Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.rides
Subject: Awesome tandem ride
From: F.Brown@massey.ac.nz (F.J. Brown)
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 92 20:50:17 GMT
Organization: Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Summary: Tandem ride round Apiti
X-Reader: NETNEWS/PC Version 2c

Hi Netters, this is Frith!

I have some news: last weekend we made it round Apiti on the tandem!   (I
can hear the gasps of awe and admiration in the background!)   Perhaps I
should explain?

The "Apiti Block" is a much-feared training block in this neck of the woods,
consisting of 135 km with 11 major hills.   Although we've done it many times
on singles it's never a ride you take lightly:  the fastest I've ever heard of
anyone doing it is 4:12, and that was a bunch of A-grade riders (don't know
equivalent USA "Cats").   It usually takes just under 5 hours, not counting
the compulsory coffee stop at the Kimbolton tearooms.   The whole route is
very isolated rural countryside, very beautiful.

We left Palmerston North just before 7 am on our own, and had an hours flat
riding to meet up with two other guys (Geoff and Brian) who were coming
from Feilding (further north).   It was a nice cool spring morning.   Got
to the meeting place 5 minutes early so we got off and had a stretch.   Soon
enough Geoff and Brian came barrelling down the hill to the meeting place and
"wow - look at that thing!!"   Brian had seen the Beefer (B for Burley)
before but Geoff had not.

We set off with some trepidation toward the first hill (this was about
our tenth ride on the tandem, but the first major awesome one), wondering 
how the Beefer would foot it with the singles, and were pleasantly surprised.   
To put it in a nutshell, our speed seemed to be a pretty fair average of
Denis' and my speeds on singles, so we were able to lead our little bunch up 
the first hill quite comfortably.   It was a nice feeling to be working as a 
team rather than competing against each other.

The pleasant surprise at how well our awesome machine went up hills continued,
as the hills started to come thick and fast.   The descents were amazing, 
as we free-wheeled and Geoff and Brian spun out their highest gears 
frantically.   The only time we fell behind was on two tricky technical 
descents with gravel on the roads, where we erred on the side of caution (the
other guys are lunatics).

Before we knew it we were refilling our water bottles in Apiti with 85 km 
under our belts.   Another 15 km through to Kimbolton (both just small 
townships), the last two big hills (legs starting to get a bit tired) and we 
stopped at the world's best coffee shop for coffee and date scones.

Then came the bit we'd been looking forward to: 15 km of smooth descent
down to Cheltenham, very gradual but the sort you can really wind up on.
We sucked Geoff and Brian all the way down, sitting on about 50-55 km / hr,
neat fun!   Then a good steady pace all the way home (30 km).   We finished
feeling **much** fresher than if we'd done it on singles.   Our riding
time was just under 5 hours - about the usual.

We're feeling very pleased with the bike - we also won all the town sprints
without having to ride away early, and are standing quite successfully.

Thanks to all those people who gave us hints early on!

Next goals:  Lake Taupo century - this is the biggest century in NZ, held
last weekend of November; Nelson to Christchurch Great Bike Ride (450Km)
perhaps ????? on 14 November.

Cheers,

Frith	  
-- 
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Frith Brown                           E-mail:  F.Brown@massey.ac.nz
Department of Plant Science Level 2   Phone:   +64 06 356 9099 ext. 8800
Massey University                     Fax:     +64 06 350 5614
Palmerston North                      
New Zealand                :-) Ride the bike, ride the bike, ride the bike ;-)
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