Burn-in

So, after the success of ride #1, we headed out for a more challenging jaunt around Bottle Lake. The ride there was swift and we hit the trail, aiming for the uphill chunk which we intended to climb a few times to test gearing, climbing with the cranks out of sync (Logan is ahead of me in the stroke) and burn the brakes in a bit more on the descents ('cause the don't work so hot at the mo). First crack up the hill was in 7th gear (granny ring) and knocked off without much problem. Down we go, this time we do it in 5th. OK, still good, back down, up again in 3rd, that's a bit small, down again, up again in 4th, good choice, down again (why!) and final climb in a mix of gears to play with changing under load, and it was sweet.



Can you believe that I rode up a (small) hill 5 times? I still don't believe it, and I was there!

We finished the lap with vastly increased speed as the bike handles so much better now. The final drag-strip through the dark was taken at full throttle, and we even flew over the final hump which has an awful sandpit collection on the other side. It did make me wonder how much speed we'd need to get airborne... Hmmm... We'll practice high speed tail-whips first and work on getting air later.



We cruised back home and made plans for the weekend - more hills! Yup, lets take on Summit Road again, tackle some more hills and burn those brakes in some more...

Sunday rolled around fast. Real fast. The weather was supposed to turn nasty at midday so we planned to be up there when it did, of course. With wife in tow, we parked up at the top of Vic Park and headed east along the road enjoying the sunshine and lack of wind, preparing ourselves for the first of the descents and hills on the new setup.



We'd done this road together once before, and I've done it solo a few times as well, so I know there are nothing but uphill’s in both directions. But the plan was to go from one end to the other and back again, climbing like strong men, descending like mad men, and arriving back at the car before the rain came pelting down and wind whipped up to gale force southerlies.

Good news is that we made it there and back in good time and with reasonable speed as well and apart from a strong southerly, the weather held too. We achieved a new top speed of 69.5kph coming down from Castle Rock which would have been faster if I hadn't been a wimp on the blind corner and tapped the brakes. Next time we're going over 70kph for sure!

While we pottered about on the tarseal, I was secretly wishing we were on the singletrack below (or often, above) us. We're taking the frankenbike to McLeans Island for a few laps, then we'll do some balance tests, and then we'll think about the Bowenvale Traverse track on the hill. I'm not worried about the track itself, even though it's like a long rut with tussock and rocks for decoration. I'm not even worried about the inclines and sharp bends and narrow width. It's the steep, dramatic, constant, irreversible descent that hangs inches from the side of the trail. Tandems are not renowned for their handling and ability to maintain straight lines offroad, and when it starts to go bad, it can go really bad in the blink of an eye (or more usually, the compression of a sphincter) and when riding the trail up there, real bad = massive injury as we plummet down the hillside. I can deal with falling off. I can live with hitting a tree. But sliding down the hillside on a tandem might be the last thing I ever do, and until we’re rock solid on our balance on narrow paths, we’ll stick to the non-deadly trails.

So, next trip out is Tuesday. More kilometres under the new fat wheels, and as much of it as possible in the safety of loose gravel, forests, rock gardens, wildlife and other distractions. Tail whips, air and Bowenvale are on the hit list before the Rainbow Rage, but not necessarily in the order.