blowout…a captain’s perspective
Posted by Mauri on May 6, 2006
Tandem talk is a little unusual. Some of it is directed toward the bike…”she’s not pedaling,” or “cool bike” (a common kid response to the recumbent machinery). Talking on the bike is one of the cool aspects of tandem riding, and it’s relatively easy to do, as opposed to…that other way of riding. Two words unique to the tandem experience are “captain” and “stoker” - def. captain sits in the front and is pretty much in charge of everything; stoker uses the remaining seat (ok, the back seat) and “is a sack of potatoes with legs of steel.” Often in mixed-gender tandem teams the guy is the captain…and before you even think “sexist,” understand that size and bike design are the primary reasons for that, although not so much on the kick-back bikes we ride. Marvel (that’s Sherry) is better with trust issues, and I sit up front. (It’s not all glory, though—anything that hits us in the face hits me first.)
So you’ve heard the blow by blow about the wreck…in seven or eight installments, and probably know we’re on the mend…Marvel with a new cast just yesterday, and me with more and more road rash exposed (nearly healed/down to mere band-aids) each day. Some of my “recovery” however, isn’t so much dealing with injury, but the fact that I was in charge of things and we dumped the bike, and Marvel sustained a debilitating injury…and it could’ve been a lot worse. She’s never said or acted for a nano-sec like the crash was my fault. The possibility of coming off the bike is part of the territory assumed when we climb on…and I/we have ridden thousands of incident-free miles—maybe we were just due. So…we’ll deal with it, and decide what’s next.
I’ve already been riding some…and we’ll plan to be at it together as soon as Marvel’s better. I’m sure that fast descents won’t be quite as much fun for a while…’still a hard-earned reward for the ups, but we’ll be a little wary, no doubt. And there are at least a couple of new “decideds.”
I’ve decided to stop inflating the tires to the top of the suggested range. When the sidewall suggests 50-90 psi., I’ll probably top it out at 75-80 or so and risk pinch flats (the air goes out slowly—no “BANG!”) and settle for a little less efficiency. The tires were checked and the front pumped up to near (just over?) the max the day it blew and we dumped.
I’ve also decided to head down hills with my left hand firmly on the grip—intentionally off the front brake lever. I’m not sure how that’s going to work…sometimes the front brake is needed to rub off a little speed. Part of my wondering is about the two seconds or so after the blowout and before we were sliding. I remember thinking (maybe saying) “We’re toast!” or something equally helpful, and the bike wobbling…first to the right, and I grabbed handfuls of brake…and then we were down. Maybe if it was decided in advance …”in case of emergency, use rear brake first,” maybe we could’ve held it.
We’ll never know, and that wonderment will be held loosely…
Mauri - I love the tenderness shown by your feelings of responsibility for the crash and Marvel’s injuries. You have such a kind, compassionate heart.
But I will continue to pray that you will be released from your guilt. I hope you can take it as a lessons-learned experience and not feel too much responsibility. Life lived looking in the rearview mirror is no fun and just makes for lots of unneeded stress.