NWTR 2007 - or Tandem Rallies not just for Tandems

Number one question asked us at the Northwest Tandem Rally - where is your tandem? Well the sad story is our tandem was sitting at home and we were at the rally on our single bikes. Because we are training for a big ass event on our singles we needed to keep up the training and couldn't break out the tandem even for a weekend.

Why not just stay home and do training instead of travelling to an event for tandems. Because the rally was held in Yakima which is in Washington Wine Country, lots of our friends were going and frankly a weekend out of town over Memorial Day was a good thing.

We had a really good time riding with the big bikes on Saturday we rode 75 miles and visited several wineries. The rally folks the Kiwana's club of Yakima would pick up people's purchases at the wineries so no need to carry wine on your bike. Saturday night a group of 12 went to an excellent Italian restaurant called Gasperetti’s.

Sunday we got in 60 miles but had to deal with riding in some wicked headwinds. We were going about 8mph riding into the wind and once we turned around our speed went up to over 20 mph without pedaling. Sunday night was the banquet which can be hit or miss. This year it was a hit the food was good, and because the rally had been sponsered by Wine Country of Washington their was some nice wine to go with dinner.

Monday we had breakfast with friends and drove to our favorite winery Portteus which is at the top of a hill with a long gravelled driveway. Did some wine tasting and took home some purchases from there.

If you think our weekend sounded fun you should consider going to a tandem rally even if your not a tandem rider; or if you just want to go drink wine in Yakima do the Kiwana's Wine Country Trek which is held the last weekend in September. If you decide to go explore wine country don't forget to buy yourself the wine passport its good for discounts at many of the wineries.

SIR 400K Preride - Arlington Loop

The Route - commented on at breakfast that it was a big boot with a spike that was going to kick our asses.



Ubiquotos Breakfast at Denny's - I highly reccomend you bring your own coffee.



The second control - note the V-8 - Yum Yum




Control #3 Lunch in Sedro Wooley Ahhh - The side walk is wider then my saddle - feels good. Note the lunch of brevet riders sandwiches and Ensure.




Tom - Is it true what they say about big bags? Your bag is certainly bigger then my mini bag. I think you can fit some beer in there? Too bad you didn't today.



Yes - I officially need to get my head examined. I think riding a bike for 23 hours is fun?

Photo's courtesy of Kent Peterson

Group Health Commuter Challenge

Yes its that time of year again - time to put my money where my mouth is and actually ride my bike to work. It's easy to do at this time of year when the weather is nice and darkness at 5:00 pm is just a fading memory.

I had organized a team at work last year so it was easy to start the process to organize a team this year. I just sent out an email to my team members from last year asking them to participate again and also if they knew of any other bicycle commuters. Wham - more folks then I could handle. This year the company has two teams - the Perkins Peleton and the Perkins Echelon.

This year should go really well for our teams - with new bike racks in the building it has become a friendlier place to bike commute to. People don't realize that even a small change like this can bring folks off the bus or out of their cars and onto their bicycles. Oly bikes had a really good post about bike racks recently.

So are you ready to take the challenge?

Don't worry if you can't scare up a team you can even register as a solo commuter.

If your in the Seattle area - take the Challenge

And best part of all of being a team captain - a free t-shirt stating this fact and an invite to the Pike Brewing Captains Bash.

Pike Brewing is run by cyclists - I met them on the trail riding home from work one day and they gave me free beer :-).