Anybody Else Ride Like This?

[JETZcorp]

So, after doing this for literally the entire time I've been riding, I realized that perhaps not many people who go riding have done this.  What I'm talking about is, you've got a fire-road (or whatever kind of road that's wide enough for a truck) and two riders, so one guy takes one lane and another guy takes the other, and you just cruise in parallel.  When I went riding with someone who's not in my normal group of riders, he said he'd never done it before and it made him uncomfortable.

Cruising in Stereo

[JohnN]

I can honestly say I've never done that! Personally I would get bored and look for varied terrain, up hills, tight corners, off-cambers.... something more challenging. But hey that's just me!

While watching your video (the quality is awesome by the way!) it reminded me of something, which I at first couldn't put my finger on, then it hit me...



Did your dad play this movie for you a bunch when you were younger?? 

[Coop]

LOL @ John.

I have done it, but I do not like staggered formations because they force me into a riding a line I do not want to ride. We don't have many places here in SW PA that have trails wide enough for two bikes, but even then we generally hold our own lines. This is NOT a cut (honestly) but we tend to ride at much higher speeds then you guys were cruising at so holding a staggered formation would be difficult and not very fun. The trails I ride you generally aren't sitting very much, most of the time you are out of the saddle.

[ACMX]

Haha, I have tried it, but here in Washington we go riding on trails up in the mountains, so the roads are always paralleled with big hills... Needless to say I can't keep off 'em 

[scotty dog]

I have done it lots usually riding to a track or a riding area, it either turns into a drag race or a wheelie contest

[JETZcorp]

Well, usually we tend to go a bit faster than that, but it was the first part of the first ride we'd taken in months, so there was still a bit of a warm-up period involved.  Also, the reason there's not much varied terrain there, is that we were heading to the varied terrain.  We tend to camp some miles outside the traditional riding area, to avoid being hassled by rangers and such.  Later in the season, perhaps, I'll post some good high-speed dirt-road blasting, but lately the we've mostly been cruising like this to get to the interesting stuff, and then the interesting stuff is too narrow for it.  It's not always the case, stay tuned.

And by the way, I never did see Easy Rider until just this year, but we actually have ancient old home-movie video of me watching this when I was three.  My cousins were there, too.

[opfermanmotors]

I have done it, but I do not like staggered formations because they force me into a riding a line I do not want to ride.

Ya, that's same for me I like to choose my own line, which makes it feel uncomfortable to ride without wanting to force the other guy off the road or just race them or just let them pass and go once the dust clears   Especially if I don't know the area.

There are several other reasons I don't like to ride like that:

1. Since its not a motocross track that you can assume there aren't any big rocks or trees fallen into the path, you have to be able to make split decisions to get out of the way of obsticles and would rather do that without forcing the other guy off the road.

2. Blind corners, I mean I can't tell how many times I come around the bend only to be greeted by a truck comming full speed had we been going in tandem one of us would be road kill.  Hell, its hard enough to get out of the way of some of those guys even when you're not tandem!

3.  Cliffs, a lot of the logging roads are on the edge of a cliff, would rather not ride next to the edge of the road which has already had landslides and been washed out partially with a 1000 foot drop!

[opfermanmotors]

Diamond Mill 2

Diamond Mill 3


I don't mind an edge as long as no one's next to me who can force me off into the cliff!

Maicos on the Edge

[JETZcorp]

There are several other reasons I don't like to ride like that:

1. Since its not a motocross track that you can assume there aren't any big rocks or trees fallen into the path, you have to be able to make split decisions to get out of the way of obsticles and would rather do that without forcing the other guy off the road.

2. Blind corners, I mean I can't tell how many times I come around the bend only to be greeted by a truck comming full speed had we been going in tandem one of us would be road kill.  Hell, its hard enough to get out of the way of some of those guys even when you're not tandem!

3.  Cliffs, a lot of the logging roads are on the edge of a cliff, would rather not ride next to the edge of the road which has already had landslides and been washed out partially with a 1000 foot drop!

I guess part of what made it more awkward for you is that I forgot to initiate you into the Official Tandem Road Riding Safety System (OTRRSS).  This is how the system handles each of your three problem areas.

1)  When encountering an obstacle that requires a lane change, the rider with the clear lane (if any) should continue at speed, while the rider encountering the obstacle should slow to let the other rider pass, before coming in behind to take the clear lane.  After the obstacle is cleared, the rider who switched lanes can then catch up to the other rider and resume normal riding.

2)  There is a hierarchy among the two riders in formation, a "flight lead" and "wingman."  Preferably, the flight lead should be in the right-hand lane, but this is not universally adhered-to.  When encountering a blind corner, the flight lead should pull roughly two bike-lengths ahead of the wingman, allowing him to see through the corner in advance.  If another vehicle is oncoming, whoever is in the left lane should get into the right, or even to the right shoulder, and both riders slow down considerably for the pass.  If the wingman is in the left lane, the flight lead makes a gesture with his arm, signalling for the wingman to get the hell out of the left lane.  If no vehicle is encountered, once both riders can see that the next straight is safe, they resume riding line-abreast as normal.

3)  In any situation where you feel the road is too narrow, too rough, too inconsistent, or too downright hair-raising for tandem riding, just fall back and transition to riding single-file.  The #1 rule of riding is to never do anything you aren't comfortable with from a safety standpoint.

So as you can see, we have thought this through a decent amount, even if sometimes the actual event doesn't work out as elegantly as it does on paper (bikes with different amounts of power really complicate things a lot, as you can tell in the video.)