[MB1]

...Judging from your post it doesn't seem like they've been running trips long (if at all).

You would sure think so but they have been doing this 5+ times a year for 20 or more years. I think they just fell in love with new technology without fully thinking through the implications.

 

[MB1]

..../That's a big boat.

//That's an arseload of tandems.

Plum

Technically speaking I am pretty sure that it is a "boatload" of tandems!

 

[Keeping up with Junior]

Oye como va

You would sure think so but they have been doing this 5+ times a year for 20 or more years. I think they just fell in love with new technology without fully thinking through the implications.

I was going to ask who was running the tour but will just take an educated guess that it was run by some black magic woman. Their trips always look beautiful but the cost per bike mile was always way too high for our taste. From the photos it looks like you had a wonderful trip despite the technology challenges.

 

[MB1]

...This works only as long as you have battery life left in your camera. Don't ask how I know.

LOL, somehow I don't think we need any additional explanation. :yikes:

 

[MB1]

I was going to ask who was running the tour but will just take an educated guess that it was run by some black magic woman. Their trips always look beautiful but the cost per bike mile was always way too high for our taste. From the photos it looks like you had a wonderful trip despite the technology challenges.

Yup it was a Santana trip, our fourth with them.

They do go to some fantastic places but tend to cater to a lower milage team than we are but until this trip we had always found it easy enough to add all the additional miles we care to.

Actually we came away from each of the rides feeling that by far the best part of the trip were the other teams that we met on the tour. Sure out of 70 teams there are going to be some that you can't connect with or relate to but there are going to be far more that you really hit it off with.

The group tends to be self selecting towards working or retired married couples with grown kids and those that are fairly well off. They are all pretty easy for us to get along with and you don't get any of the single folks coupling and/or drinking and partying that other tours tend to have.

Santana also puts on some very family friendly "Rallies" that are amazingly popular for folks with younger kids. You will never see so many triplets and quads on the road at the same time.

We invited several of the folks we met on this trip to look us up in either DC or Florida and hope they do.

Good stuff.

 

[RotatingShifts]

This works only as long as you have battery life left in your camera. This works only as long as you have battery life left in your camera. Don't ask how I know.

I love it when "Don't ask how I know" is added to a piece of advice.

I recall a while back that BruceW stated something like (and I'm paraphrasing) "make sure the rear rack supports reach far enough back, or the panniers may interfere with the rear spokes. Don't ask me how I know."

I can only imagine philippec's frustration upon realizing that his clever trick let him down!





.

 

[RoadSwag]

Looks like tons of fun, read through it all. It must take some getting used to, riding a bike with someone especially for so long. Would definitely be an experience!

 

[nonsleepingjon]

When my wife and I did a tandem tour in the Czech Republic this past spring, the tour company set us up with a map book (it was in German but the maps still worked fine), a cue sheet, and a GPS. They specifically only use GPS units that don't have maps. They program in all the way points of the route so you can tell if you are headed in the right direction, but the maps and cue sheets were much more useful. I had the map and GPS up front so I could get the big picture, and my wife would read off the cue sheet so we could follow all the detailed directions. Worked out great. Since we were riding on our own, they also gave us a cell phone with their phone number programmed in so that we could call in an emergency (I'm happy to say we never needed it).

Glad you were able to still have a good time. Now you have maps of the area and can plan your own routes for the next trip!