Tandem Cycling - Inaugural Ride of Florida's PANTHERS Tandem Club

We're off in a few hours to participate in the inaugural ride of Florida's ONLY tandem club, the PANTHERS (http://floridatandemclub.org/). Looks like we have around 20 members already, and although I don't know how many of them will be showing up, it promises to be a great time!

The weekend ride is one of several planned by the club in addition to a formal Florida Tandem Rally. The difference between the weekend rides and this, (or any other), rally is that the rides have no registration fee. They also don't have formal sag stops, route markings, t-shirts, goodie bags or a banquet. Just a published start time and a cue sheet!

We will all gather at the same restaurant for a Saturday night meal, but it's a "no frills" affair from start to finish, which suits us fine! We have enough t-shirts! :lol:

Will write a detailed report when we return!

My wife and I will be there also. Looking forward to a great time and making new friends!

Us, too! Hey, you need to add "especially on a tandem" to your tag line! :lol:

See you later tonight or tomorrow.

PK

That's the second worst tandem club acronym I've ever heard. You'll have to go some to match Rochester MN's Raccoons.

That's the second worst tandem club acronym I've ever heard. You'll have to go some to match Rochester MN's Raccoons.Which stands for??????

Which stands for??????

Partners Aboard Neat Tandems Happily Enjoying Riding Simultaneously

I agree that was quite a stretch

I'm pretty sure the RACCOONS ceased being a club a pretty long time back, but... yes even the club members had some fun with their club's own name.

It actually stood for: Rear Admirals, Cycling Captains, Offspring On Non Singles

BUT, it also had the most-excellent nickname of: Rochester Area Cycling Club, Our Old Name Sucks

The same is kind of true with Georgia's PEACHES....

The 'official name' is: Paris Enthusiastically Astride Cycles Having Experiences Simultaneously

But, given the recreational nature of the club and less than hardcore cycling membership, a second 'unofficial name' also exists:

People Eating And Cycling (in) Humongous Elastic Shorts

The Florida panther (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_panther) is a highly threatened representative of cougar (Puma concolor) that lives in forests and swamps of southern Florida in the United States. Its current taxonomic status (Puma concolor coryi or Puma concolor couguar) is unresolved, but recent genetic research alone does not alter the legal coservation status. This species is also known as the cougar, mountain lion, puma, and catamount but in the Southeast, and particularly Florida, it's only called a Panther.

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Publications/ZooGoer/2006/3/IMAGES/Panther.jpg

Coming up with an name/acronym for a tandem club that is easy on the tongue is always a bit of a challenge!
Decades ago we started one in the Tucson area and it was a challenge!
COYOTES was the acronym for Coalition Of Young/Old Tandem EnthusiastS.

We demand a full report on the inaugural event. Hope you have (had?) a blast.

Yes it was a lot of fun.

Saw many friends and made some new ones. I believe 18 teams attended, but I may be off a team or two.

The PANTHER name origin was discussed also, with suggestions of being possibly alcohol induced. Florida Panthers are pretty neat so it works fine for me.

The routes were good. Varied terrain from small towns, to orange groves, rural neighborhoods, and a few less rural neighborhoods.

Hotel was nice but the wake up call wasn't fun, but oh well.

Thanks to all the folks that put it together.

PK

The teaming tandem masses demand "pitchers"

Great rides, a great format & a "spirited finish" well played by PMK.

Team Knapp morale should allow for, at least a temporary pause in the floggings.

My wife and I will be in central Florida this July. Do you have any rides planned for the month of July. Yes, I realise if is very hot in July!

Cheers

You can track what's going on with us by looking at the Rides and Events Calendar on our website (http://floridatandemclub.org/index.htm). It's an interactive Google calendar, so you can just click the nav buttons to look at any month you want.

Nothing big planned for July, but a large part of the core of the club will be riding out of The Villages three days a week, and if you're going to be in the Tampa Bay part of central Florida let us know and we'll get some teams together over here for a ride.

Sorry all, haven't had time to write a ride report yet. If any others feel so inclined, I'd appreciate it!

BTW ... anyone who attended have any numbers on climbing? Must've been 2000' of elevation gain just in those up and down rollers! Just curious.

Sorry all, haven't had time to write a ride report yet. If any others feel so inclined, I'd appreciate it!


Jeanne got some decent photos, some need a little crop to be dialed in. Where should we send them, and can they be posted here without anyone getting upset. These were from Sundays ride, some neat photos of the teams riding roads through orange groves.

PK

Jeanne got some decent photos, some need a little crop to be dialed in. Where should we send them, and can they be posted here without anyone getting upset. These were from Sundays ride, some neat photos of the teams riding roads through orange groves.

PK

Everyone pretty much agreed to have their pics posted on the website and that's public, so I can't see any reason for them to object to posting them here? Other opinions?

Please do email them to me for the website, also. I'll PM you with my email addy.

Oh, and thanks for letting Maggi and I sit on your wheel for those last ten miles! We needed it!

BTW ... anyone who attended have any numbers on climbing? Must've been 2000' of elevation gain just in those up and down rollers! Just curious.

Pretty good guess. My Garmin recorded 2,003 feet in 91 miles, not that I would really consider that anything close to "climbing".

Then again, consider that our normal Saturday ride in Orlando is 44 miles with less than 250 feet. I'm sure there are plenty of rides we could do in FL that could go 40 or 50 miles with less than 100 feet ascending.

Everyone pretty much agreed to have their pics posted on the website and that's public, so I can't see any reason for them to object to posting them here? Other opinions?

Please do email them to me for the website, also. I'll PM you with my email addy.

Oh, and thanks for letting Maggi and I sit on your wheel for those last ten miles! We needed it!

I'll get them to you, some I'll post here.

No problem in regards to those miles, it's all good.

Reg, I didn't bother to check the climbing amount until you mentioned it. My GPS logged 799' of climbing in 33.74mi for Sundays ride.

PK

It happens that Competitive Cyclist has a new kit (http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=CATEGORY_VIEW&CATEGORY.ID=2791&MODE=NONAV&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Emailmarketingsoftware&utm_content=528980359&utm_campaign=TeamPantherCompetitiveCyclistClothing-InStockNow+_+okumu&utm_term=Team+Panther+CCY+Clothing+042110) in case anyone wants to go twinsie.

http://images.competitivecyclist.com/images/products/cc/2010/13972_i_1.jpg http://images.competitivecyclist.com/images/products/cc/2010/13973_m.jpg

Pics from the ride have been posted on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/feuilllu/sets/72157623900025442/).