TANDEM Diversity
2015 - Eastern Washington/Oregon: Soon after the San Juan Islands we rode a challenging tour in Eastern Washington and Oregon, cycling in the Blue and Wallowa Mountains. This tour was organized by firefighter friends and had 3 tandems with 2 single riders. It was tough due to lots of climbing and hot weather, but great fun.
Most of our cycling was in the coffee country where the hills were tough and the scenery was spectacular. For this trip we chose our Co-Motion Speedster with Rohloff/Gates belt drive train (Rollie), a good choice we think for the mountainous terrain.
Days riding: 9.
Distance ridden: 336.8 miles.
Elevation gained: 23,295'.
Here is a video with Relives of the Colombia tour.
Our Co-Motion Speedster with Rohloff hub and Gates belt drive train (Rollie) was the bike we chose for this tour. He has a good low, climbing gear, which helped!
Days riding: 7.
Distance ridden: 304.0 miles.
Elevation gained: 17,176'.
We savor the memories of riding and relaxing with our tour group. Most of all we remember with delight that we were treated to the sight of a pod of Orcas feeding off Lime Kiln Lighthouse Park! This photo is of another lunch on another lovely, sunny day, this time at historic and picturesque Roche Harbor.
Days riding: 3.
Distance ridden: 69.2 miles.
Elevation gained: 4102'.
Our booth near the registration desk kept us busy for most of the rally.
We were challenged by the heat and the hills, but the camaraderie was a highlight.
For this trip we did not bring our own tandem - we rented one from Bike & Barge. This was a first for us. The rental tandem was not up to the standards to which we keep our own bikes, but it was certainly adequate and comfortable for the type of touring we did in Holland. This was a great trip with excellent guides and crew from Bike & Barge.
Days riding 12.
Distance ridden: 322.6 miles.
Elevation gained: 11,050'.
Click to see a video overview of the Holland experience.
2015 - Midwest Tandem Rally: The 2015 rally was held in Rockford, Illinois, so we could ride our Wisconsin bike (Greta, a Co-Motion Speedster). Here we are sporting our Tour TK jerseys from Tandem Diversity's tandem tour of Turkey the prior year.
With no sponsorship or vendor booth commitments, we were able to ride all the rides, all the distances, just as normal tourists!
Days riding: 3.
Distance ridden: 132.6 miles.
Elevation gained: 3586'.
2015 - NW Tandem Rally: The NW Tandem Rally was in our home town of Bellingham and we were the title sponsor! Due to sponsor activities and our vendor booth, we actually didn't get to ride much, but it was a great time. This photo of us sporting our official NWTR kits was taken for us by our friends, Matt and Asia. In this photo we are on Robbie (Co-Motion Robusta with special, 35th anniversary paint job). Ruby (Co-Motion Macchiato with special 40th anniversary paint job) got to go for a tandem rally ride as well.
2015 Tours
2015 - Ottawa, Illinois: Following the Midwest Tandem Rally in Rockford, we joined the CATS (Chicago Area Tandem Society) for a post-rally tour along the Illinois River. Here we join friends and family for a break in Wild Bill's home town.
Days riding: 3.
Distance ridden: 115.9 miles.
Elevation gained: 2954' (it's pretty flat here!).
2015 - San Juan Islands, Washington: Friends from Bellingham helped us check out the routes for our island tour later in the summer. We chose Rollie for this quick island tour.
Days riding: 3.
Distance ridden: 50.3 miles.
Elevation gained: 4297'.
2015 - Colombia: Partly to escape NW winter, and partly to evaluate Colombia as a tandem destination, we toured in Colombia on a trip put together by our friends, tour guides, and fellow tandem riders, Danelle and John, now known as Tour CO. This was our first foray into South America. Wow! Colombia is a cycling crazy country so of course we were well received. I liked the food. The riding was very challenging for us (mountains), so as a tandem tour this might be a bit more enjoyable for riders perhaps lighter and more fit than us.
2015 - Holland: Springtime found us in chilly Holland, riding to see tulips and cruising on the barge, Angeline. This trip was with Bike & Barge Holland Tours. We had a group of 6 tandems so we shared the barge with single riders, but we took all the cabins in the forward part of the barge, so in a way it was a bit of a private tour for us tandem riders. We can definitely recommend Bike & Barge Holland very highly!
We took advantage of several days in Bogota prior to the tour, including hiking up Monserrate and riding in Ciclovia. We fell in love with the city.
2015 - San Juan Islands, Washington: After the NW Tandem Rally in Bellingham we held our Tandem Diversity post-rally tour in the islands. We had great weather, great people, and great riding. In this photo we are enjoying a picnic lunch at Iceberg Point on a sunny July day.