​1997 Tours

TANDEM  Diversity

1997 - Spring Classics: This time the TwosDay put us at a bit of a disadvantage. The springtime in 1997 saw us in Belgium and France for Spring Classics race viewing (Tour of Flanders, Ghent Wevelgem, and Paris Roubaix). We joined a tour organized by Tim Grady of World Cycling Productions (I had done the same tour in 1996 on my single bike). We followed Tim, Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwen, and their crew for a week, riding with them, dining with them, predicting race outcomes with them, and of course watching the races. It was a great trip but with the small wheels on the tandem we had trouble keeping up with the group (these guys are strong riders!). It was on this trip that we decided to get a new travel bike with 700c wheels, hence the order for a custom Bilenky that we had for tours beginning in 1998. Anyway, in spite of our feelings about the TwosDay on this particular tour, we still love that machine, have it in our collection, and still use in on occasion when we are planning a point-to-point tour for which we need to be fully self contained.

As you can see from this photo, we were lucky with the weather in Belgium in the Spring of 1997 - it was mostly sunny, so we enjoyed our riding and race viewing immensely.

Days riding: 6.

Distance ridden: 160.0 miles.

Elevation gained: ?

I don't seem to have recorded elevations for this trip. I do, however, remember that Flanders is very hilly! You wouldn't know that from this photo, taken along one of the many canals in the area.

World Cycling Productions put together a short video about our Spring Classics Experience.