R and R and R

Sometimes when riding a bike across the country, you need to take a break. Right now, we are taking a week off and resting in Toronto.

We have a fundraiser party coming up in Toronto, Tuesday June 29, at the Roosevelt Room. Tickets can be bought online at www.thetandemtour.com

In order to make it to Toronto on time, we did the math, and figured we had to ride 130kms a day, for 11 days. We set our goal, and stuck to it. For the past 11 days we rode at least 130kms a day. We are very tired.

But we had some help. Ben's older sister Nat, who is also the Tandem Team Manager, takes care of our press, sponsors, planning, and generally speaking keeps us in order. She is the seventh member of the team.

Nat met us one week ago with an RV. she brought along friends Colt and Carly, and for 5 days, the three of them cooked us meals, kept us hydrated, and set up camp. They took care of everything else, while all we had to do was bike. And so we biked. Every day. All day. Without their help, we wouldn't have been able to make our deadline.

Our goal was to make it within 120kms of Ottawa, stop biking, put the bike on the roof, then drive to Muskoka, spend a few days at Scotty "the champ" Ross' cabin, then drive to toronto, fundraise and relax, and the day after the party, drive back to where we stopped biking outside of Ottawa, and pick up where we left off.

Wednesday at 4pm was the deadline. This is when we would stop biking. At 2 pm we were within 30kms of our stopping point. We ate lunch, and excitement grew as we knew we were within one hour of not having to bike for 6 days. We finished out lunch, and excitement grew as we knew we were so close to the deadline. That last 30 was probably the toughest of the trip.

We peddled and peddled, knowing that 4pm would come. And come it did. We hit Cobden Ontario, 120 kms outside of Ottawa, on the dot, and stopped pushing.

After almost 2 weeks without a day off, and riding 30kms per day above our average, we made the deadline. We put the bike on the roof, and put our feet up.

Right now, we are in Toronto, with friends and family, not biking. On wednesday we will pick up exactly where we left off, but for now, we revel in not sitting on a bike seat.

www.thetandemtour.com

Out of the Woods

The light beams through the trees as the maples break the skyline. The forest rings alive with the chirping and chatting of ancient plants and animals. As we ride down the highway, we can hear the never ending forest as it comes alive with light and life.

Northern Ontario is a place of extreme beauty and intense mystery. The rolling rambling of the bike falls silent on the hills as the sunshine blasts down from the sky. The endless wilderness reigns supreme over people and their things.

The road through Lake Superior Provincial Park passes by some of the most impressive scenery in Canada. The highway follows the outline of the ancient rock escarpment as it collapses into the crystal blue lake.

We left Thunder Bay having been warned of the tough road ahead. Countless people told us that the 700 km road from Thunder Bay to Sault Sainte Marie would be the toughest of our trip. In many sections the highway has no shoulder. That, combined with Semi Trailers, trucks, weather, cars, moose, and bad drivers, we knew we had our work cut out for us.

We left Thunder Bay at around 3pm last Sunday in the pouring rain. We had to ride a certain amount of kilometres, so we put on our rain gear, clipped into the bike, and went. The thing about riding in the rain is that once you get soaking wet, you're not going to get any wetter, so what's the difference. As John says, "State of mind. Suck it up. Get on the bike"

We got on the bike.

On that sunday afternoon, we left all communication. No Internet. No phone. The middle of nowhere. Quiet.

The stunning scenery and beautiful landscape had us in its grips. We spent the week in our un-connected wilderness watching the road in front as it wound around Lake Superior. We climbed the hills in the scorching sun and watched the thick forest canopy from above.

From Montreal River and down the road evens out. There are no more big mountains to climb. The sun is shining, and the rain has stopped. Summertime living.

www.thetandemtour.com

Thunder Bay

The road to Thunder bay was a long long bendy twist of highway wrapping around boulders and navigating around lakes. The lack of shoulder to ride on presented a particularily hard challenge that allowed us to test our truck dodging skills on a bike. The road from here to Sault Sainte Marie isn't any better. In fact, it's worse.

The guys at Woodcock Cycles in Winnipeg got a few of our bike issues sorted out. We laced up a few spare rims, and were confident in the successful completion of the next leg of our journey. However, as we are never without bike problems, we knew that we weren't out of the woods yet...literally.

As we manned the 4 man down the highway on a narrow strip of shoulder, we were intermittently disrupted by the snapping of spokes. In one day, we managed to snap 3 spokes all on the same front-left side of the wheel. We only had 4 spares for that side. Fearing a rim crushing bike smashing fall to the ground, we decided to put on the spare rim for the front wheel.

The rain and the wet hasn't subsided, but we managed to make it this far. From here on out we're driving towards the coast. We're in the eastern watershed. Everything is flowing towards the east. We will be in Toronto soon.

www.thetandemtour.com

Beach Time

We've been spending the past few nights at Cam's cabin in Kenora, Ontario. Cam is Jeff's cousin. The cabin is very close to the boarder of Manitoba and Ontario. From the deck, we can see beautiful Ontario. The vast bumping landscape of rock, lake, and forest.

Yesterday, we drove back down the highway towards Manitoba, and rode the 100kms back to the cabin to finish off the distance that we missed, then spent the rest of the afternoon hanging around the lake. That's our new friend Mike in the bottom right hand corner of the picture, or as we like to call him, the dude.

Lake of the Woods has 10 000 islands, and many of these islands have cliffs. A few of The Tandem Team members get their thrills from things in addition to quad-tandem biking. Cliff jumping is one of these things. Unfortunately for Miller, the impact of his face with the water, did not agree. He'll be ok. He's a tough guy. No more gainers.

www.thetandemtour.com

Brandon to Winnipeg

We left Brandon, Manitoba the morning after our impromptu fundraiser. Ashley and Nathan and every one else who took us in and showed us a good time we thank you guys! Brandon is the place to be.

We headed east along the low-lying landscape towards Winnipeg. Lying at the bottom of the Red River Valley, Winnipeg and the surrounding area has a very low topography, with no significant hills in the vicinity of the city. Lucky us.

The ride into Winnipeg was straight, flat, and windless. In the morning we were met at our campsite by Jeff's cousin Cam Saltel. Cam has organized our entire stay in Winnipeg. He has put together a fundraiser, rallied new sponsors, comped several nights stay at The Inn at the Forks (swanky) and hooked us up with food and drink along the way. Cam is the man.

We rode into Winnipeg ready for a few days of rest and relaxation. When we got to the city, we went straight to a salon to get some haircuts, courtesy of Cam and The Salon. Looking rather bearded and grizzled, we all decided to trim up a bit. Moustaches were carved, and beards were trimmed. We all had beards of the finest order, but none were as fine as that of Jeff Belanger's. This man had a beard the size of Santa's, with none of the gray, and all of the jolly. Jeff now has a man's moustache, handlebarred and all. We look like Lynyrd Skynyrd circa 1972.

After the cuts it was off to the Forks public market and shopping area, at the confluence of The Red River and Assiniboine River. (Fun fact: The Red River is considered a canadian heritage river, and is home to the largest average size catfish in the world...we didn't see any).

On our "day off" in Winnipeg, we were set with the task or rallying some troops at the Forks to come to our fundraiser. The local Keg Restaurant had offered us a lunchtime meal, and we jumped at the chance. With some smooth moustache'd talk by tandem team rider Mat Murray, we were able to enjoy steak for lunch on a sunny patio.

That evening was our fundraiser. Once again, The Tandem Team played some songs and sang the night away. We played deep into the night, and auctioned off prizes and raffles to friends and family all night long. The fundraiser was a huge success. A lot of work went into making the night such a great party, and we thank everyone who helped. Dan, Cam, Paulette, Ron, Jill, Colby (you rock on the guitar little man), Adrienne (best coffee in Winnipeg), Gooding, Mary-Anne, Deanne - you guys all rock, and thank you for your tremendous support.

Today, we are hanging at Cam's cabin in Kenora Ontario. That's right, we made it to Ontario. Yesterday we rode as far as we could, then drove into the cabin. Tomorrow, we will drive back to where we left off, and cover the Kilometres that we missed. We have to ride it all. Today is our day of rest and relax. The landscape has changed from flat Canadian Prairie, to rocky Canadian Shield, one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world. We still have almost 2000 kilometres to Toronto, and the road is a rocky rocky maze of bouncy gravel and concrete that winds through the endless Canadian Wilderness, and it will most likely be the toughest stretch yet. Bring it on.

www.thetandemtour.com

Music and Bikes

When we began this trip, none of us were cyclists. We had never used clip in pedals until the day before we left, we didn't know what a chamoix was, and would never have been caught dead wearing spandex. We overcame these apprehensions very quickly.

Now, we consider ourselves to be cyclists by association. We have all learned basic bike maintenance, know enough lingo to fool the gearheads at bike shops, and wear spandex daily.

We chose to do this trip on a four man bike because it is unique. We wanted an attention grabber, and a four man bike definitely grabs attention. However, as we ride across the country on the number one highway, we have met many cyclists who are on the exact same mission.

There is a specific group of bikers who we have been chasing for a few days. Two girls, Lisa and Ayla, have been about a day ahead of us since Osoyoos, and yesterday we finally met up with them. We've been in contact with them via facebook, and we were originally drawn to them because their mission was to raise $500, 000 for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

As we sat in the double decker pub last night, we finally met up with the girls. We sat in the bar, and traded stories of broken chains, busted rims, and creepy rest stops. Today, we all rode together a little further down the number 1 highway, as one big fundraising gypsy cycling caravan.

The ride today was, however...paced. Last night was jam night at the double decker. The house band got on stage first, and ripped it up. They spun musical greatness across the stage as the entire bar sang along. When they finished their set, they opened up the floor to the Tandems. We eagerly jumped up on stage, and led the entire bar in new renditions of our old favourites. Later on, the house band invited us back on stage, and we all sang our faces off into the wee hours of the morning.

It seems as though things always have a way of working themselves out. This evening we met yet another cyclist who is on the same mission. Tonight, we are all camped together in Portage La Prairie, and tomorrow we will all ride together to Winnipeg. We may not have been cyclists when we began this trip, but we feel that now we have been willfully adopted into the cycling community. And it's awesome.

www.thetandemtour.com

Hitting the Pavement

Riding a quad-tandem bike in the rain is not very much fun. Riding it in the wind is also not very much fun. However, falling on a quad-tandem bike is the worst.

A few days ago as we faced trying times, we were forced (read, made the decision) to ride the bike through these awful conditions. We decided our best course of action was to draft behind The Tandem Tour trailer. This nice little pocket of calm air allowed us to break through the wind, and increase our average speed. It worked for a little while, until our captain lost his concentration for a split second. In this split second, the bike got a little too close to the trailer, and as we leaned into the trailer to push out, we fell to the ground. 800 pounds of man and bike hitting the pavement in the pissing rain. Our combined weight made for an extra hard impact. Although I've never been dump tackled by a linebacker, I imagine it feels something like hitting the ground on a 4 man bike going 25 km/h.

We dusted ourselves off and carried on our tandem way. We braised the wind and rain, two more cracked rims (yes, the ones we had shipped in from Seattle) and the endless bouncing highway, until we made it to Regina. Bruised and battered, we rested.

Aside from a few tough times, a lot of fun is had on The Tandem Tour. Songs are sung, and silly dances are created daily. We make several roadside breaks along the way, to both rest and consume vast amounts of food, and during these rest breaks, we have fun. Jeff Belanger shows us the ins and outs of The Caribou 2-step, while Mat Murray shows us the delicate art of highway rock-throwing.

Tonight, we rest in Brandon, Manitoba. We were told about an open mic night at the double decker pub, and as we've turned into a bit of a travelling band, we jump at any opportunity to play music. The people at the pub love our cause, and are getting ready to throw us a fundraiser tonight. We will play some music and sing some songs.

Actually, riding a quad-tandem bike is kind of like us singing songs...we just make it up as we go along.

www.thetandemtour.com