Twin Cities Tandem Club: The Loons
The Twin Cities Tandem Club is a group of tandem enthusiasts from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the surrounding area. We get together once or twice a month from May until November to ride tandem bicycles. We like to ride tandems for many reasons. We are a social or touring club, as opposed to a racing club. While many of our members do ride fast, the main purpose of our rides is to enjoy each other's company, and a "bite to eat" at the food stops.
I am sure if you were to ask the club members why they like to ride a tandem, you would receive many different answers. The following list is not all inclusive, but it does reflect what I have heard various people say over the years:
- Riding a tandem is a shared experience, and we enjoy the sense of team work that it brings.
- Riding a tandem allows two partners of unequal strength to ride together.
- Tandems have some aerodynamic advantages. While you have the effort of two people, the frontal profile is only that of a single person. So usually, a team's speed on a tandem is slightly faster than their average speed on individual bikes.
All of these reasons are in addition to the usual benefits of bicycling -- exercise, fresh air, and just plain fun.
Even if you are just considering a tandem bicycle or interested in tandems, you are welcome at our rides.
To all the Loons
All club rides are still on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are monitoring and assessing the situation monthly and will resume club sanctioned rides when it is more logistically feasible and socially responsible to do so.
Please continue to stay healthy, stay active, stay safe, get out and enjoy some bike riding with your immediate household or others that you are comfortable riding with."
Upcoming Events
Midwest Tandem Rally 2020 is canceled and rescheduled for 2021
Message from MTR committee
Greetings All! As a planning team we have been looking forward to welcoming you all to Racine this year for MTR 2020, and have a great rally planned for you! Unfortunately, COVID 19 does not appear to be going away. Current health recommendations do not support hosting an event of our size, even though much of the event would be outside.
As a planning team, we analyzed the steps we could take towards social distancing, staggered lunches, fewer people at banquet tables, etc., and determined those steps would greatly detract from the type of rally that we all look forward to, and would still not ensure everybody’s health and safety. For that reason, we will look forward to hosting you in Racine in 2021, and the CATS will be moving to 2022. The good news is that we will have another year to plan an even better rally!
See MTR for details