The weekend of November 9-11th 2012 will see strangely-shaped bicycles descend on the little village of Fremington. Organised by our own Mr Chipps, it’ll be a weekend of tandem mountain biking and all of the MTB tandems in the country are invited.
Older readers might remember that there was an event called ‘Tandemania’ organised in mid-Wales back in the ’90s. Primarily for road tandems, it was quick to welcome new-fangled mountain bike tandems as they appeared. Tandemania was a weekend of bike rides, tests of skill and the odd good natured race too. Chipps is hoping that this will be an event in a similar spirit. It’s being held at the famous Dales Mountain Bike Centre in the North Yorkshire village of Fremington in the middle of the Dales. There’s bunk-barn style accommodation on site (bookable directly with Dales MTB Centre), a café and there are local pubs. (There are other places to stay too if you’re too posh, but why would you? There’s 24hour cake access!)
The idea is to turn up on Friday night for a meet and a beer/cake/chat and then Saturday will involve a tandem ride through the Yorkshire Dales on bicycles made for two. The trails will mostly be rock and gravel, Land Rover style tracks and should be accessible by most levels of mountain bike tandemists. After the ride, weather permitting, there might be a few tests of skill to keep the appetites up (see video for an idea) before heading to nearby Reeth for dinner (unless you have your own plans).
Sunday will involve another XC mountain bike tandem ride before sending people off on their way in time to get home.
There’s no charge for the weekend other than accommodation at the Dales Mountain Bike Centre.
So, do you have a mountain bike tandem? Know anyone who does? Make sure they see this and help keep the Spirit of Tandemania alive.
dalesbikecentre.co.uk
Or call them on 01748 884908
enquiries@dalesbikecentre.co.uk
Think that mountain bike tandems are a bit of a gimmick? Here’s some idea of what can be achieved on one…
You can join in the Forum discussion about the weekend here: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/mtb-dales-tandem-weekend
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Can we get this for a testbike? 😉
http://mscbikes.com.au/zion-tandem-0/
As STW’s most famous tandemeer, I presume you’ve already sent TandemJeremy his personal invitation?
Forget Reeth, it’s a tourist honeypot – go and eat here – http://www.bridgeinn-grinton.co.uk/
It’s 400m from Dales Bike Centre with good food and a range of proper beers!
Trust me 🙂
Of course Jeremy, and everyone else with a mountain bike tandem is very welcome. Thanks for the food tip Merlinman…
Damn, we don’t get ours til January 🙁
Another one next year as well please?
….and don’t eat all the cake as we’re there the following weekend!
If it’s a success, schmiken, then I’d be up for doing more of them.
Actually, scratch that, it looks like our Ventana ECDM may well be here before then! Hurrah!
Make sure you book into the Dales Centre if you are coming, as they want to let the place to other groups if there’s not as many of us as planned.