[Sportsandrec] My First "New Era" TT

[Ron & the bears]

Kelly,

Good job! I am impressed and quite surprised!

Glad you had fun, too!

I'd be careful modifying the Trek? Everything on that bike is matched to its 
designed purpose. For example, if you switch from the 42 to a 53, the front 
derailler will no longer follow the arch of the bigger ring. You may have to 
file it, or raise it high enough off the ring to where it may interfere with 
shifting into your creeper gear. I would go no less than a 54t ring. Do you 
have an 11 tooth rear cog? If you go to a 32mm or 28, or 25mm tire on a 26 
inch rim, your final drive ratio will be more like a 24 inch wheel. Are the 
rims narrow enough for skinny, road tires?

I'd keep it stock and use it for new pilots, night rides, and romantic 
nights to the restaurant with a female pilot. Those are really fun.

Might you ride with her again?

In Minnesota, I had one brave female take me out to a ride on my 26" mtn 
tandem. I kid you not, once other small women saw how well Julie was doing 
and how fast we were going, I had picked up two others. Note, there was 
nothing romantic. It was all kept professional, since they had boyfriends or 
husbands. Plus, I wanted to ride with them again. That seeing is believing 
trend with the ladies happened at other rides as well. I had more female 
pilots than male for many months, so much that I thoroughly modified my 26" 
mtn tandem into a fire-breathing road bike. For the technical write up, send 
me a private e-mail and I will send it to you.

I had guys riding up to me in the pack saying, You know, she is just using 
you to go faster than her husband." I did not care. Without her, or anyone 
else, I'd be at home. The least I could do is give any pilot a stronger 
ride.

One of my better friends still today, calls herself the blonde leading the 
blind. She wore a patch on her sleeve that said, "Please Don't Pet Me or 
Feed Me, I'm Working She had a great, progressive attitude. She used to love 
the look on the guys face as she would pass them going up a hill. They would 
have a look of terror, being passed by a girl, but would then relax when 
they saw that she was on a tandem with a man. I would then say, "But tandems 
aren't supposed to climb well."

I had another lady pilot who rode with me a lot up there. She was very much 
a part of me being fit enough to make the National Paralympic Cycling Team 
in '03. We'd go racing on Monday nights, out of Maplewood MN. She was an 
excellent cyclist. She said that she would probably be intimidated by the 
tandem if I did not have the shifters in the back seat, but I bet she would 
have done well. She was a Campy girl already.

Now that I have a real road tandem for female pilots, the KHS is back to 
being a mountain/hybrid bike, with 2.1 inch tires, fenders, rack/trunk, 
mirror, bells, reflectors/lights, and a kickstand. I have road bars for the 
back seat, though, with Campy hoods. They, like the Cane Creeks are a little 
chunkier and offer more surface area for comfort. I have pretty big hands 
for a guy my size.

So, build up that Bianchi! Do you have Craig's List where you are?

I tried to send you something last week off line, but your server sent it 
back.

For that TT, did you go out too hard, because of the excitement from a race? 
If she was not breathing hard, it could be that she recovered already. Or, 
she may have backed off a bit, since it was her first time on a tandem. 
Caution is a good thing.

If my pilot is light and strong enough, it almost feels like I am on a 
single. This one guy is 5'10 and 135 pounds. I can motor him up the hills 
with the best of them.

Best,

Ron & the keep on rolling bears
Austin, TX

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Thornbury, Kelly" <kthornbury at bresnan.net>
To: <sportsandrec at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 2:15 PM
Subject: [Sportsandrec] My First "New Era" TT


: So, on Monday I took my completely stock, greenway tandem (as it is now 
affectionately called) on my first club TT. The greenway bike has flat bars, 
cushy "Lazyboy" saddles, and monster 26x2.7, 50 psi tires.
: The course was a 7.62 mile, slightly downhill road with about a 9 mph 
right rear quarter wind.
: The captain was a young lady from the club, who the week prior had run the 
course, with a slightly stronger wind, in just over 12 minutes.
: So, in the end we finished with the slowest time at 15:22, over a minute 
behind the winner, and never caught our "rabbit" who started thirty seconds 
ahead of us. Twice, on the down side of a roller, we ran out of gear, 
pedaling at almost 110 revolutions like there was no resistance at 
all...thank Look for my clipless pedals.  At the end we got off the bike, I 
was out of breath and could hardly speak while my captain was barely 
winded...poor commentary to my racing fitness.
: So, now that the first TT is done, and I have a baseline on personal and 
bike performance, I can start the modifications for more speed...the first 
being a 52 or 53 front sprocket to replace the 42 big ring...and more 
sprints in the trainer. Next year a new bike...one that doesn't weigh a ton 
and a half and doesn't have monster truck balloon tires. It might be time to 
really start putting that Bianchi together, now that I've been bitten by 
"the bug." 



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