7 avril 2005

Scott Martin

On a long-ago vacation, my wife and I wandered into an outdoor-sports store, looking for a kayak to rent. While fraudulently claiming on the release form that I knew the difference between an Eskimo roll and a Tootsie Roll, I noticed they also had a tandem bike. “Is that for rent too?” I asked.

“Sure,” replied the clerk. “We call it the divorce bike.”

It seems couples who rented the tandem invariably returned with hands wrapped lovingly around each other’s throat. Yes, tandem riding has a way of mercilessly exposing any problems with communication skills, control issues and overall compatibility.

“We’ll take the kayak,” I said.

That boat ride proved less choppy than the rest of our marriage. Maybe we should have rented the tandem and figured this out sooner.

Anyway, my ambivalent relationship with tandems had just begun. A few years ago, I got talked into riding Burley’s tandem stage race in Oregon with Race Across America veteran Rob Templin.

We made a formidable team : Rob’s 700 watts of power and my talent for yelling “Pedal harder, Rob!” What a blast. I loved the rhythm, the speed, the camaraderie.

So when Rob called awhile later and invited me to ride the Davis Double Century on a tandem, I accepted. Davis was great too, until we got a front blowout on a 35-mph descent. We crashed. My collarbone snapped. An event photographer caught the whole thing on film, so I have a charming memento, which I may manage to look at someday.

But I couldn’t stay away from tandems. I bought one, rode it occasionally with my wife, kept it after the divorce. It hung in the garage until last week, when I found somebody new to ride with. She likes tandems, too.

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Give Scott your congratulations by writing to scottmartin@roadbikerider.com

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