on top of the 20 million who do — was truly an eye opener. Moreover, deaths directly or indirectly attributed to diabetes now exceed 230,000 per year, which also comes as a surprise when compared to lung cancer at 160,000, breast cancer at 40,000 or prostate cancer at 28,000 deaths per year.

As I said, the more we learn about diabetes the more we realize the importance of the ADA’s search for treatments and a cure. And that’s why we’re so deeply appreciative of your willingness to support the ADA through your sponsorship.

Thank you all so very much.  

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2013 Hall of Fame.  Thanks SO Very Much!!!

• Kevin & Linda, TX  (Tandem Cycling)
• Ashton & Rene, MS (Tandem Cycling)
• Bret & Ruth, GA  (LM)
• Jim & Diana, GA  (LM)
• Kanwal & Diane, GA  (LM)
• Andy & Yong Sim, GA  (LM)
• Ed & Cindy, GA (LM)
• Shan & Eddie, GA  (LM)
• Linda & Bill, GA (LM Ret.)
• Mark & Tracy, GA (LM)
• Scott & Beth, GA (LM)
• Max & Catherine, GA (LM)
• Rainia & Sammie, GA (LM)
• Johnny & Nancy, GA (LM)
• Tom & Cheryl, PA (Tandem Cycling)
• Tom & Melody, GA (LM)
• Fred & Audean, GA (LM)
• Debbie & Joe, TN (Tandem Cycling)
• Mary & Ken, FL (Tandem Cycling)
• Scott & Babbett, GA (LM)
• Kurt & Sloan, GA (LM)
• George & Lisa, GA (LM)
• Carl & Missy, GA (Tandem Cycling)
• Jay & Joan, PA (Tandem Cycling)
• Oscar & Lucy, TN (Tandem Cycling)
• John & Margaret, MN (Tandem Cycling)
• MTBTandems.com / Alex & Kim (Tandem Cycling)
• Duncan & Laura, NC (Tandem Cycling)
• Lisa & Paul W, GA (Tandem Cycling)
• Shelley P. (Buddy Bike), FL (Tandem Cycling)
• Tony & Kay C., GA (LM)
• Mark & Karen W., AK (Tandem Cycling)
• Heidi & Al P., FL (Tandem Cycling)
• My Big Sister Betsy, IL (Family)
• Walt & Nancy M., GA (Tandem Cycling)
• Randy & Chris J., KY (Tandem Cycling)

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A DONATION!

So that’s what a composite spoke sounds like when it breaks….

Doink!

Yup, that’s what I heard as we were cruising down the billiard table smooth, 4% payoff grade called County Line Road at 35 mph tonight.  At first I thought something had gotten shot out from under the tire that I didn’t see in the road, but as I continued to quickly assess the noise I immediately knew: we’d finally had one of the threaded-ends of our Topolino’s composite spokes break.

I say finally because I always suspected it was a matter of when and not if we’d experience one of these types of spoke-end / nipple interface break.  We have several friends who were also early adopters of the Topolino’s but who live and ride on roads that aren’t as nice as ours and several of them had front spokes break early on.  I believe we may have been late in getting ours because our original front wheel was replaced about 6 months after we started riding on the wheels, and because we’ve since been using three other wheelsets on our tandem which also kept the mileage low.  However, last year we decided to start riding on the Topolino’s more often just to see how long we could go without any issues.  Well, apparently it was about a year and perhaps 1,500 miles, noting that we put about 700 miles on our conventional wheels and another 700 miles on our Rolfs before selling them this past fall.

Getting back to tonight’s ride, it took me about 2 seconds to realize what I’d heard was a spoke end snapping, confirmed by the new wobble that didn’t exist in the front wheel just moments before I heard the “Doink”.  I immediately informed the lovely Miss Debbie that we’d just broken a spoke so that she’d know why I was now coasting and testing the stability of the bike with some subtle steering inputs as I confirmed that we’d be able finish the last 9 miles of our ride without being at risk due to the broken spoke.

About the only time the spoke made any racket was when we were climbing out of the saddle and I was throwing the front end of the bike back and forth as I usually do: the loose spoke didn’t like that and let me know with a “whack, whack, whack” noise.

Suffices to say, we made it home fine, albeit at a somewhat slower pace that we would have ridden without the broken spoke.  I’ve shot off a note to Topolino asking for advise on how to go about getting the wheel repaired and replaced the Topolino’s on our Calfee with our ‘back-up’  conventional White Industries / Velocity Deep-V wheelset.  Yes, I practice what I preach and always have a backup wheelset on hand!

Fingers crossed, it won’t cost too much to have it put right + the cost of shipping the wheels from Georgia to Massachusetts and back.

Panama City Beach: Another Big Bike Weekend (Part 2 of 2)

Friday 

After sleeping in much longer than usual, which was quite nice, we got ourselves sorted out, stuffed the rain gear into the bike’s saddlebags and crossed our fingers that the rain would hold off until the afternoon as we headed over to the main Thunder Beach venue at Frank Brown Park.

We figured we’d do best to visit before any more rain fell since the entire venue is set up on a grass field!  I was pleasantly surprised at how well drained the turf was in most places, so no worries about the jiffy stand sinking into the mud!  Normally Frank Brown is all a-buzz with the sound of motocross bikes, but this year the organizers replaced them with group of female aerial gymnasts called Circus Uno. Although we didn’t get to see the show because of the weather it looks like it would have been interesting just based on the press photos.

Honoring Red Shirt Friday!

Despite the overcast skies and light mist, the place was pretty packed, almost on par with what we’ve seen in previous years on sunny days.  However, the number of vendors was definitely down, almost along the lines of this past fall’s rally. After checking things out about the only thing that really captured our attention were the travel trailers & motor coaches.  After touring the various models on display — both new and used — we decided we’d the go for a lightly used 5th wheel unit with a toy box vs something like a motor coach but would definitely rent one for a trip before buying. 

After about an hour at the park we headed back to Sharky’s for a second helping of those wonderful fish tacos and the lovely view of the gulf.  The sky was still filled with clouds instead of sun and it was misting again.  No big deal;  we just put up the umbrella on our table and continued to enjoy our lunch. Oh yeah, and since it was Red Shirt Friday, I obliged and saluted our troops with my red Earl Small t-shirt.

Just looking at the weather radar we could see the rest of the afternoon was going to be a wet one so we packed it back in at the condo for some more “us time”, which was really quite nice.  I was able to peck out my first entry capturing Thursday’s trip down and also do a short piece on tire size to add some tandem content to my blog; after all.. it is the TandemGeek’s blog not the BikerGeek’s blog.  While surfing around on the web I was also able to scope out some places for dinner and set up reservations for 6:30 pm at the Saltwater Grill.  This would get us in and out so we could go and stake out a table over Pineapple Willy’s around 7:30 so we’d have a place to sit for Jacob & Brock at 9:00pm.

Relaxing at Sharky’s

Before heading to dinner we decided to pay yet another visit to Sharky’s for cocktail hour and some smoked tuna dip; yum!  I’d have to say that Sharky’s has become our favorite beachfront place to just sit and enjoy the bar or for lunch, thanks to those awesome fish tacos.

Debbie at Saltwater Grill

It was of course still drizzling when we headed out so I threw on the quick release windscreen and we also donned our full face helmets for the night.  The wind in your hair is always nice, but not the rain…. at least when it’s also somewhat cool.  Franky, I’d rather be comfortable and be warm instead of looking cool and being uncomfortable so I know I’m getting old!  Guess it’s time for a geezer-glide?!  Just kidding: perhaps a Road King FLHR with a removable fairing, but not an Ultra… at least not just yet!

The dinner at Saltwater Grill was OK, not great so I’m not sure there’s always a huge difference in going upscale vs. sticking to the “joints” along Front Beach & Thomas Blvd for dinner, that is so long as you stick to fish or salads.   However, our timing for Pineapple Willy’s was impeccable, as Debbie scored a front-row table along the dance floor.

Although Terry Brock wasn’t there, the guy filling in for him did just fine and Kevin Jacobs was killing-it all night long.  I don’t know how this guy belts out that kind of music night after night without tearing up his vocal chords.  Their regular keyboard player was also on his game and they had a new base player and drummer who were exceptional!  We met a couple of nice guys from Rome, Georgia who kept us entertained and had a great time dancing the night away with what was a really fun and well-behaved crowd.  We stayed until they finished their second set around midnight and then packed it in for the condo.

It had stopped raining, but it was really windy and cool when we rolled-out of the parking lot.  As we motored by Coyote Ugly we could see that it was definitely the happening place with people lined up out the door waiting to get in.  Not sure if we’ll make in there this trip or not.  We know where we’ll be on Saturday…  back at Willy’s to be sure!! Might need to get there a bit earlier to get those good seats though!

Saturday

As on Friday, we slept in Saturday morning which is just not something I ever do at home.  We also woke to clear signs the weather was going to improve by the afternoon.  Now, if only the temps would rise out of the low 60′s!  Yes, it felt quite chilly when we rode down to Pier Park to check out the custom bike show around 11:30 am.  But, there was no drizzle and we could see clear skies out over the gulf.

The bikes at the show were a mixed bag of the unridable show bikes, over-the-top paint, anodizing and silly-sized wheel machines with a couple of really nice old bikes and some other “why is this bike here” machines thrown in.  Frankly, as we walked up and down the Pier Park sidewalks to get in some exercise the bikes that lined the street were in many respects far more interesting than most of the bikes that were being judged for the contest; really.  Of course, there were also some WTF bikes out there as well.

   

After leaving Pier Park We checked a few more of the various vendor areas and interestingly enough, realized there really isn’t anything we need that we don’t already have and very little being offered at these places that’s all that great. 99% of the stuff being sold is really poor quality junk that comes in from off-shore and gets marked up 3x – 10x what it cost from the source. Well, aside from the really expensive, high-end bike parts and accessories and the guys doing seat upholstery that is.

Our afternoon entertainment would combine the Ms. Thunder Beach contest with lunch at Hammerhead Fred’s. As we rode east along Front Beach Road you could tell Thunder Beach was revving up to full throttle as the entire west bound road was bottlenecked all the way from our condo at Alf Coleman to Pier Park.  Fortunately, it was smooth cruising going east!!

At first I didn’t quite understand why they would have moved the Ms TB show to Fred’s, as the last time they did one of the Miss TB prelims it was set up in a tent.  Much to my surprise, as we rode up it became immediately apparently that Fred’s had built a rather massive pavilion where the parking lot used to be and then  convinced the Thunder Beach organizers to move their event and some vendors to their new site.  Frankly, I’m not sure if the organizers did themselves any favors but Fred’s was certainly doing better for it: the place was packed and drinks were flowing.

It didn’t hurt that the sun had finally come out as the clouds cleared and blue skies ruled the day.  We split a massive Yellowfin Tuna sandwich and it was absolutely delicious, as well as the right size. Neither one of us can really eat a large entrée anymore which is probably a good thing!

Our next stop was back to our condo so Debbie could get some sun and then to get ready for dinner.  Yes, that meant we had to head west; yikes!  Fortunately, I was pretty sure Middle Beach Road would be a better choice so it was a 5 minute trip back “home” via Alf Coleman, with a quick left and right into Sterling Reef.  That trip would have taken 40 minutes if we’d have tried to go via Front Beach Road as the once quiet streets were still jammed with loudly rev’ing v-twins, screaming in-line 4′s and the really obnoxious V8′s that have found their way onto motorcycles.  It’s a beautiful thing when Bike Week is graced with nice weather!

Debbie at Bonefish

After some more us time and watching the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby we rode the 1/2 a mile to Bonefish Grill for dinner: best meal of the trip!  We will definitely be going back to Bonefish Grill at either PCB or one of their many other locations.  Debbie had some really nice blackened salmon and I had fresh, ocean tuna with some out of this world green beans.

As something of a repeat from Friday night, we headed over to Pineapple Willy’s after dinner so we’d be sure to get some descent seats for the Jacob & Brock gig at 9:00pm.  The crowd we found at Willy’s was quite a bit different from Friday and to be honest, the band was actually a lot more enjoyable to dance to on Friday with the guitarist/vocalist filling in for Terry Brock.  That was due in part to the audience as well as having Kevin Jacobs free to work from his own playlist for the night.  On Saturday, Terry did about half of the songs and they also had a couple of locals “sitting-in” for vocals as well as a former horn player from Breakers who was really excellent.  So, what we ended up with was some really great music, just not the best dance music.  We had a great time, but it just didn’t reach the bar we’d set the night before.

We stopped in at Coyote Ugly on the way back to our condo to see if there was any magic in the air. Nope. The place was packed, but there just wasn’t much of a vibe so we left shortly after we arrived.  

Amazingly enough, the capstone of our evening was an early morning meal at Waffle House.  I had hash browns “all the way” and Debbie had a waffle: it hit the spot!  I think the last time Debbie and I visited a Waffle House was back in 1991; really.  It’d  been that long.  But, it was a nice way to end our visit to PCB!

Sunday

Not much to say other than an uneventful trip home… which was a good thing.  We were up and out of the condo by 8:30am local and arrived home 6 hours later just ahead of the rain.

It’s been a long time since we’ve spent a weekend on our own and it was kinda nice.  We missed having our friends David & Deb around, but improvised and found new ways to enjoy our time together, including several hours spent doing nothing but relaxing with each other!

Panama City Beach; Another Big Bike Weekend! (Part 1 of 2)

A little background on why we just did two motorcycle vacations in the space of 4 weeks is probably in order, as this is even unusual by our own standards  (perhaps it’s an omen of things to come?)

After riding the 125 miles from Miami down to Key West and then 125 miles back, Debbie let me know that she had a blast and was eager to take a longer trip on the motorcycle.  She also noted  she really wanted to do the 330 mile ride to Panama City Beach, even though our Key West trip had been planned as a substitute for bike week in Panama City Beach.

Once we were back at home, and because our friends David & Deb had been SO VERY gracious to cover our hotel at Key West with David’s travel points (wow, that was huge!), I checked to see if we could still get a room at Sterling Reef, a nice condo complex right on the beach and centrally located on Front Beach Road for the four days we’d be in PCB.  Well, actually I checked all of the hotels with beach front rooms first and quite frankly, they cost nearly the same or more than what we typically pay for a beach front room at Sterling Reef. So, after making sure Debbie and I could get the days off, I went ahead and booked a 2br/2ba condo.  Once we had the accommodations, we also invited David & Deb to join us — our treat. However, as we suspected they had conflicts so we’d going it alone.

As with all bike trips — pedal powered and horse powered — the weather is always something I key a close eye on as the time to make the trip comes closer.  Sadly, the closer our trip to the beach became the more moisture there was in the forecast, such that as we readied ourselves for the trip it looked like we’d have rain just about every day; doh!  Oh well, that’s why we have rain gear, right????

THURSDAY: The Trip Down & Our First Day at the Beach

We were both very anxious to make this trip, so canceling due to weather was never a consideration.  We had ourselves organized and packed Thursday night and the bike was also ready to go with the addition of the quick release windscreen and some air deflectors on the lowers that help deal with wind buffeting.  Because the weather was looking so spotty we also had all of our rain gear — pants, jacket, boot gators & gloves — and we also decided  we’d just go ahead and wear our Shoei full-face / modular helmets vs. the 3/4 and 1/2 helmets we used on our Key West trip.  I must be getting old, because it was sure nice having the full-face helmet on for this trip!!

After getting up at about the normal time for a work day I put our things in the touring bag which consistent of drawing the air out of the 10 2.5 gallon Zip Lock storage bags that contained our clothes so that they’d (a) have no chance of getting wet if we got into a monsoon and (b) would also pack more tightly and with less wrinkling vs. simply rolling them.

With the bike’s touring bag packed to the gills and our rain gear in the saddle bags with our lightweight jacket liners we slipped into our leather pants & jackets (it was about 59°F when we left), donned our helmets and pointed the bike south!

What should have been an easy 40 minute ride to Palmetto via back roads ended up becoming nearly an 80 minute ordeal as the rain started 15 minutes out from the house and traffic was a mess.  Given that it looked like the rain would be with us for a while I decided that we’d do well to put on our rain gear when we stopped to top off the gas tank in Powder Springs and Debbie finally realized why I never thought twice about riding to work in the rain: rain gear works well!!

It was after we’d suited up that things got worse from a traffic standpoint as there was a major road issue down at the Fulton Ind. & Camp Creek area that forced us to back-track about 5 miles and take the I20 to I285 route to I85.  However, once we hit I285 it was smooth sailing all the way to Panama City Beach!  We were even able to stuff the rain gear back in the saddlebags when we stopped for gas in Phonix, Alabama which made the rest of the ride a lot more comfortable.  Rain gear does a great job of keeping you dry, but it also catches a lot of wind which makes piloting a non-touring, cruiser type motorcycle a bit more physically demanding…. so having just the leathers on was perfect given the temps in the 60′s and overcast skies.

We hit a few small patches of rain between Eufaula and Dothan and again between Chipley and Vernon, but after that we could see in the distance that the skies over Panama City Beach were less cloudy than anything else we’d seen during our journey.  Sure enough, when we hit the intersection of 79 and 98 in Panama City Beach at 12:45 local time the sun finally hit us, blue skies appeared through holes in the clouds and the temps jumped up 10 degrees!

We decided lunch was the first order of business and after discovering that Harpoon Harry’s as well as Breakers were no longer going concerns, we doubled-back on Front Beach Rd. to Sharky’s for some yummy seafood gumbo, blacked fish tacos and some refreshing beverages to toast the start of our weekend.

 

Our condo was just a few minutes away and it didn’t take us long to get checked-in, unpacked, the bike washed and then be on our way to start exploring.  Our first stop was going to be the local movie theater to see if we could get tickets for the opening night’s show of Iron Man 3.  We figured the weather would be iffy on Friday so why not see the flick and then hit the town after things were “happening”.  We were pleasantly surprised to find that Iron Man 3 was going to be showing on Thursday night, 1 day ahead of the advertised opening!  So, our plans for Thursday began to shape up nicely. We’d have dinner somewhere at Pier Park, then take in the movie and then hit Pineapple Willy’s for some dancing to the music of Jacob & Brock.

Our next stop was Panama City Beach’s just-opened Harley-Dealer. It had been planned for some time as an extension of the main dealership in Tampa but they didn’t break ground until the Fall Bike Rally in Oct ’12 and just held their Grand Opening on April 16th. It was a nice-looking place; not overly huge but really well-done.  Of course, the unmistakable odors coming from their neighbors at the Panama City Beach Sewage Dept made you really question someone’s choice of building sites; really… ???   I picked up the ubiquitous dealer T-shirt, after kicking myself for not getting one in Key West and we made the rounds.  They had rain gear on sale for 20% off and I’m guessing they will have sold most of it by Sunday!!

As we got ready to leave we could see there was a large storm brewing to the east and to the west, but both looked to be headed north so I decided to press our luck and stop to pick up some groceries as planned on the way back to the condo where we’d wait out the weather OR get our rain gear.  Yes, I’d left the two saddlebag totes with all of our rain gear in our condo so I’d have room for the groceries in our saddlebags, a decision I would regret as we came out of the grocery store: the storm came west from Panama City, it didn’t go north!

We were within sight of our condo when the wind kicked up and the pre-mist started hitting us in the face but then the bottom fell out and we had to take refuge under the portico of a hotel along Front Beach Road a mere 3/4 of a mile from our condo for about 1/2 hour.  When the rain lightened up a bit we threw caution to the wind and make a dash for our condo, got a little more soaked but were finally back in the warmth and comfort of our condo where our clothes went into the spin cycle and dryer.

As dinner time rolled around the rain had not let up so we went ahead and suited up in our jacket liners, full rain gear and helmets for the ride back up to Pier Park.  It was quite warm and toasty even though we didn’t look the part of the hard-core riders around us.  We also drew some interest as we walked into Dick’s Last Resort and proceeded to strip down and stuff our gear back into the Saddlebag totes.  But hey, we were warm and dry!!!

Pier Park was pretty much dead with perhaps 40 motorcycles sitting parked along the curbs.  We had a pretty nice meal — Debbie had the blackened salmon and I went with a salad to get my greens — and then stashed our gear on the motorcycle and went for a walk with our umbrellas along Pier Park. We ended up at Rum Runners listening to their dueling piano’s for about an hour as we waited for Iron Man 3 to begin at 9:15 pm in the theater next door.  I’ve got to tell you… we must be getting old!  The guys on the piano and the ‘mature crowd’ made for a great time!

Iron Man 3 turned out to be a pretty interesting and complex story.  I liked it, but as always it and Iron Man 2 never achieved the ‘wow’ effect of the original Iron Man movie.  But, I will say they’ve done a great job of finding some really evil villains and putting light-hearted or humorous dialog in the midst of the violent scenes to take the edge off.

After Iron Man the plan was to go and see Jacob & Brock at Pineapple Willy’s.  It was about 11:45 pm when the movie let out and after dealing with a light mist (while enjoying the warmth and comfort of our helmets) we arrived at Pineapple Willy’s to find the band and finished its set and were pretty much packing it up for the night. So, we did likewise.  It had been a pretty long and full day by that point!

New Wheels for the Triplet! But Are My Rims & Tires Too Narrow?

It’s been both interesting & occasionally even informative to watch several different “threads” running on “wider is better” themes across cycling. Frankly, I believe that so long as the average recreational/sport cyclists use wheels and tires at pressures that fall within a fairly wide band of “acceptable” for their weight, road / trail conditions and expectations for cost, durability and performance then all is good.

In many respects I merely see the push for “wider is better” in the same light as the 29er wheelsize and now the push for 650b wheelsize for off-road: it’s all about finding a way to sell more bikes to people who already own bikes.  That’s what product “improvement & innovation” is really all about in the cycling industry… generating new business from your current consumer base and finding ways to reach out to new consumers.

As for the different threads, the longest running one is the drumbeat like messaging from Jan Heine & what was Vintage Bicycle Quarterly where they’ve since dropped Vintage from the name to broaden their market.  For Jan’s preferred type of riding, clearly the retro / classic French / rando bikes with their large volume 650b tires that can handle unpaved roads of varying surfaces as well as lousy concrete or asphalt while still holding their own on smooth roads with unparalleled comfort on all of those surfaces.  I have yet to taste that forbidden fruit but it’s on my bicycle bucket list!  In the mean time I eagerly await and then tear through my Bicycle Quarterly to get Jan’s views and test results on tires. The Spring ’13 edition is almost required reading for anyone with an interest in bicycle tires and wheels; more in Jan’s blog entry HERE.

Calfee has even gotten into the mix with a 650, wide-tire capable variant of its Adventure single bike, noting it wasn’t too long ago that Bicycle Quarterly tested a rando-type Calfee Adventure (review here) which Jan & Mark Vande Kamp continue to talk about as a benchmark for other bikes they’ve since tested.  As for the 650×42 adventure, here’s what Calfee posted to Facebook with the accompanying video: “The Calfee Tetra Adventure dual disc platform has been updated to allow adequate clearance for 650 x 42mm tires, a size long popular with endurance road enthusiasts. This platform allows you to easily swap wheels and, then, wheel and tire sizes. The dual disc Adventure platform is also compatible with 700c tires up to 35c knobby offering tremendous versatility. This Tetra Adventure features a number of component highlights; Exposure Revo generator hub and light, prototype TRP Spyre road disc brake calipers, custom Wound Up fork featuring Calfee rack fitment, ENVE 27.5″ carbon hoops, Calfee BarStem and Nitto Mark’s Rack M1. Mike used this dexterous machine on the challenging Giro / Steel WUl Spring Sportif last weekend and will pedal it to Yosemite from Capitola this Saturday and Sunday. Beautiful…”

A more recent thread on the off-road “big tire” scene showed up during this year’s Sea Otter Classic. Apparently a very strong 43-year amateur off-road cyclist — Manual Beastley — showed up with a fat-tire, $199 Mongoose Beast bought at Walmart and raced it well in just about every event at the Sea Otter to prove how versatile the fat-tire bikes can be. As you’d expect, the folks who design, build and sell fat tire frames & equipment were both excited and I suspect taken aback by this: good news was, fat tire bikes are versatile. Bad news is, $199 bike in the hands of a good rider can deliver the goods better than other ‘competitive riders’ on bikes costing 20x – 30x as much.  You can read more about this at Bike Magazine’s  blog HERE where you’ll also find some stills and a link to this video:

And, what I’m guessing may be due in part to a bit of cabin fever with the way winter continues to linger and keep folks off of their bikes and tandems, a recent thread at one of the tandem forums started off this way:

Let me start with a rather blunt statement… it would seem that using 19mm wide rims, especially on tandems is akin to using skinny downhill skis after circa 2005. It seems the tandem industry needs to wake up and ask themselves why 19mm rims are still being used as the mainstream selection for road tandems. Currently you will not find a single boutique tandem wheel using rims 23mm or wider and very few other rim choices available in the “tandem capacity” realm.

Having ridden the aforementioned narrow rims since 1998 I felt I needed to weigh in on this subject, I shared the following perspective….

Perhaps it’s because they’ve worked rather well for many teams?

We started out on Santana’s OEM spec Araya VX300 rims on our ’96 Arriva @ 23mm. At the time, the “hot rim” for tandems was the Mavic T217 @ 22mm with a deeper section, better profile, etc. and we switched to those within a month after buying our Santana. This worked quite well since I’d also ditched the rather dead-feeling and wallowing Specialized tires that came on the Santana for what I had in the garage: a set of 23mm Vredestein Fortezza Tri-Comps. It was a huge improvement and our Santana’s cornering and road feel was much more to MY liking.

When we commissioned our ’98 Erickson Glenn Erickson was spec’ing the deep section Mavic CXP-30 rims @ 19mm but with a 34mm deep section for lightweight teams running narrow 23mm – 25mm tires. To say we were pleased with how the Erickson handled compared to our Santana would be a huge understatement: it was an amazing transformation. At the time we were 260lbs wet and still running the 23mm tires on our very smooth roads here in Georgia.

I didn’t move to a 25mm wide tire until we did our first tour in 2002, but by that time we’d moved to the Velocity Deep-V rims as Mavic had discontinued the CXP-30 in favor of the CXP-33. The handling through the corners was almost as good as our 23′s and they were definitely a welcome addition on less than smooth roads. However, we quickly found out why many teams prefer or even need 28mm – 35mm tires when we flew to San Antonio for a Southwest Tandem Rally in New Braunfels, TX. OMG, we’d ridden on chip seal before but not Texas-size chip seal. It was an eye-opening experience. A trip to Dayton, Ohio for a Midwest Tandem Rally also made us appreciate how folks who have to deal with concrete roads & expansion joints also need a wider tire with a proportionally wider rim to support that tire.

However, at least back here on our home turf and most areas in the Southeast where we do 99% of our riding the 19mm spec rims with nothing larger than a 25mm tire continue to deliver outstanding performance, comfort and reliability and since we don’t race or do time trials optimizing for aerodynamics is not high on my list of imperatives. If it was, we certainly wouldn’t be riding on our very comfortable Topolino’s. But, then again… we only weigh a combined 275lbs which puts us into an entirely different world than teams who weigh 340lbs, 375lbs, 400lbs, etc. And where/how you ride also factors into the equation along with preferences, regardless if those preferences are founded on fact or emotion.

So, I guess my point is, most folks tend to use what works or to mimic what they see other folks using and stick with it until something “better” comes along and trends follow-suit. The trends established in the late 90′s that carried us through the first decade of this century have gone pretty much unchallenged up and until more recently. The wider is better movement is just that: a new trend that may certainly have merits. However, I don’t believe it is either a revolutionary change or one that will have a positive or negative effect on most teams that have used the more narrow rims without any real issues.

Shall we discuss the move away from internal tubes to open frames as well? Or is that also one of those areas where the pros and cons will both be objective and subjective and at the end of the day have more to do with trends and preferences? How about carbon forks vs steel? The evolution of bottom brackets? Compact doubles vs. standard triple drive chains?

It all makes for interesting discussion, but there’s no right or wrong. If something looks silly to you then find something that looks less silly. Let’s face it, we all look like silly idiots to 95% of the non-cycling public out there in our little plastic hats and form-fitting lycra shorts.

Just some food for thought. And, yes… we’ll likely experiment with some wider rims and tires on our Erickson at some point. But, in the interim I still find the 24mm wide Dyad rims with 28mm tires to be an excellent combination for our Triplet, not so much for our Calfee. But, that’s just my preference.

Speaking of the triplet and those 24mm Dyads, we just received a new wheelset from Mel at Tandems East. These 40/48 Dyad/White Ind. black beauties (no photo yet, that’s just a placeholder) replace the original silver 48/48 Dyad/White Ind. wheelset that came on the triplet to complete the cosmetic redo.  We have some 36/36 DeepV/White Ind wheels that we’ve used with 28mm tires in the past, but with 400+ lbs of riders a wider rim and more spokes are good things to have.  Now, should we have gotten an even wider rim to support 32mm or even 35mm tires?  Hard to say, but we can certainly use these wheels on our Erickson or the Calfee with our Reynolds Ouzo Pro Tandem fork to see how a wider, lower psi tire performs and probably will.

Well, That Was A Heck Of A Week! Debbie-Fest Retrospective

Well, Debbie-fest 2013 — the extended celebration of my lovely wife Debbie’s birthday — has just about come to an end. Well, sort of an end.

Thankfully, this year’s Debbie-fest did include some tandem cycling, but only because I was able to sneak out of work on Monday & Tuesday so we could hit the road before the sunset during the week.  The weekends just didn’t lend themselves to providing us with much in the way of ride time as we were still playing catch-up from being out-of-town for the previous two weekends and this weekend was forecast to be a rainy mess.

But, to recap the entire Debbie-fest, it kicked-off on the Sunday after we returned from Key West with a quick trip over to Horsetown to see what they might have to brighten my sweet Debbie’s closet.  Of course, I have to note that our Horsetown visits aren’t what they used to be and it’s a good news / bad news story.  The bad news is our dear friend, store manager and Debbie’s personal fashion consultant Misty parted ways on good grounds with Horsetown back in December.  So, the days of walking into Horsetown and being greeted with a big old hug and smile from the sweet Misty, and then watching Misty play real-life Barbie Doll dress-up with Debbie for a couple hours are merely fond memories at this point. We still enjoy all of the great folks at Horsetown — they’re the best! — but our relationship with Misty was a pretty special thing.  The good news is, Misty has positioned herself well in life and has gone on to pursue her passion for photography by starting up a new business… and that’s simply awesome!  We love it when we see folks who are chasing their dream and making their own way on their own terms.  Well, and of course the other good news is that we had a hell of a run with our visits to Horsetown and between Misty’s fantastic sense of fashion and being Horsetown’s buyer we were able to completely transform Debbie’s wardrobe over the past year: Debbie has truly been Misti-fied!  But, I digress…

As I said, we stopped by Horsetown and were able to find a few things that Debbie liked, including a new pair of kick-ass, black python & crystal Corral boots and then headed over to Horsetown’s sister store in Marietta, High Plains, as I’d seen some cute dresses there when I stopped in to get some smaller-size jeans for myself before Key West: it’s nice to have pant sizes going down instead of up for a change!  Again, not exactly the shopping experience we had with Misty, but we found a few more really nice things to add to Debbie’s closet.  Honestly, I think we’re done!

With that aspect of Debbie-fest complete, the actual week around her birthday kicked-off with the two surprise tandem rides on Monday & Tuesday evenings.  Well, there were also some flowers and a big fluffy Teddy bear on Tuesday: baby’s gotta have her pretty flowers and a cuddly bear!   Wednesday I had to work late, but Thursday was dinner out at On the Border with our son Wesley, his wife Julie and the granddaughters Caroline & Charlotte.  As regular readers have figured out by now, we eat out at least twice a week and for well over 12-years our Friday & Saturday dinners out have been at On the Border and Olde Towne Grille & Tavern because they are simply the most comfortable places we’ve found. So, it’s a no-brainer when we have an event like a birthday as to where we’ll be going, especially with the grandkids.  And, as always, On the Border did not disappoint!  Our good friend and barkeep Jeff got us off to a great start with Debbie’s Pina Colada & my extra special margarita. The kids showed up shortly thereafter and we had a grand time, a tasty dinner and quality time with the grandkids.

Although I had a bit of a mental melt-down at work on Wednesday & Thursday when the wheels came off a few things that shouldn’t have been an issue, everything that threatened to screw up Thursdays’ dinner with the family and even part of Friday & the weekend settled down.  So, despite making a poor vocational decision back in 1999 that culminates in an occasional “stress fest” of my own, I was able to regain some composure, make a few apologies and refocus on the important stuff in life: family and friends.  After all, we really can change jobs & careers — since those are choices we make — family and friends are forever (if we’re lucky, that is!)

So, Friday became mine again and I was up early so I could knock out my office work, some real work, and then begin working down my to-do list which included getting the car, truck and both motorcycle license tags renewed  ($$$ouch$$$), some range time over at GA Firing Line and a 1/2 dozen other things before it was time to meet my sweetie for lunch at The Red Eyed Mule. After lunch it was back to the yard as there were several thousand leaves and other other winter debris in the side yard that still needed to be gritzed-up and used as mulch on the front beds.  Around 4:00 P.M.  a friend showed up to drop off a tandem that I was going to work on over the weekend, and before I knew it Debbie had rolled into the driveway so it was time to get ready for “Finally a Friday” with our friends David & Deb.

Since it was Friday we were back at On the Border because, well… that’s how we end every week!  However, for Debbie-fest we lucked out and our dear friend Jody and the boys from Pretty Twisted were playing nearby at Sixes Tavern in Canton, Georgia so after our dinner and visiting with all of our friends at On the Border we piled David & Deb into our truck and motored on up the road to Sixes.  The band was in fine form, the libations were flowing and we had a great time kicking up our heels on the dance floor!  Debbie was treated to her very own special “Dirty Birthday Song” by Jody and I snuck in a couple boxes of Krispy Kreme donut holes that I’d topped with a candle to server as Debbie’s mock birthday cake for the celebration that followed.  It was a great time, to be sure!!!

Debbie decided to spend Saturday visiting with her parents and helping them spruce up their gardens while I did some chores around the house and worked on a friend’s tandem and knocking off a few more things on my to-do list.  Dinner would be a no-brainer: Olde Towne.  However, once we’d finished up dinner neither one of us felt like going home so we decided to crash-in on David & Deb at their Saturday dinner spot: Loco Willy’s.  We found them at the bar entertaining Shannon, the barkeep, and proceeded to spend the next two hours at the bar having a great time just shooting the breeze.  Back at home we settled in for a movie and that was that.

Now, if we can just make it three more days until Thursday, when we hop on the Harley and take a quick 330 mile ride down to Panama City Beach for Thunder Beach!