Tandemania and trail skills

We've had a tandem 26" mtb in the house for a few years now.  Over time Jimmie has been slowly acquiring the parts to put the bike together.  We decided to try out the tandem after a personalized trail skills clinic we had at ILRA.  I believe this was the same day as the Willow Run TT.

We rode our race bikes through much of the trail at ILRA before we stopped toward the beginning of the short loop to go over some skill related drills.  There are some really fun short downhills with corners on the short loop that we figured would be the best spot for me to get my learn on.  Jimmie demonstrated how I should ride the course at that spot.  I went to the top of the hill and came barrelling down it to try to repeat what he showed me.  Actually it worked.  I thought about what he said and applied it.  Now I can see how people fly through corners as fast as they do. 

After we finished our trail ride we got the tandem out of the van and took it out on its maiden voyage.  Holy crap is that a weird experience.  I rode as the stoker and all I can say is there is a sh!t ton of flex and you really can't see what's going on ahead of you.  It's also something to try and get a feel for the spinning and timing.  I was laughing a ton and having a lot of fun, but I was also kind of getting freaked out about going downhill on this thing.  As we headed over spring mill pond and crossed the creek the rear tire totally exploded.  It turns out it the Fire XC Pro tire was in pretty bad condition and we didn't notice.  As we were stopped we ran into Gabby Bruno from Dark Horse who was doing her usual fast paced ride through ILRA.  We chatted for a while and then she rode off to get more trail riding on.  It was nice to catch up with her.  We put a tube in the rear tire, CO2'd it up and headed back to the trail head via the road.

I've since talked to Seth about how we now have a tandem.  He said we should all meet up at The Poto (it gets an article because it is such a bad a$$ trail) to ride together.  Uh not so sure about that idea as of yet.  Jimmie and I take very different lines on that trail and I think I would scream with him at the front.