Some have noted that it's been quiet on the tandem lately. This is true... While we had plans of many rides during the holidays, Logan ended up with a dose of the black death, and I just sat at home and watched telly, ate & drank too much, and avoided sunshine as best I could. As a result, our first ride of the year yesterday was long overdue, but also a good reminder that Christmas pudding is easy to eat, but harder to burn off. And we won't mention the beer, wine & cocktails consumed over that time either!
In the heat of the afternoon we headed out to Bottle Lake for a quick couple of laps, taking in as much singletrack as possible. We're getting quite good at this now, and there's only 3 sections of the entire forest we have not as yet tackled on the tandem. On this occasion, we took on the new hill section, including the high-speed downhill bit. Man, I had almost forgotten how fast that tandem can go downhill! We bumped into another tandem in the forest too, another fully ridgid beast which had just tackled the bumpest section of the track that I avoid. A quick chat then back on track so I could get an icecream from the mobile cafe by the carpark before we did the second lap.
About a month ago, Logan secured a set of Avid BB5's and I slapped them on the front. As they are cable, not hydraulic (like mine), it took a while before my brain fully engaged and I got them set correctly. We tested on road, then on track, then on the Rapaki track, and yesterday we tested through a massive amount of puddles, and they kept on stopping us as and when required! It was quite odd, being that it was such a hot day, to be riding through so many puddles, and even weirder that they were so warm. The 2 hours of rain on the Sat that disrupted the cricket had all dried up off the track, except about 50 massive puddles. We managed to go through almost all of them.
On the broken bits & upgrades front, the bike is due in the shop sometime very soon and will emerge with a new wheelset, hydraulic disk brakes, new forks with suspension and other bits & bobs as well. I can't wait! It won't make riding up hills any easier, but will sure make going down them more fun, and faster too! Logan has been chatting to someone about a new paint job even - more news on that when it's all confirmed.
Next big event is the Rainbow Rage in March. Logan is stretching his hamstrings, I'm practising riding up hills (honest!) and we'll be fighting fit and ready for it when the day arrives. It's funny, but the more I think about it, the less concerned I am about the 106km we need to ride, and the more concerned I get about the last 100m with the downhill s-bend and narrow offset bridge just before the finish line. I'm sure it was pure luck that got us across it last time, but this time?
And skills training. This is where it gets funny and possibly painful. Logan wants to try some of the more technical downhill tracks, you know, the ones with the switchbacks. So we're going to find a nice gently sloping grassy knoll to practice some tail-whip 180° turns. On a tandem, this involves cutting the front wheel into the corner first, locking the rear wheel so the stoker skids around, then timing the release of the brakes and peddling just right so they don't fly off down the hill or end up lodged in the bank somewhere. I think we'll need a video of this training, it should be hilarious!
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