"Claire Petersky" wrote in message
...
.... Rose did a constant yakity-yak with me, since we
were indeed going slower. Usually we're silent in our grim
determination to
keep the ~15 mph rolling. Since she wasn't gasping for
breath, she was
filling my ear about life in the 6th grade.

I cherish the memory of this type of ride with my daughters on
an old Schwinn Twinn tandem. They'd pretend to pedal, and the
intimacy-yet-privacy of being behind the captain led to lots
of good discussions.

Of course, I wasn't trying to lead a ride at the time.

They'd like to join us again next week, but I know we'll
have some faster
paced riders for sure next week, and I don't know exactly
what to do. One
thought is to try to con my husband into ride leading with
me -- I just
don't know if he wants the responsibility. We can split into
a fast group
and a short group. Sort of silly with so few riders, but
it's one way to
tackle it. The other possibility is to discourage them from
riding with us.

Fast/slow may be the realistic alternative, with regrouping at
some agreed-on spot. Perhaps there is a way to add a couple
of miles to the loop for faster riders so they can "fall
behind" and catch up again.

If you settle on a slow pace, the fast group will stop showing
up. If you drop the slow riders, they will feel left out. In
a couple of weeks, they may show up in bike shorts, be in
better shape, etc. -- although they probably won't show up
with a new tandem so quickly.

Another alternative is to gently suggest some more appropriate
bicycling club (tandem or not), since there may be several in
the area.