Tandemania - first ride

Excluding the four hundred yards to Lidl and back, that is.

Managed to ride for three hours yesterday without crashing or the stoker punching the captain in the back of the head. Almost punched out some prat called Uncle Bumpy who tried to cut us up by riding between us. Ah, the rich tapestry of tandem riding.

Anyway, so far so good. We wimped out of one steep off-road descent, but that was only after the brakes were squealing like stuck pigs and we couldn't hang on any more. Few items for the shopping list:

TF Tuned forks. The Psylo XCs that are on there at the moment are sprung for a twelve stone rider, not a 24 stone one. Let's see what he can do.
Bigger brakes.
Brakes that the guy on the front can control. Toby went off to Activ and bought some hose, only to discover that Hope have two different diameters of hose, one which fits the Mono Minis, and the one that we got instead. So I got to do the rear braking, which was interesting.
A bigger front tyre.
A proper rear hub, rather than just doing up the QR as tight as possible while both of us stand on the drop outs to bend them together. Otherwise we're going to be acquainted with the joys of metal fatigue rather too soon.

Anyone who wants to join in the fun is quite welcome. Aiming to ride round Leith Hill first weekend of June, and maybe attempt Aston Hill the next weekend, as long as it's not wet...

Tandemania - phase 1

Have just finished rearranging the house to accomodate the tandem, the wicker pig and all the junk that I've accumulated in the last 2 years. Would never have believed how many knackered inner tubes I'd piled up behind the sofa. Ah well.

While that was going on, I had one of the minions out back taking apart the Prince Albert and every other bike in the shed, and fitting bits to the tandem. While we don't yet have a rear brake, we now have a pair of Psylos and a Mini on the front end. Oh, and some gears that don't change particularly well. And a loose timing chain. And a wonky rear seatpost.

Some pictures soon. Have been out round the Housing Estate Of Significant Mediocrity and only had one person shout "him on the back isn't pedalling". Ha bloody ha. Tomorrow is more training.

Meanwhile, Jason has been very quiet. No word since his banger racing extravaganza at Keensie's stag do on Saturday. You out there?

Tandemania - it begins

This orange monstrosity is the latest addition to the Stopadoodledoo stable.

Now Jason doesn't have any excuse for not coming out riding (apart from that he's going to have me up front trying to steer this thing between the trees). He can happily pass out from the booze or the instructions the aliens are radioing in to that tin plate in his head, as long as he keeps on pedalling. Hangovers and inexplicable collapsing in the street are no longer barriers to riding a bike. Nor is not having a working hand, because there won't be any brakes or gears for him to have to worry himself over, so we can zip tie his busted paw to the bars at the start of the ride and leave it be until we get home.

Waiting for some decent brakes, a set of Boxxers from Ratboy's shed, a new rear seat post and a dose of common sense. See you at the next uplift day.

REVIEW: Fox Racing Goggles

That's right, we've got an exclusive test of the first set of Fox Racing Goggles in the UK!

Or rather, Jason got a pair of Oakley goggles off the top of his wardrobe, and used a black magic marker to cover up the logo, and some tipp-ex to write FOX on the side instead.

Big wow. They're goggles, they fit around your helmet, and you can see through them. If it's a really sunny day, you might want to use a darker lens.

What's really remarkable about them is that even though they're exactly the same as a pair of O-Frames, that little Fox logo costs you an extra fiver. Must be printed in Unobtainium or something. Or else what is remarkable is that Fox would think you'd pay that bit extra, when they've just finished banging on about how they're made in the same factory as Oakley, to the same standard, etc etc la la la blah blah blah.

We've ordered ten pairs for the team, in Carbon Fibre*

*That's the stuff PENCILS are made from!

Cheap weekend away?

Our Florida correspondent, the Other Kent says:

It turns out that they are not opening the lifts for NORBA at Sugar
Mountain until Thursday A.M., and that is for inspection and
practice. So, there isn't really going to be an opportunity to ride
before, and not much of an opportunity to ride during the comp. Plan
B involves going to Snowshoe Mountain WV, leaving Tuesday the 6th
for the 16 hour drive to Snowshoe. Ride Snowshoe until Friday
afternoon, then drive 4.5 hours to Sugar Mountain, NC to ride the old-
fatboy class at Sugar Saturday and watch the big dog downhill finals
on Sunday, then leave NC around 1 P.M. Sunday and flee back to WPB,
arriving around Midnight.

We have access to the FreerideSouth.com 3-bedroom condo for $150 per
night. This is slopeside, and does not really get much better for
riding Snowshoe. There is literally a private trail from the condo
parking lot into the regular Snowshoe trail system, and the lifts/
shuttle bring you to within 3 or 4 flat blocks of the condo. (As we
all know, riding uphill is for Bangkok ladyboys.) For those of you
interested in the financial details, I am picking up the rental tab
for the first van. Gas is expected to be about $300 split 3 or 4
ways. Condo: $450 split 3 or 4 ways (3 nights). Motel in NC: $100
split 2 ways. Trail Passes: $85 (3 days). Food: $20/day. NORBA entry
fee $65, So the total per person should be about $465 +- per person,
plus alcohol, which will probably be another $400 each.

Which is all very nice, but our cheery Septic chum hasn't bothered to say exactly which weekend it is. What a rotter. If you're in Florida soon, maybe you can catch a lift...