The COWS' tandem bicycle rally started on the streets of Waupaca, Wisconsin.
Photos by Joel Patenaude
Double the fun
Tandem cyclists rally in central Wisconsin
by Joel Patenaude
As fun and companionable as their bicycles built for two, some 75 tandem club riders converged on east-central Wisconsin in late May for a weekend of touring. The paired pedalers some hailing from as far away as Alabama took to the rural roads around Waupaca. 
| A rider wears the COWS' official jersey. |
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While each two-person team wore identical uniforms and rode costly marvels of engineering (many traditional upright bikes; some newfangled recumbents), they didn't take themselves too
seriously. The stuffed animals strapped to the handlebars and seat posts reflected their club identities and leisurely approach to cycling.This has to be expected from folks who refer to themselves by their clubs' barnyard-themed acronyms: Couples on Wheels (COWS), Paired Iowans Going Somewhere (PIGS), Chicago Area Tandem Society (CATS), Michigan United Tandem Society (MUTS), Greater Ohio Area Tandem Society (GOATS) and, from Minnesota, Lena and
Ole on Non-Singles (LOONS). The home-state COWS organized this particular tandem rally. (Club co-president Mike Meuret, however, is a self-described PIG, thus a holder of dual citizenship.) Co-hosting the event were Rolf and Barb Garthus, co-owners of the Hostel Shoppe in Stevens Point, and Waupaca residents John and Joan Laabs. The COWS' last rally in the Waupaca area was seven or eight years ago, as best as anyone could remember.
The out-of-town riders included COWS members Ray and Ellen Fischer, full-time RV'ers originally from West Allis, Wisconsin. The event also prompted Dennis and Lucille Harris to drive their tandem 1,200 miles from their home in Ashford, Alabama. Tagging along, their daughter Wendy refused to be a third wheel and rode her own single road bike.
"We go to tandem rallies all over the country," Dennis Harris said. "We were at a rally in Texas last month, and there were some fast riders down there. But they get to ride year-round. It's probably too cold up here to do that."
Nevertheless, Saturday's ride took off at a brisk pace, with the captain and stoker on each bike generating plenty of combined power. "We always start with a hard-riding pace line to the first rest stop," COWS
member Flo Walker of Wautoma said.
Regardless of their speed, the tandem riders enjoyed great conditions all weekend. They held their traditional ice-cream ride to the Chain O' Lakes on Friday, May 20; chose between 17-, 35- and 65-mile loops on Saturday; and stuck around for a pre-Sunday brunch ride.
The tandemists, accompanied by a few single riders, rolled through the Springwater covered bridge over the
Pine River to the south, and ventured to the small town of Amherst to the northwest.
"Tandem riders are notoriously social riders, so these events are just growing and growing in popularity," Meuret said.
COWS held its first rally in 1988, hosted by Paul and Flo Walker of Wautoma. The Walkers attended the 2005 rally as well still riding their 40-pound 1981 Santana upright tandem. (Paul said he had the bike
repainted recently, and that cost him more than bike did when he bought it, used, in 1986.)
For the past three years, a COWS rally has also been held in the fall, with the next one tentatively planned for Cedarburg in September. "We have too much fun to get together just once a year," Meuret explained. (For more information, see www.couplesonwheels.com.)
The club now has 214 members, half of which Meuret described as "active." He said the loosely organized club will start requiring dues to be paid by its members in 2006. Members will then get a discount when they register to ride at rallies.
COWS is now focused on the future. Members were excited to announce they will host the 2007 Midwest Tandem Rally in nearby Appleton, after an 11-year absence of the event from the area.
This year, MUTS will be in charge of the 30th annual Midwest Tandem Rally set for September 2-5 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The event typically draws 600 to 700 tandem teams. | 
