Giving the Ventana Off-Road Tandem One More Try….

Debbie Decides We’re Going to Attend a Dirt-Road Tandem Event

Back on June 13th we finally made it to our first Georgia Tandem Club monthly ride since September 2019 when we last hosted one from our home. Yes, it had been that long, and nearly as long since we’d attended our last two tandem events, the Southern Tandem Rally in October 2019 we rode on triplet with our friend Lisa in South Carolina, and before then it was in July 2019 at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at the TandemsEast Tandem Rally.

We joined six other couples at the Sosobee Cycling Park about 35-minutes from our home and ended up riding the 40-mile route with four of the other teams –– our longest ride since October 2019 noting our rides from the house and at the Silver Comet trail have only been 25-mile rides — and had a wonderful time. Much to my surprise, while we were having lunch Debbie out-of-the-blue let our friends Roger & Eve know we planned to attend their dirt road tandem event in late August, something she’d not even confirmed to me she wanted to do! It’s not that this was a bad thing, it just somewhat took me by surprise and we’d only briefly talked about it and, well, hadn’t ridden our off-road tandem since June of 2016.

For context, this is not technically an off-road tandem rally ridden on narrow, twisty or challenging single track trails, it’s an event that will instead be held primarily on unpaved, but well-maintained, hard-packed dirt roads in rural Georgia with some occasional paved-road sections. The tandem we’d by default use on this is our no-kidding, off-road Ventana El Conquistador de Montanas tandem with full-suspension which is probably over-kill by a large margin. But, hey, a bicycle is basically a bicycle and since there won’t be a lot of steep climbs the bike’s substantial weight and some degree of suspension bob probably won’t hurt us.

Preparing for the Dirty GTR and Sorting Out the Ventana’s Suitability

This created a bit of a challenge for us in my mind, as it’s not like we could just head-off on our Ventana off-road tandem for three days of riding on dirt roads without making sure (A) the Ventana still functioned properly, (B) possibly making a tire change to the Ventana as the all-around knobby trail tires on it would be less than ideal for the event, (C) I’d need Debbie to spend some time back on the Ventana to make sure she’s comfortable on it and that were “up” for riding 30 or so miles on dirt, and (D) to ensure we didn’t need to search-out a different type of tandem for the event.

Step A was easy and something I could do at the house, Step B is also something I could work on, but it was Step C — putting Debbie back on the Ventana — I needed to work on, remembering that most of our local trails are single track and not forestry service roads: Debbie has made it clear that she’s not interested in heading back onto single track. With that in mind, I put a mountain bike in the truck and headed over to the local off-road cycling park — Allatoona Creek Mountain Bike Park — and explored some of the less-challenging trails to see if I could create something of a pseudo hard pack & gravel trail Debbie might be willing to ride on the Ventana. The goal here was Step D, to see if our 19-year old off-road tandem would “suit our needs” for the “Dirty GTR” our friends Roger & Eve were hosting down in Tifton, Georgia. I’d like to think our old tandem will be “good enough” for at least one, test-event to see if dirt road riding is something Debbie would like to do more often. At that point, if she’s still interested, I may resume my efforts to replace the Ventana off-road tandem with a more “all-road/trail-specific tandem.

I actually headed out to the local mountain bike park quite a few times over the next couple of weeks just to make sure the trails I found were about all I could find — all 5 or 6 miles worth — and to also make sure my own off-road riding skills were up-to-snuff. It was, in all honesty, great getting back on the off-road trails. However, I did realize that as much as I enjoy how my hard-tail Dean mountain bike handles, the trails at Allatoona Creek have just been so worn-down by far too many racing events and excessive use that all of the exposed roots and rocks make riding a hard-tail a painful experience. So, I’ve found I’m much better off riding my single, Ventana Marble Peak with it’s full-suspension.

The First Ride on the Ventana in Five Years

It wasn’t until July 28th that we finally made our first outing on the Ventana. We made the very short, 5-mile drive over to the Allatoona Creek Mountain Bike Park where, for the first time since June 2016, we took our Ventana off-road tandem out for a ride. Now, we’d ridden one other time off road back in November, but that was when we were test-riding a Fandango GiGi “gravel grinder” tandem our friend and tandem shop owner, Alex, had let us try-out (photo at right). Sadly, while the bike was beyond exceptional, I didn’t feel we’d ride it enough to justify the acquisition. However, to be sure, my plan was to take our Ventana out for a similar double-track / forest road ride just to be sure it no longer fit our riding interests and this was that “similar ride” some 8 months later.

The Ventana is a very tall bike compared to our road tandem with more than twice the ground clearance and front & rear suspension so it can be ridden on very challenging, off-road trails, where obstacles like downed trees, dirt berms, etc. are common. It’s also a much taller bike than the Fandango GiGi, so tall in fact that the cranks sit above instead of below the bike’s front & rear wheel axles which creates some inherent stability issues based on the high center of gravity, etc.

The riding we did on July 28th was generally flat dirt, crushed stone and gravel trails. It took us a little while to get comfortable riding the “big” tandem again, and after making a few adjustments following our first 3 or 4 miles or flat trails, we rode another 2-3 miles and were feeling pretty comfortable on the bike. However, that said, I was still not sure it’s the right bike to take down to South Georgia at the end of August for the “Dirty Georgia Tandem Rally”. So, we may still need to talk with Alex about trying out another one of the tandems he has in the shop that may be a better “fit” for that type of riding. I will say, Debbie was feeling comfortable enough that later in day she did confess she almost suggested we go and try riding one of the single-track, more technical trails while we were out, so perhaps our Ventana may still have a future with us.

Our Second Ride on the Ventana & Venturing Onto some Single Track

Our 2nd outing on the Ventana was earlier this week on August 5th. It was just after 10:00am when we made the very short, 5-minute drive to the park and were happy to see it was a very light crowd. We enjoyed a 4-mile ride out on the relatively flat and wide-open access trails and did-so without any new issues. Moreover, Debbie was getting more comfortable on this, our second ride on the trails since June of 2016. In fact, she even agreed to give one of the more challenging, intermediate level single-track (aka, very narrow, sometimes steep, twisty and narrow off-road trails) a try. It was the 2.1-mile long “Mumbo Jumbo” trail which is one I enjoy riding and one she’s been on in the past, so of all the trails it was the one I felt she’d be most comfortable on, and she was. We had a very nice hour out riding the off-road tandem without incident or drama of any kind, always a good thing.

A Few More Tweaks & Test Rides To Go

We still need spend some time riding on forest service roads before heading to Tifton in just under three weeks and may venture over to the Charlie Elliot Wildlife Center located a few minutes south of the small town of Mansfield, about a 90-minute drive from the house. There is apparently a bicycle route mapped out called “The Murder Creek Ride” of some 30-miles, along with the “Double Murder Ride” of some 60-miles that begins and ends at the and the Margery Lake parking lot. Portions of the “Murder Creek” ride may be similar to what we’ll be riding down at Tifton, Georgia, on August 26-29. The primarily gravel roads these two routes use meander through pecan groves and past country churches on the rolling back roads of middle Georgia’s Jasper County. Both routes extend south into what is often called the Heart of Georgia and share the same roadways on the outbound and return legs. The gravel-covered roads in the Wild Life Management Area are purportedly well groomed by the US Forest Service. However, on adjacent sections of gravel road maintained by Jasper county it’s noted it can vary considerably, from smooth and fast to rough and washed out to fresh chunk with occasional pavement that takes the edge off.

Once again, and not to belabor the point, I’ve got to make sure we’ve got the bike “dialed-in” with the right tires and that I’m not kidding myself by thinking we’ll enjoy participating in this event on our Ventana that offers us a suspended and less efficient/more demanding ride instead of putting our hands on a faster-rolling, 29-inch wheeled “all-roads” tandem with a rigid frame designed for this type of riding, e.g., back on the Fandango GiGi or perhaps a standard Fandango hard-tail.

With regard to the tires, our friend Alex at MTB Tandems had a lightly used pair of 26 x 1.9″ (48mm) Maxxis Wormdrive cross country tires that we’ll try-out on our local trails. These were designed for use on hard and middle soil as well as paved roads which our 26 x 2.25″ (57mm) WTB Trail Boss, all-around single-track / off-road trail tires are not. I will have to note, I didn’t appreciate how hard it was to find new, 26″ tires — never mind bicycle tires of any size or bicycle parts for that matter — until I went looking. The most popular model in any tire category was “out of stock” even at the on-line stores. Yes, there is clearly a dearth of bicycle components and parts out there folks.

Upon returning home I swapped-out our 57mm wide “meaty” off-road trail tires for the 48mm wide cross country tires on the Ventana and it made for a far-more svelte-looking machine and a short ride on the street confirmed the tires would be well-suited for our needs !

Once again, my goal with all of this is to see if we can squeeze a little more life out of the Ventana, to include some additional time on single track trails where it’s full-suspension is a necessity before retiring it for good. The one thing we don’t want to do is to add another expensive, slightly different tandem to the far-too large collection of bikes and tandems we already have and which I need to begin reducing.

Hedging Our Bets Is Also At Play Here

And, not to cast a curse of the event, I’m presently somewhat curious if the recent increases in Covid / Delta Variant cases won’t possibly become an issue with this event in three weeks, never mind another tandem rally over in Mississippi in late September that we’ve signed-up for. So, making due with what we have for a possibly one-and-done dirt-road tandem rally is also sitting in the back of my mind.

Hey, it’s been a crazy 16-months of on and off-again, often-times conflicting guidance and rules that have crushed a broad segment of our economy and stress-out the folks who have had to deal with shut-downs that have affected their livelihoods, never mind all of the sickness and deaths that have been an ever-present challenge. So, fingers crossed and knowing that all of those who have signed-up for the event are, like us, vaccinated…. the out-of-doors event will not be impacted, nor will the hospitality industry who we’ll dependent upon for lodging and meals.