Lisa and I headed up to Rim Nordic on Sunday for their last race of the summer. It was a first for both of us....racing on our tandem. Months ago we toyed around the idea of buying a tandem and racing it. Most companies don't currently make a mountain bike tandem and the few that do charge a small fortune for them. A decent front suspension tandem costs at least $4000 while the higher end full suspension tandems are upwards of $7000. We decided to go cheap and test out a junker first.
About 3 months ago we found one on ebay. We got it for $150 plus $30 to have it delivered. The stoker bars were bent so we replaced them with some pink ones. We added chunky grips to both the front and back and they've helped tremendously (well...a little) to make up for a lack of suspension. The biggest and most important upgrade we made was switching from cantilever brakes to U brakes. With the cantilevers the best we could hope for on a downhill was to slow down. Now with the U brakes we can actually come to a stop if I squeeze hard enough. We also replaced the shifters and one of the cables.
The bike weighs in at just a tad under 50 pounds. Our first ride we took it up to Crafton and rode on the fireroad a little. Next ride was again at Crafton but we pushed it a little more and had a slight test of our technical skills on it. Then ride #3 took us to the wash in Mentone. The wash is not at all steep, but it is singletrack and can get a little technical. That was the first real test for us and the first time we sort of beat the bike up.
Our plan all along was to race it at the State Championship race in Big Bear, but with the date change it doesn't look like we'll be able to make it. So with not much going on this past weekend we decided to try racing it at Rim Nordic.
They start the tandems with the cat 3's at 9:00am. We had no qualms about just doing 1 lap. Seemed like the perfect place for our first race, except that this is real mountain biking at Rim Nordic....with bridges, steep climbs, switchbacks, sandy turns, and lots of singletrack. Mostly things that make mountain biking great, but all things that make it tough on a tandem.
The race ended up being incredibly fun. The only close call we had was on our warm-up lap and we attempted to cross the first bridge. Our day was literally an inch or so away from being over. After that we decided we'd walk all the bridges on the course. We did, however, manage to make all the climbs except the couple that came immediately after switchbacks. Most satisfying was making it up the top sandy climb just before the Explosives Shed.
We finished in a satisfying 44:53. Certainly not blazing fast, but for that course it felt great. We both had a blast racing it. After over 20 races this year it was very fun to actually race together. Not sure when the next tandem race will be, but there's bound to be some more on occasion for us. We were the only tandem at Rim Nordic. It seems Sea Otter draws the biggest tandem fields so we have that penciled in for next season.
Our Race on Garmin Connect
Our Results
Rim Nordic Racing
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