Equipment Choices

I spent a lot of time analyzing, perhaps overanalyzing our setup for Everest Challenge. In the end the bike performed beautifully with no mechanical issues whatsoever.

The Robusta is a pleasure to ride. At 29lbs and relatively stiff, it climbs beautifully. It's rigid enough to climb well out of the saddle, corner fast and descend at speed.It really feels like riding a high end single racing bike.

Gearing.. The bike came stock with 53/39/30 and a 12-27 cassette. We changed to a 26 inner chainring. The 26/27 combination was low enough to climb about anything, and allowed us to maintain a high cadence even on steeper sections.

Brakes. I went back and forth on whether to use a rear disc brake. The Dura Ace calipers clearly have sufficient stopping power. The concern was that with the very long descents, excessive heat could be a problem, with the worst case scenario being a high speed blow out. As it turned out, the rim brakes were more than adequate. Most of the descending on EC is relatively straight, and not terribly technical. We just weren't on the brakes that much. We hit a maximum speed of 52mph. We could have descended faster, however a couple of places where you would really fly unchecked were narrow one lane with other racers still coming up, or had a little bit rough surface covered in mottled shade. Thus, the risk/reward calculus kept us at or under 50mph for most of the descending.

Avoiding the weight penalty, and the setup complexities of the disc brake was definitely the right choice for us, and we gave up nothing on the descents. We would have descended just as aggresively with the disc brake.

Tires. At a team wieght of 340lbs, we debated going with 25c or 28c tires. We ended up with 25c Continental 4000's. So far no flat problems at all, and at least subjectively, the feel like they have lower rolling resistence than the 28c's that came on the bike.

Flaws in Preperation

I actually think we did about everything that we could to prepare. Recall, the distance we had to travel from where we were 7 months ago was pretty big. Deb had not ridden other than sporadically for fun for a number of years, never longer than 70 miles, and never raced. In hindsight, perhaps Everest Challenge is not the ideal first race.

Starting in February we had to get Deb a base,and then quickly start uilding both of ours power and endurance.

The one obvious thing we could have done better was to lose more weight. When I was sick for basically a month in March and added 10 lbs when I should have been losing weight, the math of my challenge became much harder.

Deb would be considered svelte by any non bike racer standard, yet she could have been 10 lbs lighter, without losing power. Surprisingly, despite of a dramatic increase in calories burned,she lost very little weight. I attribute this in large measure to the problem of having to eat enough to fuel intense workouts, and trying to lose weight at the same time.

So we started EC at a team weight of 340, when the goal was to be sub 320. According to power calculations, http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm , that 20lb difference would have beeen worth approximately 15 minutes a climb. Multiplied by 3 climbs a day, it would have been the difference between winning and DNF.

Obviously it would have been helpful to do more climbing. However 4 trips to the Mountains (WV in May, Greenville SC in July, Brasstown/ SixGap in August, and Asheville in Septemeber was all we could reasonably do.)

I also think we should have done some longer days Our longest day in the Mountains was 7 hours. Our last long ride here in Florida was also ljust under 7 hours, and 140 miles. In hindsight, I think it would have been helpful to have done a flat double century.

Given constraints of Jobs, and Family, I think we prepared about as well as we could have hoped. Next year, with a better base, and starting lighter, I think we'll be much better prepared.

Post Mortem

I'm going to try to do a series of posts with some analysis as to what went wrong (and right) both in preperation, and in the actual race, for anyone who might care, anyone who might benefit in undertaking a similar endeavor, and to remind myself the next time we try something this stupid.

I'm going to start with the actual race day execution. The plan was to not worry about anyone else, and ride our own pace particulary on the first climb. Not having the benefit of a power meter, we paced off of heart rate and perceived effort. The idea being to stay well below threshold on the first climb, and burn no matches.

I actually thought we were doing this fairly well, with both of our HR's in the 150's for almost all of the first climb. Yet when you look at data, it's clear our speed dropped significantly at the begining of the second climb. Thus in hindsight, we should have gone even slower on the first climb, allowing us to maintain a more consistent effort for the entire race. Of course that slower pace might have still doomed us to the Broom Wagon.

We also fell short on drinking. In hindsight we made a bad decision in not stopping at the first aid station. I did not fully appreciate the amount of riding left to get to the top of the first climb. (only 10 miles, but 10 miles at approximately 8% average grade.) We ended up drinking less than we should have in that time period, and probably got us behind on both water and calories. In 8 hours we each consumed 6 large bottles, 3 water, 1 Gatorade, and 2 HEED. In retrospect, it should have been at least 8 total bottles, particularly considering how much fluid loss we had in the high desert environment.

I was starting to cramp by the top of the second climb. Fortunately drinking a bunch of HEED, and 4 endurolyte capsules, largely staved off the cramps.

I also think we might have eaten a bit more. We tried to eat one gel pack every 30-45 minutes,as well as the sports drinks, and some cliff blocks and pretzels grabbed at the aid stations. Nonetheless, we were clearly running on empty by the final climb, which I believe was in part going too hard early, and part not replacing enough calories.

Eating and drinking enough doing Everest Challenge is difficult. You're almost always going up or down. Up, you're working hard, and its difficult to eat. Down, you're focusing on keeping the rubber side down at speed and its difficult to eat. Captaining a tandem only adds to the problem.

Bottom line, our team power to weight ratio was not high enough to allow us to go fast enough long enough to maintain the aerage speed we needed. I'm not sure any change in pacing, eating, or drinking would have changed the outcome. So my next post will address what might have been changed in our preperation.

DNF

We failed. We just weren't fast enough, and ended up falling out of the time limit. We did well up the climb to Mosquito Flat (22 miles to 10,500 feet above sea level).

We began to suffer on the climb to Pine Creek, and were definitely slower on the final climb.After 93 miles,10,700 vertical feet, and 8 hours of riding, it was painfully obvious that we couldn't finish the climb up South Lake (20.6 miles, to 9835 feet above sea level, with maximum grade of 17.5%) within the alotted time. With much sadness, we abandoned.

Last big weekend

This last weekend we wanted tohave a hard two days, with the ride time approaching a day of Everest Challenge.

Saturday was a group ride with some hard efforts and 75 miles.

Sunday was the Watermelon Century. We did the first 90 miles of the Century mostly with a group, and then turned around and backtracked a bit to add an extra 40 miles Ended up with 138.6 miles. We were going to roll out around the parking lot for an even 140 miles, but we were corrupted by friends in the parking lot yielding beers.

We felt surprisingly good for 140 miles.

So now it's time to taper. The studying's all done. All that's left is to take the test.

Asheville NC/ Blueridge Parkway

Asheville is a fantastic place to ride. The Blueridge Parkway passes right by Asheville. The Parkway, with 45mph speed limits, no commercial traffic, long moderate climbs, and beautiful vistas is great for cyclists. (although tourist traffic can be bad, particularly on Fall weekends.)

There are a number of tunnels on the Parkway, particularly heading south from Asheville. Most of the tunnels you can see through to the opposite side. However, some are pitch dark in the middle which can be a little unnerving. Lights, front and back are definitely required.

We stayed at the Inn at Biltmore Estate. It's a very nice small hotel on the Biltmore Estate.
Riding from the Inn worked out great. By ducking through the Biltmore Forest neighborhood, you can access the Parkway without having to ride in traffic.

Last Preperation Trip

Labor Day Weekend made a final trip to the Mountains to train for Everest Challenge. We went to Asheville N.C. Saturday, we rode south on the Blue Ridge Parkway to Mt Pisgah, and also did a side jaunt done to Candler and back up the Parkway. We rode pretty well, and stayed out of the small chainring all day. ( I figured we could use the work pushing a bigger gear up 8-10% grades to simulate climbing 15-17% grades in the small ring.)

Sunday, was going to be the big training day heading from Asheville north on the Parkway to Mt Mitchell, and doing a couple of repeats up Mitchell. Unfortunately, we found out, the hard way, that the Parkway is closed for 10 miles at Craggy Gardens due to a landslide. So we made do with doing repeats up to the Craggy Gardens picnic area, and adding a climb up Ox Creek from Weaverville back onto the Parkway. The climb up Ox Creek was actually much steeper than Mitchell, with sustained sections in the low teens, but it didn't have the same cache as Mt Mitchell, the highest point in the Eastern U.S.

On the whole it was a good weekend of training, but I'm concerned that both days were still substantially less climbing, and ride time, than Everest Challenge will require.

Tropical Storm Fay

Tropical Storm Fay rolled through Florida last week, putting a dent in our training plans. It rained for 3 days straight, dumping as much as 2 feet of rain. Persistent Tropical Storm Force winds downded trees and powerlines.

So with 2 feet of rain, 50mph winds,downed debris and powerlines , riding outside was not an option. Spent a couple of days on the trainer.

We were fortunate, the intracoastal only made it a few feet into the backyard, and only lost a couple of plants.

Jacksonville Road Race Teamwork

Deb was on call this weekend, so I was left to my own devices.I did the Jacksonville Road Race.

We (Velobrew/ Pulte Homes) had 8 guys in the Cat IV race. We utilized our team,and it actually worked. We had a guy bridge up to a solo break on the third lap, and they stayed away to the end.

I helped my teammate get away by soft pedaling behind him when he jumped. Then we took turns going to the front, sitting on the front gradually slowing the pace. There was a big headwind on the back stretch, and nobody wanted to come around us and take the front until someone would evenually get frustrated with the slow pace.

At least one of the team chased any attacks, and we repeated the process of going to the front and controlling the pace, every time someone else tried to up the pace.Because we sucessfully covered every attack, I think other teams got discouraged from attacking,and by the last lap the pack was racing for third.

Unfortunately my teammate took second in the two up sprint, but a heck of a ride to stay away on a course that had a brutal headwind.I finished in the pack, but couldn't have had more fun if I was the one in the break.

Six Gap and Brasstown

Last weekend we went to North Georgia to do hill work. People not familiar with North Georgia, may not associate Goergia with hills. However North Georgia has a substantial amount of climbing,and two of the more challenging climbs in the Southeast in Brasstown Bald and Hogpen.

We stayed in Helen Georgia, a faux Bavarian village. Helen is very convenient to the good climbing, being 3 miles from the start of Hogpen, and 18 miles to Brasstown.

Saturday we did the Six Gap Century Course http://www.dahlonega.org/index.php/festivals/six-gap-century-&-three-gap-fifty-bike-ride.html which includes 6 named climbs, the hardest of which is Hogpen. Hogpen is 7 miles long, and averages 7% grade with a sustained 15% section.

Because we started in Helen, we did the Century course out of order starting on Hogpen. We did well on Hogpen, but by the top of Neel's, our 4th gap we were fading a bit. 93 degree heat (abnormally high for North Georgia wasn't helping our cause.) We pretty much limped home for there, having completed 9500 feet of climbing.

Sunday, we did 3 Gaps, plus Brasstown. Brasstown is 3 miles averaging 11% grade, with "the Wall" which is 21% grade. We took it pretty easy up Brasstown, saving ourselves for the Wall. It took just about all we had to turn the cranks over on the Wall even with a gear of 26/27. But we made it to the Top.

Staying in Helen, we found a wonderful restaurant, Cafe Le Piazza. Owned by the Chef himself, the food is fantastic, and the wine selection, although limited in number was fantastic.

So in the progression, we've now completed a century, completed a hard mountain century, and are working on hard consecutive days. Making progress but still a long way to being prepared for EC, and time is starting to run short.

Climbing for Flat landers

The fundamental challenge in doing Everest challenge living in Florida is how to prepare for 29,000 vertical feet of climbing, when the only "hills" are Bridges 60 feet tall.

To start with, I'm really not a good climber, but I'm a surprisingly good climber for a fat old guy from Florida.Doing sustained climbs is all about putting out a lot of power for a long period of time. The only way to climb big mountains better is to increase your power to weight ratio, and/or increase the length of time you can maintain your power at threshold.Losing weight is the obvious side of the equation.

For the other side of the equation, increasing power, the key is lots of riding at threshold(functional threshold power if your training with power, Lactate threshold heart rate if you're training with heart rate.)Thus getting ready for Everest Challenge right now, we're doing a lot of steady states (long intervals right at FTP or LTHR) This week it was 3x15 both last night and tonight.It's easy to do these as hill intervals if you've got sustained climbs, because the hill forces you to pretty much go at a high power output. It's harder to do these on the flats pyschologically, because nothing but your own will is pushing you. You can figure out the power output necessary to do the climb your training for, at your goal pace. (use a calculater such as kruezotter.) Then in your training on the flats, you need to build to the point you can sustain that same power for the requisite time on the flats. Riding hard into headwinds helps. 350 watts at 8mph up L'Alpe de Huez, is the same as 350 watts at 26 mph on the flats in Florida. Only difference is its mentally tougher to push yourself to do it on the flats. (and that's just an illustration, not intended to be accurate mathematically.)So, you really can develop the power without the hills, otherwise you wouldn't have Dutch professional riders doing well in races involving climbing.

However, even if you have the power, there are still some challenges to climbing for which the flats don't prepare you . The position on the bike ends up being a bit different climbing, and stresses different muscles. I found in getting ready for L'Etape, doing some test rides up Hogpen and Brastown in North Georgia that my back hurt.A couple of answers to this problem were 1) core stregthening exercises, 2) riding deep in the drops, to simulate the angles you end up with climbing on the hoods with the front wheel raised by the grade, and 3) spending time on the trainer with the front wheel raised.

Another drill that can help in preparing for climbing is muscle tension intervals. Typically, 10 minutes or so in big gear on a moderate grade at 50-55rpm. In Florida there simply is no hill long enough to allow you do these properly on the road, because you can't get the sustained load given the lengths of the available climbs. I've found with a Fluid2 trianer and a 53/11 gear I get just enough resistence at 55rpm to make these worthwhile.(Typically the Muscle tensions would be done in the base phase of training toward the end.)

One often proposed answer is to bust repeated intervals up the local bridge. While I do some of this, I really believe it should not be a major feature of your preperation for big climbs. The climbs are just too short, and you end up training the wrong energy systems. So while bridge repeats will make you great at doing 1 minute climbs; they do not do as much to help you do 1 hour climbs as doing steady state intervals above.

If a fat old guy from Florida can finish Everest Challenge, get a top 10 finish in the Brasstown Bald Buster Century, and a silver medal in L'Etape de Tour, its shows you really can train for climbing on the flats.That said there is no perfect substitute for climbing big mountains, than big mountains. So we're planing two weekends in North Georgia to test how our training is working, and adapt as necessary, both the training plan,and our equipment (most importantly gearing selections.).

Caeser's Head

The plan from here is to make 3 weekend excursions to the Mountains to get as much climbing training as we can. The first trip was last weekend to Greenville South Carolina. Our daughter was going to the BMW Teen driving expereince. http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/Experience/Events/PDS/Schools/Default.aspx?enc=/eiUrYOZAxtXbrazY6tfkmnueZmuSV+mTyz9vrTx7NirE7X5FaRwQ2/z/Xmw9HUv3UjYlssDXK6q1yOERxyPjQ== at the BMW Performance Center near Greenville, which gave us an excellent opportunity to go ride in the hills around Greenville.

We chose a loop starting at Table Rock State Park and going up to Caeser's Head, because it had longer sustained climbing than doing the US Pro championship loop up Paris Mountain.

The ride was supposed to be 55 miles, but with a little unintended off route excursion we got 63 miles and 6500 vertical feet.

The 6 mile climb up Caeser's Head is a good steady climb. My math indicates that it averages 6% grade, with a few spots being above that, but the climb never got brutally hard. But hey if it's good enough for Hincapie to train on, it has to be somewhat difficult right?

After we climbed Caeser's Head, we came upon a thunderstorm, and got dumped on for the next hour. Descending in a pouring rainstorm took some of the fun off the descents, but the Dura Ace brakes on the tandem worked fine, even in the wet conditions.

The day's ride was 35 miles, and 8,000 vertical feet short of one day of Everest Challenge. So progress, but still a long way to go.

Riding in West Virginia

A vacation in West Virginia around a family wedding at the first of June gave us the first chance to ride hills with the Robusta.

First stop was Berkely County in the Eastern Panhandle of West Viriginia. The Shenandoa Valley runs through the Eastern Panhandle, and the riding there is spectacular; beucolic scenery, lightly trafficed back country roads, low humidity, and lots of climbing from relatively short, steep, climbs, to extended climbs in the 1000-1500 foot vertical range.

Our first big climb was over Sleepy Creek Mountain with almost 1500 feet vertical, and a section of 15% grade. Shaving 21 lbs off the Burley's weight with the Robusta certainly made a difference. Made it up without too much distress, as part of 4 hour ride with 6,000 vertical feet of climbing. (or a little less than 1/2 of one day of Everest Challenge.)

Then on to Kumbrabow State Forest (pictured above.) http://www.kumbrabow.com/ located on the Western edge of the Alleghany Highlands, atop Rich Mountain. Kumbrabow is very remote (nice to be out of cell phone range), with rustic cabins, powered by wood stoves, and gas lights.

Riding from our cabin entailed 6 miles of dirt road. Rather than take the time to drive to the pavement, we used the dirt road to test out the durability of the Rolf Tandem wheels. With 28c tires, the bike, and wheels performed fine on the dirt roads which included 3 miles of climbing and 3 miles of descending.

Next stop was the Greenbrier, http://www.grenbrier.com/ where were able to ride the backroads of Greenbrier county, and then recover in style.

Last day of the trip, we White Water rafted down the Gauley river. The Upper Gauley, with 30 named rapids, 5 Class V rapids, and the technical challenges of running summer Gauley, provided a workout in its own right.

Our First Century!

Today we completed our first century together on the Tandem, and Deb's first century ever.

Did the Velobrew ride, http://www.velobrew.com/ (Velobrew is the team we are on.) Started early at 6:30am which made for good riding conditions, not too hot, and not much traffic.

We had a strong, steady group of about 35 riders.

We finished the century in 4 hours 35 minutes, with a riding time of 4 hours 19 minutes, and an average of 23.1mph.

Best part was we finished strong, and it was by no means a death march.

Not where we need to be yet, but progress. Step 1 accomplished, 4 more to knock out.

Tour de Forts Century

The progression we need to accomplish is 1) complete our first century together on the Tandem, 2) complete a hard century with lots of climbing, 3) complete back to back centuries on consecutive days, 4) complete hard back to back centuries on consecutive days 5) complete step 4, at race paace.

We had hoped to knock off step 1 at the end of April on The Tour de Forts Century. Tour de Forts is a century organized by the North Florida Bicycle Club running from Jacksonville through Amelia Island and back.It's mostly flat, but often subject to signifcant wind.

Given our setback in training it was clear we weren't ready for the 100miles, and elected the 75mile option. We started out with the fast guys, but after the first hour, with the pace in the mid to high 20's, we knew we didn't have 75 miles of that and dropped back to the second group.

Ended up completing 76 miles, with an average a little over 20mph. Our longest tandem ride to that date. Not where we had hoped to be by this point, and far from where we need to be, but progress nonetheless.

getting back

By mid march, things were coming along. Deb had some base miles in, and I was beginning to see some form (doing time trial intervals in the 350 watt range.)

Now, by mid April almost a month with no real riding, I was fat, weak, and depressed. To get going again, my Coach (I work with Carmichael Training systems, www.trainright.com) prescribed a fair amount of tempo work. (7/10ths on the perceived exertion scale, a notch below lactate threshold.)

It's amazing how fast fitness goes away.Even trying to hold a tempo level of work was very hard.
Fortunately, it also comes back reasonably quickly if you have a good base to start. After 2 weeks of tempo intervals, I was starting to get back to normal.

Getting sick

Got back from Vacation at the end of March, ready to start ramping up the training. Unfortunately I came down with bronchitis, and was sick as a dog.

Being sick always creates the dilllema of not training and losing fitness, or training through and potentially getting sicker, or delaying recovery. Motivated athletes tend to want to continue to train, and will often push more than they should.

My Coach tends to favor resting and getting well. In the long run, a few missed days of training is better than dragging out the illness.

In this case I was sick enough that I didn't have a choice. When you have trouble breathing standing still, training at any intensity isn't really an option.

Unfortunately as the Bronchitis hung on, I didn't ride, other than a few recovery paced rides for 3 weeks.

Vacation Jackson Hole

Just as we had gotten some base in and ready to start beginning some real training, it was Spring Break, time to ski in Jackson Hole.
Jackson Hole is a beautiful place with lots of black and double black runs. We had tons of snow, over 4 feet of fresh powder for the week we were there.
From a training point of view, it wasn't cycling, but skiing all that deep powder and extreme terrain was definitely a workout.

Starting Training.

When we commited to doing Everest challenge on the tandem, we knew we had a ton of work to get from our starting point to being prepared for EC.

I, Bob, at least had a decent base, having already logged a resonable number of miles and done a couple of early season races.

Deb, on the other hand, hadn't ridden with any regularity for a few years.

Also, I had done EC last year, and done a number of long events with climbing. ( Brasstown Bald Century, 1oth place 2005, 14th place 2007, L'Etape De Tour, Silver medal, for example.)

Conversely, Deb has never raced, and has never ridden a century. She has done some reasoably tough rides in the French Alps including climbing L'Alpe De Huez.

Together, we had never done more than 70 miles on the tandem. So it was of course a completely rational decision to sign up to do 2 100mile plus races on consecutive days with 29,000 feet of climbing.

First step was to start getting Deb some base miles. So we started doing some base endurance miles for her, gradually increasing her time on the bike for the first 3 weeks.

Also started working some drills for form. Fast pedal intervals (low gear,120 rpm) and one legged drills.

At the end of the 3rd week, also added muscle tension intervals. (Climbing in a big gear at 50-55 cadence.)

The new Robusta

The bike was delivered within the time range they estimated. (8-12 weeks.) The bike was as spec'd (except for the tires which were spec'd as 25c, and came as 28c's.) Co-Motion did ship the wrong seatpost, and left out a shim for the stoker's stem. This was discovered Monday afternoon, and replacements were Fed Ex'd and delivered Tuesday morning.The Bike is going to fit correctly when its all dialed in, so the measuring/ordering process worked well. .The Bike is beautiful.

In my personal opinion the 2 tone fade worked out really nicely, and was worth the $100 upcharge. Unfortunately, there's a slight chip in the paint. I'm not too worked up about it. It was going to happen someday anyway. The LBS, however, is going to see if Co-Motion will do something by way of compensation. (ended up comping Deb a pair of shoes, )Weight is just about what I expected at 29lbs 14oz. Co-Motion specs it at 27.7. I'm sure they measure off a 21/18, and ours is a 22/19. Also, I'm sure they weighed one without an adjustable stoker stem.) Considering the slightly larger frame size, and adding 396 grams for two sets of speedplays (and the heavier 28c tires.) would indicate that Co-Motion's claimed weight would be in an acceptable tolerance range.

As for riding it, it is Night and Day between the Co-Motion and the Burley. 20lbs lighter and markedly stiffer, really shows up in accelerating the bike from stops and out of corners. The Burley is like a Dodge Durango, and the Co-Motion is like a Porsche.Cornering, it definitely turns in much quicker. The combination of the Alpha Q tandem fork, and FSA bar and stem is way more stiff than the Burley's setup. The Rolf wheels also feel plenty stiff even with the low spoke count.The Dura Ace brakes stop the bike extremely well, and I'm doubting the need for a disc now (but will reconsider that after some mountain rides.)I tried to purposely induce "stoker wag" (jumping on the pedals, intentionally leaning out of synch) and I really couldn't get the frame to flex, at least to any degree comparable to the Burley.So I guess this report tells you that a 2008 Co-Motion Robusta is light years ahead of a 1994 Burley Duet, which you probably could have guessed.Perhaps after some more rides I can post something a little more insightful.





We've put approximately 600 miles on the Robusta now, including some group rides with the Hammerheads, and some real climbing and descending, and we're starting to get comfortable with the bike.Some further impressions. It definitely handles more quickly than our previous tandems. I'm past feeling that it's twitchy, and starting to appreciate the quicker handling.It is definitely stiffer than the Burley.

At first I thought that the aluminum CO-Motion, with a rigid aluminum frame had a a harsher ride than our previous steel tandems. After getting used to it, the ride does not feel objectionally harsh at all, including riding on dirt roads. I would still likely opt for steel, ti, or possibly CF, if comfort was my number one priority.

Movement by the Stoker definitely has more of an effect on the Co-Motion than on our previous tandems. A little squirming form the back has more of an influence on direction, and is more perceptable to the Captain. I attribute this to 1) the bike's quicker steering, 2) being 20lbs lighter, and being stiffer (thus the movement is transmitted more directly.)As we ride the bike more it's not an issue, but I think it might be initially unsettling to inexperienced teams or people used to a more stable bike. I read one review of a Robusta where the reviewer was complaining about "Stoker wag" and lack of stiffness. In our experience the bike appears to be very stiff. I'm thinking that rather than experiencing flex in the frame, the other reviewer may have been experiencing the effect that the Stoker can have on a very light, stiff, quick steering tandem.


The bike is fast. 20lbs lighter, and wheels that are substantially more aero makes a perceptable difference. We've been able to pretty much keep up on rides with the local fast guys (including Cat 1-2 racers) that we wouldn't have a prayer on with the Burley.As for the Rolf Prima wheels so far so good. They seem acceptably stiff, and tough for our 350lb team weight. Cornering descending, and on fast group rides I haven't noticed unacceptable wheel flex. We also have ridden about 30 miles on them on mountainous unpaved roads without incident.The only time I noticed any flex in the wheel was muscling up a 15-20% grade out of the saddle, the front wheel seemed to be flexing under my effort/weight, but it also could have been the tire squirming.

As for the brakes, the bike brakes fine. However on a couple of descents the rims got very hot. The descents where the rims really heated up were the very first descents on bad pavement, and descending on a dirt road with some 17% sections. I'm thinking that in both of these instances I was braking a lot more than I would routinely do. At this point I'm still undecided on putting on a rear disc.
.All told, we love the bike, and would highly recommend it to anyone that wants a fast, light, quick handling tandem.

Ordering the Robusta

There were no Co-Motion dealers in Jacksonville. So we had a few choices; work with a dealer in Inverness Florida, or Birmingham Al, order the bike direct from Co-Motion, or work through our local bike shop.





The dealer in Inverness didn't stock tandems, and didn't have any particular tandem expertise. The dealer in Birmingham specialized in tandems, but did not stock Robustas. We considered flying to Birmingham and test riding other Co-Motions, but decided that it wasn't worth the time or money to test ride a different bike from what we would be getting, and the difficulty of dealing with a dealer 6 hours away.





Our local bike shop Champion Cycles was very willing to work with Co-Motion. We could have bought the bike directly from Co-Motion presumably gotten a little lower price. However working through Champion, we had them to help with measuring in the ordering process, and doing the setup and adjustment once the bike was delivered.

We ordered the bike in February, and it was delivered in May, within the 10-12 week timeframe Co-Motion estimated for delivery.

Which Tandem?

We'd been debating getting a new tandem for a few years. While the Burley Duet was nice, getting on it always felt like a step down from our single bikes (Giant TCR Team Advanced, and a Canondale CAAD 7 with Ultegra.) To get something that would be asunstantial improvement on the Duet was going to be expensive, and we questioned whether we'd use it enough, and the improvement would be enough to justify the expenditure.

Once we committed to doing EC, the answer was clear, we had to get a new tandem, but which one? I had been researching it, looking at catalogs, asking advice in the tandem forum on www.bikeforums.net, looking for deals on Ebay, etc. for a couple of years.

There are several established companies that focus on tandems, most notably Co-Motion, www.co-motion.com, and Santana. Of the two, it appeared that Santana tends to be aimed a little more toward tourists, and fast recreational riders. Conversely, Co-Motion markets several tandems specifically intended for racing. Consistent with this, the general consensus seems to be that Santanas tend to be stable bikes that like to go straight, and that Co-Motions have quicker steering. Thus Co-Motions may feel unsteady at first, and to less experienced teams, but will corner more like a single racing bike. Given that we wanted a bike that road like a single racing bike as much as possible, Co-Motion was the best choice for us. (Also, we were just a touch put off by Santana's marketing hyperbole.)

Our priorities for the new tandem were: 1) lower weight, 2) stiffer, and 3) quick precise handling. For our criteria, the choice was between the Co-Motion Robusta, and the Macciato. Both are made of oversized aluminum tubing; the principal difference being that the Macciato is an open frame design with no lateral tube. Consequently the Macciato is 2.7 pounds lighter.

While saving 2.7lbs was seductive, we were concerned that the Macciato would not meet our desired stiffness requirement, with our team weight of 350lbs. When Gary at Co-Motion told us that a number of Co-Motion employees chose Robustas, that he was about my size and was getting a Robusta, and that he reccommended the Robusta for our size and use, the better part of valor prevaled, and we opted for the Robusta.

the old bike

Our 1994 Burley Duet was clearly not going to be adequate for the challenge of Everest Challenge. It was actually a great bike, hitting the sweet spot of being relatively affordable and a very capable tandem. Going cheaper than the Duet, and you may not get a bike capable of serious rides, and spending more you're heading into an ever steepening curve of dimishing returns.

But at 50lbs, with 48 spoked wheels that needed rebuilt, 7 speed gearing, and braking that at best could be described as suspect, the 14 year old Burley was clearly too long in the tooth to stand up to EC.

But the good news, This was clearly a buying opportunity!

The Challenge

29,035 vertical feet over 206 miles in two days. http://www.everestchallenge.com/
Purportedly the hardest 2 day U.S.C.F. race in existence. And most of the climbing is between 5,000 and 10,000 feet above sea level.

Despite being in pretty good shape, albeit carrying too many pounds, I struggled to finish last year. Actually raced the first day, marking the other clydes, and thought I won the stage in my division (turns out there was an issue with the timing, and my originally posted stage win got reversed, with apparently another rider up the road I didn't account for.)

Unfortunately I paid for my first day effort the second day. I had nothing on day 2, and knew I just had to ride in survival mode if I was going to finish. So when the winner in my division rode by me on the second climb of the second day, i could do nothing but watch him go.

I eventually finished, after walking a 17 percent section of the last climb.


So we start this year with the proposition that my gravity challenged, sea level living, self is marginally capable of finishing this race by myself, then add in the complexity of doing it on the tandem.

My wife, Deb, is a recreational rider. She's done some hard rides, most notably 5 years ago on a trip to the French Alps, during the Tour de France, which included cimbs like L'Alpe du Huez. But she hasn't actually trained, or done any serious riding to speak of since that trip 5 years ago.

As we started this plan, we were definitely much slower together on the tandem, than I am by myself, our long ride together on the tandem was 70 miles, Deb had never done a century, we rode a 1994 Burley Duet weighing 50lbs, and we had just commited to doing 2 100 mile races on consecutive days with 29,000 feet of climbing. So we had a few obstacles ot overcome, and limiters to work through.

background

Despite being an overweight middle aged CatIV, living in Florida, where bridges are the climb du jour, I have a bad habit of signing up for Cycling events involving major amounts of climbing.

Given my obssessive compulsive tendencies, I need a goal to work toward, and picking a big race or event each season helps motivate me.

Last year, I did Everest Challenge in the Clydesdale division, finishing 3rd, simply because only 3 finished, (although I did manage a 2nd place finish on the first stage.)

EC was the hardest thing I've done on a bike. Going into this year, I thought I'd like to take another crack at it, this time lighter and in better shape. However, I wasn't sure I was sufficiently motivated to put in the work necessary for a race of EC's length again.

So I had the bright idea of asking my wife to do EC with me this year on a tandem. I really thought there was no way she would ever take me up on it. To my surprise, she agreed to do it.

Now we have to figure out how we're going to prepare to survive, finish within the time cut, and possibly win (if we're fortunate enough that no other tandem teams enter.)