Michael Meagher and Jane Steele-Meagher

Jane and I come to tandem riding from years of motorcycle riding and racing. We were on the Board of the Washington Motorcycle Road Racing Association (WMRRA) for many years. I was the President for almost three years. One of our primary training tools was bicycle riding. In 1993, about the time we were winding down our motorcycle racing careers – and Daniel and Rhys were born – we started riding STP and other events. We moved to Cordova Alaska in 1996. Cordova has only twelve miles of paved roads, so we bought mountain bikes and hit the dirt. We flew down for STP in 1996, but skipped it the next two years. We moved to Lynnwood in 1998. We had trail-a-bikes for the kids, enjoying getting out whenever possible. While attending the Bicycle Expo in 1999 we saw a booth for ‘The Big Ride’ along the East Coast of Australia from Brisbane to Sydney. We decided to go, along with our riding partners Randy and Lauri Grein who had been riding their Rodriguez Toucan with a trail-a-bike and trailer for their two kids. Jane didn’t feel comfortable riding with the trail-a-bike, leading us to buy a Toucan of our own. The Toucan has a Softride that can be adjusted to fit a child stoker. Jane and Daniel (8) would use the Toucan, while Rhys (6) and I would use a mountain bike/trail-a-bike combination. By this time, the Greins had bought a tandem trail-a-bike for Justin (8) and Brandae (6) to use. The first week of March 2000, we all hopped on a Quantis 747 and headed for Australia. The trip report can be saved for another time. Suffice to say it was great fun.

Jane and I use the tandem as a way to bring the kids along on adventures they wouldn’t physically be able to do otherwise. Rhys’ trail-a-bike was sold once we returned from Australia. We plan to buy another tandem soon so that all four of us can ride together again. For now our family rides consist of the Toucan and two solo bikes.

One aspect we hope to bring to ETC is more family rides. We hope to lead kid friendly rides to places young riders enjoy. If you are interested in this aspect of tandem riding, drop me note.

Happy riding!

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