A Tandem Two’sday in Sweden

By Eileen and Les Randle

In July we set off for Sweden in our Renault Trafic van complete with Tandem Two’sday to take part in the annual Swedish Cycle Rally, the Cykelturistveckan or CTV. This took place in Dalarna, central Sweden, during the last week of July. There were over 350 cyclists taking part, only four of whom were on tandems, all these being UK crews – although one pair do live in Norway.

The rally was superbly run with great friendship, particularly with 16 members of a cycling club from Penza in Russia, one of whom could speak English, but none could speak Swedish. You can imagine the chaos!

Much of the rally was on unsurfaced roads and tracks - very hard going. The first day was very hilly and mostly on loose gravel or clay with pot holes everywhere. Then came the rain, and we were riding through woods along what seemed to be footpaths, and because we never made an early start we were trying to ride through mud where about 200 cyclists had already ridden! We rode into a harmless looking muddy puddle and the wheels of the Two’sday disappeared from sight. It came through OK, shook itself and carried on. Also, when following some Swedish solo riders, they went off the track to get better traction on a ploughed field, so we did likewise.

It was definitely not ideal tandem country, but we were glad we were on our Two’sday. It coped with everything Sweden could throw at it and drew comments of admiration and even applause when we negotiated some to the trickier sections.

We wore our Bike Friday jerseys and people were copying the web site address with the intention of making enquiries to Eugene. There were no other Bike Fridays in the rally, but who knows in the future?

After the rally we carried on, going north, cycling where we could, getting as far as Kiruna, way above the Arctic Circle, and Jukhasjarvi, where the ice hotel is built in the winter. Here we were riding in temperatures of +9 degrees C.

The whole trip was a great success with not the slightest problem with the Two’sday, and it really did live up to all the claims Green Gear make for it.

{Two'sday in rally rig} Right: The Tandem Two'sday in its rally rig (Photograph by By Eileen and Les Randle)
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Last updated: 7 March 1999
Copyright (C)1998 Eileen & Les Randle