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Tandem time in Saranac Lake

SARANAC LAKE – If you see groups of tandem bikes with colorfully outfitted riders pedaling around the area this weekend, you can most likely thank Rich Shapiro and Lindy Ellis.

For the seventh year in a row, the husband and wife are holding the Saranac Lake Tandem Rally while welcoming visitors from across the United States and Canada for three days of riding on pre-planned routes.

Shapiro and Ellis, who were first introduced and fell in love with the world of tandem biking in 1991 in their former hometown of Elmira, said cyclists are bringing 40 bikes to the area to enjoy daily tours of varying distances through Sunday. The Saranac Lake rally also marks the opening weekend of the Adirondack Tandem Tour, which runs through June 26.

Shapiro, who owns the Gear-To-Go Tandems bicycle shop with Ellis and also serves on the Saranac Lake village board, said the rally is a great way to draw visitors to the town and its surroundings, not only to ride, but for return vacations as well. He said rally riders this year hail from states as far away as Idaho, Washington, Arizona and Tennessee and also the city of Winnipeg, Canada.

“People have a lot of fun doing this,” Shapiro said. “They don’t go out to compete. It’s all about riding and enjoying. They love it. They love the area, they’re raving about the roads – it’s good. The rally is as much a social thing as it is a ride.”

The rides range in distance and difficulty and start each day in front of the Sparks Athletic Complex on the North Country Community College campus. Friday’s ride began at 3 p.m. with 25 bikes and was the shortest journey of the weekend. Cyclists will take off from the same spot today and Sunday starting at 9 a.m. The longer trips will follow routes of about 50 miles each day. After completing their journeys, cyclists will gather at the the home of Shapiro and Ellis for a barbecue.

“I think the people are here for the camaraderie as much as the riding,” Shapiro said. “You can ride for two hours and then eat for four hours. We had 25 bikes Friday because that was a travel day, and then there are 40 on Saturday and Sunday.”

Sherrie Himes and Steve Pyle are an avid husband-and-wife tandem duo from Honeoye Falls who are doing the rally for the third or fourth time. On Friday, they opted to take the 21-mile loop trip that first climbed uphill on the Forest Home Road, and then went through Lake Clear to the Harrietstown Road and back into Saranac Lake. One stop they weren’t going to miss was taking a break to enjoy a cone at Donnelly’s Ice Cream stand.

“We’re used to long hills back home, but up here they are shorter and steeper,” Himes said. “We really love coming here to ride. It’s beautiful.”

“It’s a fun getaway, it’s fun riding, and we really enjoy the social part of it,” Pyle added.

Back home, the pair are members of the Huggers Ski Club, a group they said has evolved into more of a cycling organization that one promoting skiing. Their biggest trip this year will be the Century Seacoast Ride in late September that follows 100 miles of Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire shoreline.

Three generations of the Trumper family were raring to go Friday and in great spirits before setting out.

“We’re the Trumpers,” said Ron, the oldest member of the clan who hails from Montreal. “You know, just like Trump but less money.”

“And a lot more common sense,” added his son Alex, who lives in West Chazy and had two youngsters in tow in a covered bike trailer.

Before moving to Saranac Lake, Shapiro and Ellis organized tandem adventure trips for 17 straight summers nin the Elmira area. They’ve been advocates of the two-person bikes ever since they came across their first one.

“In 1991, I saw a three-day bike ride in the Finger Lakes that sounded really neat, but then found out it was for tandem bikes,” Shapiro said. “So we decided to try one out. Our test ride was three miles in the rain and we loved it.”

“I thought five miles on a solo bike was really long, but after riding a tandem, that was nothing,” Ellis added. “Our first ride was three miles, then it was 20, and then we were riding 50 miles.”

“Tandem bikes are a great equalizer for two adults of different abilities,” Shapiro added. “And they are also a relationship accelerator for better or worse. I’ve taught 1,000 couples how to ride them, only two have ended in divorce, and the only thing they fought over is who gets the bike.”

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