“Each, as individuals, has their own style, but these must be blended to
induce the harmony of the pair. Being as one, they travel together, enjoy the beauty of their travels, endure the hardship it may bring, but most of all it provides a unison, a unity of spirits. A oneness and uniqueness that is readily recognizable.” The pair working together always; individuals, but one, when together, as a team. It can't be any other way.” Terry Zimrah
It would have been really easy to just say no. To keep life simple and continue on the same individual riding experience that I had enjoyed for years. I tend to run from change, yet at the same time have this spirit of adventure that loves a good challenge.I have also been blessed with a soul mate who dreams big and has a passion for innovative experiences. Little did I know how much this simple choice to continue solo or step up to a new level of riding tandem would affect my entire view on life as a whole. So often it is not the big, but rather the small decisions that make an incredible impact on our lives.
I have enjoyed riding solo on my own mountain bike over the last twenty years. Before fat tire riding I was an avid road biker. Around the age of fourteen I became the proud owner of a 12 speed sky blue Motobecane road bike. I had purchased this gem with my well earned babysitting cash during those wonderful high school entrepreneur years. There is something about having freedom; to go where you want and when you want before you obtain your driver’s license. Many a miles were put on my bike as I pedaled to soccer practice, the beach, work, meeting boyfriends and girlfriends at the mall; and best of all just cruising around to get away from life’s problems far out into the country farm roads. My introverted personality was attracted to the individual aspect of Cycling versus the team player mentality that I had been accustomed to after many years of playing competitive soccer.
It was 1989, my freshmen year at Bemidji State University where I first discovered my love for mountain biking. I have always thought of myself as a Tomboy. My husband Craig would often say to me in our dating years, “ you are rugged yet beautiful”. I never fit into the typical girly things such as dancing or crafts, so the thought of an adventurous bike ride on wooded trails got my attention.
I borrowed a mountain bike from a college friend and we headed to some nearby wooded trails called Movil Maze, just a few miles north of a small college town in Bemidji, MN. With no front or rear suspension (this was back in the old days when you just had to be tough as a mountain biker) I was rudely awakened to lots of steep hills and a muddy trail of jarring bumps and rocks that sent shivers up my back. The thrill of pedaling up steep hills and descending down was similar to an intense roller coaster ride. It was the perfect escape for a college student feeling cabin fever from too much studying in those small stuffy overheated dorm rooms.
Not long after this adrenaline pumping ride, a college friend hooked me up with a police auctioned mountain bike deal that was too hard to turn down. I soon was converted from a city slicker roadie girl into a rugged Hicksville mountain bike woman.
Mountain biking was one of the many passions that drew my husband and I together in those early college years. In the first years of our marriage we were both drawn to competing in various mountain bike races across the Midwest. The largest off road mountain bike in America is called the Chequamegon Fat tire Festival. It is a grueling 40 mile race through many rolling hills of northern Wisconsin’s national forest and fire roads. For years we had competed in the race individually and enjoyed watching some of the crazy tandem teams fly by us on the down hills at record speeds.
A few years ago Craig asked me if I wanted to team up with him and race tandem in the upcoming chequamegon bike race. I was both delighted and terrified at the same time. Delighted about the amount of time I would spend on the bike training and talking with my husband, yet terrified about the aspect of racing and letting him be in control. What attracted me most to racing tandem was the thought of competing as a team with Craig. Since we had already mastered canoe racing as a team (there were many a battles fought on the water) I figured we could get along on a bike together. I was also thinking of the relational benefits since it would require more training together. Little did I know that Craig was not tracking on the same wave length. While I was thinking relational investment he was dreaming of a spot on the podium.
I decided to give tandem racing a shot and the following summer we grew closer in our ability to work as a team. The battle to bike individually slowly faded into the desire to become one unified powerful biking machine. By no means did our success come without struggles and lots of practice.
Tomorrow Craig and I will be celebrating seventeen years of marriage on the exact same day of the 2010 chequamegon bike race. We will be once again attempt to complete the 40 mile ( looks like it may be a mud fest) off road race together as a tandem team.
Thanks Craig for the last seventeen years of our amazing tandem marriage. We have carried each other through so many ups and downs that life has thrown our way. You are an incredible tandem partner and I look forward to many more years of adventure and companionship. Look forward to racing with you tomorrow as one solid unified powerful tandem team! I love you.
The decision to tandem with Craig has provided many learning lessons ( of which you will read in the following chapters of my book in process called “ Tandem with God”). Spiritually each of us has a choice. We can either ride solo through this life or we can choose to ride in the power and presence of our creator. Some days I get self absorbed and choose to ride solo. I have learned that even on those days, God is patiently waiting for me to join him on the tandem ride called life.
Kim Rudd
