SHIPSHEWANA —
The excitement was as palpable as Notre Dame’s first fall football game. Instead of two teams competing, however, 460 teams lined up for the 9 a.m. start time in this non-competitive event.
Hosted by Hoosiers Out On Tandems (HOOTS), nearly 1,000 people participated in the Midwest Tandem Rally held in Shipshewana Saturday. While most teams rode tandem bikes, several teams consisted of three members on triplets, a couple of quad teams, and one "quint," or five-member team.
Shipshewana police led the procession of riders that blanketed the road.
"What a crowd!" said Danny Graber, member of HOOTS and the event’s local coordinator. "It’s breathtaking to see all these people leave in one mass start."
JoDee Hooley, group marketing manager at LaGrange County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, called the start "music in motion."
Hooley, along with Executive Director Beth Thornburg, were contacted in 2008 about the possibility of hosting the rally. Typically, regional rallies are held in bigger cities in order to meet specific criteria. But co-chairs Don and Dolly Craft from Carmel, Ind., along with Graber, found that Shipshewana more than met the criteria for the event.
Dolly said, "First, at least 300 hotel rooms have to be available. A banquet facility needs to hold around 500 or so people. And the location’s roads can’t have too many hills.
"Shipshewana has the facilities and so much more. It’s a unique venue because of the Amish culture surrounding the town, and because it’s more rural here."
Rolf and Barbara Garthus, owners of the Hostel Shoppe in Wisconsin, were warned by friends that Shipshewana would have "only corn and soybean fields. But that’s not true," Rolf said. "The trees, the farms, the open air, it’s just beautiful here."
Many other riders echoed the couple’s sentiments, describing the venue as "pleasant" and the people "helpful," "kind," "charming" and "gracious."
Participants traveled from as far away as California, Canada, New Jersey and Florida.
Dick and Jackie Homan from Ingleside, Ill., have been participating in tandem rallies for 18 years.
"We used to ride single bikes," Dick said. "I would get too far ahead, and Jackie would yell, ‘I can’t see you!’ So we switched to tandems. We love it. We’ve made a lot of friends though the years."
Graber says riding a tandem bike is addictive. His wife and he once embarked on a 640-mile trip around the upper half of Lake Michigan.
"Taking vacations by tandem, or any bicycle, will make you less tired than driving in a car," he said.
Tandem teams had the options of riding to Middlebury, Howe, LaGrange, Wolcottville, Topeka, and Mottville, Mich.
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