By Carrie Seidman
Tribune Reporter
June 17, 2005

After they were married 18 years ago, Carol and Eric Russell often took bike rides together.

Rather, they took bike rides at the same time.

Although they started side by side, it didn't take long for Eric to become a diminishing speck far in front of Carol and only occasionally to stop to worry and wonder, "Where is my wife?"

Meanwhile, Carol, a competent cyclist herself but no match for Eric's advantage in height and strength, would become frustrated by her inability to enjoy the ride with her husband.

TWO FOR THE RIDE The New Mexico Chile Pedalers hosts tandem rides the second Saturday, fourth Sunday and alternate Fridays of most months. The next ride is planned for 10 a.m. June 25. Single bikers are also welcome. For more information, go to www.swcp.com/chilepedalers or call 982-8846. Tandem Club of America represents 2,500 tandem enthusiasts around the world. www.tandemclub.org. METTLE TO THE PEDAL How it got started: Tandem bicycles originated as three- or four-wheeled variants of the high-wheeler bikes of the 1860s. They were known as "courting bikes" and were configured to allow a gentleman, who sat in a rear seat, to chauffeur a lady, who sat in front. The first two-wheeled tandem or "safety bicycle" appeared in the late 1880s. How it works: A modern tandem team consists of the front rider, aka the "captain," and the rear rider, aka the "stoker." Because the captain controls steering, gear shifts and braking, the more skilled or experienced cyclist of a pair generally assumes that position. Also, because it is aerodynamically more efficient, the stoker is usually the person who is smaller in size. A stoker must be someone willing to give up control and trust in the captain's choices. Whenever one cyclist is pedaling, the other must also pedal at the same time and with the same cadence.

The solution was something English composer Harry Dacre wrote about way back in the 1890s: "a bicycle built for two." Or, in today's lingo, a tandem.

"I thought it would be a great way to keep us together," says Eric, who bought the couple's first tandem bike seven years ago, "and it's worked out just as I thought it would. I don't have to wait for her, and she doesn't have to try to keep up with me."

The Russells are among a growing number of riders, most of them romantic as well as cycling partners, who have discovered the rewards - and not insignificant challenges - of tandem biking.

Although statistics are hard to come by, Jack Goertz of the Tandem Club of America, which represents 2,500 tandem enthusiasts around the world, says numbers grew rapidly in the late Õ80s and early Õ90s and are now holding steady.

New Mexico is on a slightly later time curve. The New Mexico Chile Pedalers, the state's tandem group, began in 1994 with about half a dozen members. Because it charges no dues, it's hard to give figures, but Eric Russell estimates it now has about 40 participants.

When he and his wife rode recently in the Santa Fe Century, a 100-mile race, Eric Russell was impressed by the number of fellow tandem riders he saw.

"Before, there were a few out there, but you didn't see them," says Eric, 55. "Now, on a ride like the Century, where there may have been one or two before, now there are maybe 20."

Learning to cycle as a duo isn't as simple as just handing over the $2,000 to $10,000 you can spend on a new bike, however. Carol Russell smiles as she recalls the bumper sticker she saw not long after they began that read: "Whichever way your relationship is going, a tandem will get you there faster."

"That's really true," says Carol, who admits she was initially apprehensive about keeping up with her husband. "It takes a lot of communication and trust, and it can get testy. Some people don't like it, and I wasn't sure I would. But once we started I never looked back."

She did look around, though - one of the advantages of sitting in the rear or "stoker" position. While her husband handles the "captain" duties of steering, shifting and braking, Carol - or the couple's 10-year-old son, Scott, who sometimes takes the back seat - is free to enjoy the passing view.

Because the gears for both riders are connected, however, there really is no possibility of one person idling while the other pedals. Which, Eric says, doesn't keep captains from occasionally thinking, "I could use some help up here" or stokers from rebutting with "If you really think I'm not pedaling, I could stop."

"On long hot days when you're both thirsty and tired. . ." Eric begins.

"Stay away!" finishes Scott, with a knowing grin.

"You do have to learn how to hold your tongue and how to communicate," Eric admits.

In the end "whatever level your skill is at, the combination of the two of you is as fast as you can go," Janet Vertrees says. She took up riding with her husband of 25 years, Joe Vertrees, after the couple bought themselves a tandem as a mutual Christmas gift 13 years ago.

Janet refers to herself as a "masher" - someone with endurance and tenacity who likes to "crank on the pedals" and go long distances - while her husband is more of a "spinner," into short bursts of power and speed and a higher cadence.

Joe is also prone to bouts of what he himself laughingly calls "testosterone poisoning." Like the time he decided to pass a lumbering logging truck and a long line of backed-up cars on a steep downhill grade.

With the added weight of a second person, tandems are notoriously slow on uphill grades but can surpass 60 mph downhill.

"She's my `squeal' brake," he says of his wife. "I can tell by the pitch how nervous she is."

Tandems are more stable than single bicycles, riders say, and are not capable of doing "an endo" - a flipping action - but there is still an element of danger. Dennis Cooper and Dede Collins found that out when they took a spectacular spill outside Jackson, Wyo., on the Chile Pedalers annual summer tour in 2000.

The couple plummeted down a steep gravel hillside when a rear tire blowout caused the bike to slip off the edge of a trail.

Cooper, 59, suffered a concussion, a cracked pelvis and a broken thumb that put him in the hospital for five days. Collins, 60, broke her nose and says she looked like a domestic violence victim for a month.

"We kept the helmets," says Collins, who met her husband 25 years ago through a running club, an activity both gave up in favor of cycling. "We could be poster children for the necessity of wearing them."

Still, within a few months, they were back on board. The advantages of cycling together, they say, far outweighed the risks.

One of those advantages was a weight loss of 50 pounds between them. Their reward for the accomplishment? A new, carbon fiber Calfee - considered to be the Mercedes-Benz of the tandem world - and a van that serves as bike transport and garage.

Because Collins and Cooper both started as beginners and learned how to cycle at the same time, Collins says they've avoided the competitive aspect that has doomed some couples. Tandeming is not for those who can't abide a cooperative role.

"You always have to give up something to accommodate another person when you're not alone, and that's critical with tandem," Cooper says. "Obviously, we think the rewards far outweigh the downside."

His wife nods, adding: "You know how couples sometimes bicker? You don't really find that in tandems; they're couples who really like to be together."

For example, the Vertreeses plan all their vacations around long tandem trips and dream of one day cycling across America. Among other places, they've been to Yellowstone National Park, the Oregon coast, Nova Scotia in Canada and a small town in Idaho on the Fourth of July.

"You do get recognized for your uniqueness," Janet says of bystanders' reactions. "A little kid will say: `Dad! Look! There's two of them!' "

Imitating herself on the back of the bike, she practices a benevolent wave:

"I get to be the beauty queen on the back - my daughter tried to teach me . . .elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist."

But the thing Janet loves most about tandem bicycling brings tears to her eyes and a slight tinge of embarrassment to her cheeks. It's the reason many cyclists opt for a shared, rather than a solo, ride.

"There's just something amazing," she says, "about doing what I love with the person I love."