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Our Latest News...
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January 5th '10
I have just finished helping to run The Tour de Vineyards. Guess who I met at Upper Moutere village as I was setting up the feed station signs? Two of our tandem club member duos on their tandems. Craig & Sue Mangin and Peter & Gail Philipsen with their B.O.B.s in tow. Touring our Top of the South area having done Picton, Blenheim, St Arnaud, Motueka, and going on to Nelson then back to Picton. Peter & Gail had bent their rear wheel descending Kerr's Hill near Kikiwa and were limping homeward with it. They have since made it home after getting a spare wheel sent over from home to Nelson.
January 31st
Blenheim fun ride...
We had a great tandem bunch ride on Jan 31st in Blenheim. We covered
60kms with a break in the middle for coffee. We enjoyed a great BBQ
hosted by the Blackmoores afterwards.
Hope to see you there next time...
I am toying with the idea of slotting in a tandem race/tour for Easter up this way if there is enough interest.
Let me know if you are keen and I will try and put something together.
Keep riding together!
Cheers,
Mike Watson
Some feed back I have had...
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Hi Mike,
Thanks for the latest news letter, There are several of us down here in CHC who have tandems but gravitate more towards the cruising/touring or social side of tandem riding and we were considering having a picnic by tandem down here sometime in Feb.
I thought you may be able to pass my contact on to anyone you can think off who may be interested in getting together for a ride somewhere for a picnic lunch, anyone would be welcome and it’s pretty low key.
I would be interested if you have any suggestions or thoughts on this?
Rgds
Shane Glassey
Coordinator
Bicycle User Group - Rolleston
Shane.Glassey@airnz.co.nz
Hi Mike
Happy New Year to you guys too.
Thanks for including us in on the email newsletter :)
While we'd love to come down for a 100k blast with a bunch of other nutter tandem riders we wont be able to make it... we taking the tandem to Aussie for a 10 day holiday.
Enjoy the ride and keep us posted on up coming rides
Hilary & Mark
Greetings to you fellow tandem riders!
Kevin and I are planning to cross over from the North Island in February and explore some of your more remote areas. We'd like to go down to Hanmer Springs through the Molesworth, and back up to St Arnaud via the Rainbow. Then we intend pottering around the Golden Bay area for a bit before heading back to the ferry in early March.
At the moment our plans are fairly open. If any of you have any favourite "must-do" rides for a heavily laden tandem/trailer combo, we'd llove to hear from you - and would be happy to reciprocate by sharing some of our favourite north island touring spots.
Jillian Connole
Tauranga
K & J Connole [kj.connole@clear.net.nz]
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Serious Fun Tandem Classic Nelson ‘09
Well what a weekend of serious fun was had as promised by Mike Gane the organiser.
Friday
Friday night the weather held and we all raced our 6 laps of Trafalgar Park. Chris & Bob decided not to defend their standing title as Chris was quite unwell. This only increased the uncertainty as to who might take out the title over the weekend. There were a few surprises on the track and Mike had to decide who was going in each group, basing his decision on times and rider knowledge.
Saturday
Saturday morning’s 13km time trial down the Moutere Highway was preceded by a warm up ride from the finish area at Community Road up to the start line at Upper Moutere. This was good fun and a total social ride. Gary my stoker took a few pics on board the bike of our fellow tandem riders along the way.
The results were similar to the track with one or two wee surprises. Greg & Marion had a puncture which was a bit of a hitch, but it looks like the commissar adjusted for this in the results.
It was time for lunch now and Hot Mamas Cafe in Motueka was visited by some riders for lunch, our team was hosted at Gary’s place.
At 1.00pm we were all assembled near the airport for our race up the Motueka River, over the Baton Bridge and then back down the West Bank over the Bluffs Bridge back onto Highway 60 and down to the finish near the airport. Mike decided to change a few of the teams into opposite categories because of their performance.
Now there were some changes in the placing and a few of the serious racers began to show their road racing and climbing skills. One notable event was the dropping of their timing chain by Tristan & Anja. The other guns slowed to let them fix it and get back onto the front which was very sporting. This was a lucky break for some teams as 4 or 5 had got away including Denis & Frith. It wasn’t long and we were dropped by the leaders again into a group of 4.
Photos - David Letsche - info@cyclingphotos.co.nz
This turned out to be a 52km event and in my opinion the best tandem circuit in the area. The social riders enjoyed the picturesque scenery and low amount of road traffic on this course. Our local riding enthusiast and camera buff David Letsche took some brilliant photos around the course which are on my website.
Sunday
Sunday dawned a little fresh, I was glad of my ¾ Shorts, arm warmers and vest. We all assembled at the Motueka Airport area again and at 9.00am we were off up the inland highway turning at Price’s corner heading for our hardest test Neudorf Hill. We not so fast riders were really rung out clinging onto the leaders as they sped up to Prices. This was the boy’s tactics I found out later. There were some KOM points at stake here and some good team climbing skills shone through. Tristan & Anja were first up the hill closely followed by Vaughan & Mitchell. Gary & I were lucky enough to pick back up 3 tandems with our downhill skills after Neudorf Hill and with our local knowledge of the course. We had a good 4 way tussle down the valley until Rob & Vicki dropped their timing chain and on the last wee climb Denis & Frith and Craig & Sue pulled away.
Vaughan & Mitchell took the sprint from Tristan & Anja to win the race. There were many other sprint finishes for the minor placing and everyone finished with smiles on their faces even if somewhat tired.
After the wheels cooled down participants went over to the Stoke Fire Station for nibbles and serious lie telling. There were a couple of trophies presented and some lucky people won Continental tyres. Even this was serious fun with prizes being separated between stokers and captains to keep it interesting.
If you are reading this and didn’t attend then you now know what you missed!!
Do you think we could organise between us another event similar to this so we had two tandem races a year?
Keep your eye out for the next social tandem ride in Blenheim I will let you know.
Thanks again to Mike G and his team for organising the races and Felix and Dave for the great pics.
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Tandem ride 14th June 2009 Blenheim
Yvonne and I went on our first tandem bunch ride together in Blenheim on Sunday (14th June 2009).
We rode with 9 other tandems and had a leisurely cruise through the vineyards mostly on the back
roads of Blenheim.
We rode with some very friendly Marlborough people and after about 30kms stopped for a muffin break
at The Mud House Café at the vineyard in Renwick.
After a suitable rest we all clambered on our steeds again and rode to Grove Town where we were
hosted by Robert and Lynne Kennedy for a BBQ on their vineyard where the produce Artisan Wines.
The food was fantastic as were the beer and wines that some of us sampled. The ride was at a very
leisurely pace and the company was great. We were riding along having a good chat and soaking in
the fantastic Marlborough atmosphere amongst the vines. Yvonne managed the riding well considering
she is not quite a biker yet? I know all you other tandem riders wish you were there. Watch this
space because word is out that we will do it again.
Thanks to the team in Blenheim for hosting a great tandem ride.
