Bicycle Built For Two Reasons -- Tandems Add Speed To Air Of Romance

-- REDMOND

The bicycle built for two has a romantic reputation that dates from the days of hoop skirts and petticoats and knickers and spats.

Now, in the age of second-skin racing suits and high-tech design, the tandem bicycle is gaining a reputation for speed and power in the world of competitive cycling.

But it still retains an air of romance.

At the Masters National Track Cycling Championships yesterday at the Marymoor Velodrome, tandem match sprints were staged as exhibition championships in two age categories - for riders with a combined age of 70 to 89, and a combined age of 90 and older.

During the competition, a petition was circulated, asking that the sport be made a medal event.

Bob Strzelecki, 36, from Carnation, and his partner, Robert Picardo, 34, from Seattle, won the tandem match sprint championship in the 70-plus.

"I've been racing tandem bikes for 22 years," Strzelecki said. "It's getting more and more popular. You see speeds of up to 45 miles per hour, but there's a lot of finesse involved."

Both power and finesse were evident in the 70-plus best-of-three final.

Silver medalists Chris Stevens and Rob Albrecht, from Kirkland and Seattle, respectively, won the first race.

"When we lost the first race, I knew the final two were going to be great races," Picardo said. "They got better positioning on the track and they held us off - we probably were faster than they were, but because we had to go on the outside, we had to go farther and they beat us."

The final two races, Strzelecki and Picardo held their positioning.

"This is the only event I compete in, the tandem," Strzelecki said. "I love it."

Strzelecki so loves his two-seater bike that he spent his honeymoon on one.

"Yeah," Cindie Strzelecki said, rolling her eyes at the memory. "Bob lives for his tandem bike. We went on a 900-mile trans-Canada ride."

The couple competed in the Senior National Championships in 1986 - the first mixed pair to compete in what had been an all-male race.

"We were ground breakers, we had to bend the rules," Bob Strzelecki said.

Cindie used her tandem experience as a springboard to individual sprint competition, and competed in the women's 30-34 category, but said she looks forward to competing with her husband on the tandem bike again.

"This is the kind of event where we can compete together for a long time," she said. "It's really a great way for couples to work out together and it's a lot of fun."

John and Ruth Long of O'Fallon, Mo., couldn't agree more. The husband-and-wife team spent its second date on a tandem bike.

Seven years later, they earned a silver medal in the 90-plus final, losing to Ken Meyer of Bellingham and Kent Wallace of Bothell.

"I think tandem racing is ready to explode," John said. "So many men go off to go racing on the weekend and leave their wives at home, and women are starting to say they want to go along.

"This way they can."

John, 54, and Ruth, 36, say they spend much of their free time training together for road and track competition, putting in at least 15 hours a week in the saddle.

"This is a sport where you have to have absolute confidence in each other," Ruth explained. "In our case, it helps to be married.

"But you have the weight of two bodies - that's a lot of mass. If you make a mistake, you can really get hurt."

While Cindie Strzelecki rides alone for the time being, she loves to watch her husband race in tandem.

"I love the power. You can feel the power of those bikes during a race," she said. "It's the way the tires sing as the bikes come around the track. There's nothing like that sound."