Test rides, and a whole lot of tinkering...
Finally, the weekend, and a chance to take the new machine for a proper spin. Friday night we made grand plans to go riding in Coffs, after Marc had done an hour of training for Touch. By midnight he realised that neither of his two ideas for transporting the triplet were going to work.
One idea, using its convertible features, had been to pull it apart, reconnect it as a tandem, and put the middle section on the Mac Rac (where we'd previously carried the trailer bike.) He pretty quickly decided that that wasn't going to be practical.. couldn't be good for the bike to be pulling the connectors apart frequently... never mind the time involved (removing the chains etc as well.)
Next he decided to extend the racks we were already using. (He had come up with a very clever system of overlapping, and screwing together two bike racks, for carrying the other tandem. - more details about that some other time...) It was strong enough in the middle, but hung over the roof rack too far at the front, and the clamp was thus moved too far back, so that wouldn't work either.
Hmmm.
Looks like the only option was going to be to use a trailer... and that was going to take some tinkering to set it up. Just another bike related project.
To get the 'Tank' (which is what I've now dubbed the green tandem), operational again, he had to borrow the back wheel from the purple one while we get two broken spokes replaced. For now, he's also had to borrow the pedals from the purple one as well, for the CoMotion. So it's sitting there, cannibalised for spare parts at the moment.
Anyway, we finally got out... basically in our old configuration (Marc, Cait and Zoe on one, Alison and me on the old faithful green one) because we were running out of time to muck around with seat heights. (Alison is due for a turn riding with gung ho Dad, and not stuck with Mum... 500km with Mum is probably more than anyone deserves...)
We headed north on the same route we did with the Coffs BUG breakfast ride, and ended up at Mullaway for a quick icecream from the general store, then hightailed it home before it got dark. Clocked up 26km, and Marc had only praise for the CoMotion. He confessed that he'd been just a bit anxious about whether it was going to be as good as the hype (and the money!)
Even I could tell it was good.. they were leaving us for dead - even faster than he was when they were handicapped by the trailer bike! He said it handled like a dream at higher speeds as well. And the gearing was great.. didn't even hit granny gear. - stayed on the middle gear, even up a couple of short sharp hills. He had the grace to feel a bit guilty that he was riding such a nice bike, and two of us would still be on the Tank. [*Well, to be fair, maybe I could ride the Santana, but I will need to wait till he is able to change the gear levers on it... Or maybe I could just play on the conscience factor, and get me a nice CoMotion tandem as well. It wouldn't be as pricey as a convertible triplet! At the very least, I demand a lower geared cluster on the Tank!]
I just wished I had helmet-cam or some such, to record the reactions of people we passed. Some would do a double take just after the CoMotion whizzed past them, when they realised it was a triplet. The funniest was the person on the tennis court, serving, who stopped, mid-toss, to gape. "Take it again!" we heard their magnanimous opponent say.
At least we all felt pretty good after 26 km - like a walk in the park. Must be some residual bike fitness left over from the Big Ride. A new experience for Zoe having to pedal along with the pace Marc sets, but she is all positive about it all, acknowledging that she has to get used to it, but keen all the same.
Much of Sunday Marc spent working on the trailer, which is a bit of a rust bucket. We are really due for a new one, but it will have to do for now. New lights were needed; there had always been a problem with the earth on the old ones.
I went out to pump up the tyres on the Tank, and just as I was asking Marc if the triplet would need pumping up too, I saw that its back tyre was flat! Another job... this time patching. And the realisation that we didn't have the correct spare tubes for it!
So we decided with this ride we'd have to stay close to home.. just in case. We headed out with new combos... Caitlin and me on the Tank, and Alison on the triplet. Pretty quickly I realised that Cait wasn't just a pretty face.. (or just a pain in the bum - trust me, most days I feel like strangling her at least once.) She had learnt a lot from riding stoker to Marc... , had good 'stoker intuition' and was giving me instructions on how to get into a rhythm! And it certainly evened out the ledger... Marc was struggling a bit more with Alison, who, to be fair, still has to get used to the way he rides. Plus she also tends to be more erratic with her riding... either full on turbo, or clocking off! Caitlin, meantime, has the benefit of age (maturity?) and the fact that she has never ridden enough solo to get used to doing her own 'thang'.. unlike Alison who has clocked up 387 km on her own bike, riding to and from school, since she got her bike computer last christmas!
I suggested to Caitlin that she might have to do these next two rides with me... we'll be even faster if she's not taking photos as we ride along!
Might be harder for Marc, (the CoMotion didn't seem quite so fast!) .. but at least I won't be left behind!
We only managed just about 20km, doing 2 circuits of the same route... but it's better than nothing. Listen to us... "ONLY 20km" !!!
Twice during the weekend's rides, the CoMotion had two near misses, which is pretty damn scary. On Saturday, we were barely a block from home, when a car just about sailed out of a side street into the triplet. Both Marc, and I following on behind, could see that he looked right, past both of us... a road train of bikes, and was about to sail on out till Marc yelled. At least he had the grace to acknowledge the near miss as he passed us... and it was a reminder of the importance of making eye contact with drivers, so that you know they know you are there.
On Sunday, just whizzing around the local streets, a guy picked up a big chair or something out of the back of his ute, and just stepped out into the street without even looking, only a few metres from Marc. I suppose he expected that he would have heard a car, and wasn't expecting a triplet bike in stealth mode. Again Marc yelled, and the guy jumped back just in time. Could have been nasty.. never mind the injuries to the people.. it'd be impossible to replace any bent bike parts in a hurry.
Anyway, back home, and Marc was back out in the carport tinkering on the trailer. No rest for this boy over the next week or so... It's tough being the bike mechanic and general handyman and resident technical expert.
One idea, using its convertible features, had been to pull it apart, reconnect it as a tandem, and put the middle section on the Mac Rac (where we'd previously carried the trailer bike.) He pretty quickly decided that that wasn't going to be practical.. couldn't be good for the bike to be pulling the connectors apart frequently... never mind the time involved (removing the chains etc as well.)
Next he decided to extend the racks we were already using. (He had come up with a very clever system of overlapping, and screwing together two bike racks, for carrying the other tandem. - more details about that some other time...) It was strong enough in the middle, but hung over the roof rack too far at the front, and the clamp was thus moved too far back, so that wouldn't work either.
Hmmm.
Looks like the only option was going to be to use a trailer... and that was going to take some tinkering to set it up. Just another bike related project.
Meantime we have a backyard full of tandems:
Anyway, we finally got out... basically in our old configuration (Marc, Cait and Zoe on one, Alison and me on the old faithful green one) because we were running out of time to muck around with seat heights. (Alison is due for a turn riding with gung ho Dad, and not stuck with Mum... 500km with Mum is probably more than anyone deserves...)
We headed north on the same route we did with the Coffs BUG breakfast ride, and ended up at Mullaway for a quick icecream from the general store, then hightailed it home before it got dark. Clocked up 26km, and Marc had only praise for the CoMotion. He confessed that he'd been just a bit anxious about whether it was going to be as good as the hype (and the money!)
Even I could tell it was good.. they were leaving us for dead - even faster than he was when they were handicapped by the trailer bike! He said it handled like a dream at higher speeds as well. And the gearing was great.. didn't even hit granny gear. - stayed on the middle gear, even up a couple of short sharp hills. He had the grace to feel a bit guilty that he was riding such a nice bike, and two of us would still be on the Tank. [*Well, to be fair, maybe I could ride the Santana, but I will need to wait till he is able to change the gear levers on it... Or maybe I could just play on the conscience factor, and get me a nice CoMotion tandem as well. It wouldn't be as pricey as a convertible triplet! At the very least, I demand a lower geared cluster on the Tank!]
I just wished I had helmet-cam or some such, to record the reactions of people we passed. Some would do a double take just after the CoMotion whizzed past them, when they realised it was a triplet. The funniest was the person on the tennis court, serving, who stopped, mid-toss, to gape. "Take it again!" we heard their magnanimous opponent say.
At least we all felt pretty good after 26 km - like a walk in the park. Must be some residual bike fitness left over from the Big Ride. A new experience for Zoe having to pedal along with the pace Marc sets, but she is all positive about it all, acknowledging that she has to get used to it, but keen all the same.
Much of Sunday Marc spent working on the trailer, which is a bit of a rust bucket. We are really due for a new one, but it will have to do for now. New lights were needed; there had always been a problem with the earth on the old ones.
I went out to pump up the tyres on the Tank, and just as I was asking Marc if the triplet would need pumping up too, I saw that its back tyre was flat! Another job... this time patching. And the realisation that we didn't have the correct spare tubes for it!
So we decided with this ride we'd have to stay close to home.. just in case. We headed out with new combos... Caitlin and me on the Tank, and Alison on the triplet. Pretty quickly I realised that Cait wasn't just a pretty face.. (or just a pain in the bum - trust me, most days I feel like strangling her at least once.) She had learnt a lot from riding stoker to Marc... , had good 'stoker intuition' and was giving me instructions on how to get into a rhythm! And it certainly evened out the ledger... Marc was struggling a bit more with Alison, who, to be fair, still has to get used to the way he rides. Plus she also tends to be more erratic with her riding... either full on turbo, or clocking off! Caitlin, meantime, has the benefit of age (maturity?) and the fact that she has never ridden enough solo to get used to doing her own 'thang'.. unlike Alison who has clocked up 387 km on her own bike, riding to and from school, since she got her bike computer last christmas!
I suggested to Caitlin that she might have to do these next two rides with me... we'll be even faster if she's not taking photos as we ride along!
Might be harder for Marc, (the CoMotion didn't seem quite so fast!) .. but at least I won't be left behind!
We only managed just about 20km, doing 2 circuits of the same route... but it's better than nothing. Listen to us... "ONLY 20km" !!!
Twice during the weekend's rides, the CoMotion had two near misses, which is pretty damn scary. On Saturday, we were barely a block from home, when a car just about sailed out of a side street into the triplet. Both Marc, and I following on behind, could see that he looked right, past both of us... a road train of bikes, and was about to sail on out till Marc yelled. At least he had the grace to acknowledge the near miss as he passed us... and it was a reminder of the importance of making eye contact with drivers, so that you know they know you are there.
On Sunday, just whizzing around the local streets, a guy picked up a big chair or something out of the back of his ute, and just stepped out into the street without even looking, only a few metres from Marc. I suppose he expected that he would have heard a car, and wasn't expecting a triplet bike in stealth mode. Again Marc yelled, and the guy jumped back just in time. Could have been nasty.. never mind the injuries to the people.. it'd be impossible to replace any bent bike parts in a hurry.
Anyway, back home, and Marc was back out in the carport tinkering on the trailer. No rest for this boy over the next week or so... It's tough being the bike mechanic and general handyman and resident technical expert.
Labels: training, transporting, triplet
posted by Tracey at 11:27 am
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