I went out again with the Beech Holme Tandem Club on Wednesday night (23.6.10). This time there were five tandems. We cycled from Beverley Road to North Newbald, via Skidby and Little Weighton. It was about a 30mile ride and we stopped at The Tiger Inn for refreshments. Topographically it was quite different to anything I had done with them before. This time there were hills. Tackling hills on a tandem is technically and physically hard work. Everyone was putting in a lot of effort. It was a gorgeous summer evening which meant that it was pretty warm work as well. And oh my, do they go fast on the downhills.

I chose to ride my road bike this week as I’ve found that when I pilot a tandem, I can think of nothing but piloting the tandem. It makes me completely re-think how I cycle, which is terrific for fieldnotes. But, this time I wanted to capture the broader experience of cycling with the group. As a single rider I could get closer to tandems, talk more with riders and think about the landscape we were traversing – all of which is more than possible for an experienced front rider but not me (yet).

Photos were captured every 5 seconds using a Go Pro camera attached to my handlebars. I used over 1000 images in this time-lapse sequence.

Music is “Ambient-M (2003)” by Antony Raijekov. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 Bulgaria License.

Beverley Road to North Newbald with the Tandem Club from Kat Jungnickel on Vimeo.

Last night I cycled over the Humber Bridge with the Beech Holme Tandem Club. It was a lovely clear night and a great turnout – seven nine* tandems, two single bikes and a support bus. The ride was about 30miles with a refreshing pub stop at the half way point. We started riding at 8pm and arrived back after midnight.

* Thanks Allan.

UPDATE: I’ve made a time-lapse animation from images I took during the ride
UPDATE 2: Uploaded again, this time with music.

Beverley Road to Barton-Upon-Humber with the Tandem Club from Kat Jungnickel on Vimeo.

Music is Wavy Glass by Podington Bear – licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License.

I attended the tandem auction this morning at Gilbert Baitson. All tandems came from the Beech Holme Tandem Club and money raised from the sale will go directly into buying new bikes for the club as well as the repair and maintenance of their existing collection.

There were 45 bikes listed in the catalogue including Claud Butler, Dawes, Peugeot, Richmond and many others vintage brands. Attendance was high. There must have been at least 100 people in the room during the auction. Most were men, aged 40+. I spoke with several people and it seemed that many were regular attendees of this and similar auction houses. Having won items, a familiar practice involves re-selling purchases either at local car boot sales or on the internet. One man told me he had done some research this morning in order to see how much second hand tandems normally sold for. Others were interested in doing a tandem up for personal use. One woman told me she had her eye on a yellow tandem which she thought would not need too much work to get it back on the road. She and her husband already had bikes and regularly went riding on weekends. She had been thinking about getting a tandem and saw an article about the auction in the local newspaper. Bikes generally went for £40-£90 with a few of the very special ones going for £150-£200.

A few photos and GPS track of last night’s cycle with the tandem club. More to come as it was the first time Rachel and I participated as proper frontriders with backriders who were visually impaired.

Kat and I went on a ride on Wednesday 12th May with the Beech Holme tandem club. The ride was circular, starting from HERIB on the Beverley Road, heading up North to Arnold and part way back turning East to come back into the city on the Holderness Road.

As we cycled out of North Bransholme and left the Hull urban area the sun was starting to set. Looking forwards you could see the agricultural landscape and behind us were the lights of Hull.

The map below shows the route we took with a few pics to illustrate.

We didn’t leave the Bay Horse in Arnold until around 10:15 (having arrived there around 9pm) and by then it was properly dark – and quite cold. This time I was on the front of the tandem and apparently I wiggle my shoulders, which affects balance! If you’re new to tandem riding, it’s also hard to remember to alert the back rider before you do anything surprising.

Along the lanes people can ride two abreast, with the lanes quiet and the minibus tailing us to keep us safe from the rear. It is a very sociable ride as riders can talk to their tandem partner or to other pairs. The rhythms of tandem riding differ from the rhythms of solo riding – like balance, they must be negotiated between rear and front riders. For the skilled, like many of the front and rear riders present that evening, this is part of the unspoken pleasure of riding tandem – for the less skilled, like me, it is rather more conscious!

The Beech Holme Tandem Club have 15 working tandems in their bike shed and over 45 non-working ones in the basement. We were incredibly fortunate to gain a glimpse at the collection prior to them going to auction. It was a veritable cornucopia of tandem history. Bikes, parts and even magazines dated back a century and in some cases even further. I was saddened to know that this magificent collection would be splintered via the sale however what is critical to the club is the ride, not the heritage of the collection. The more working bikes they have on the road, the more visually impaired people can join the club and experience the freedom and delight of cycling. Therefore, the monies raised by the selling of this vast collection will be incredibly well spent. The auction will be held at Gilbert Baitson’s on 9th June.