John & Jane McClellan ready for the Massachusetts tandem bicycle record.

There are a number of the nice things about riding a tandem. The most important is that it can help you stay connected with your family even as you pursue riding long distances. My wife and I got our Santana Noventa tandem in 1994, a couple of years after the birth of our third child and we never vacation without it. Now, the tandem helps me connect with my two older daughters; we've added a triplet for even better connectivity. The second nice thing about riding a tandem is that there are few UMCA state crossing records for tandems!

Jane, my oldest child who just turned 17, has a fairly impressive ultra resume for her age. She rode a century and the Boston Brevet Series 200k brevet with me at 13, and did the BBS 300 km route for fun last summer. Last winter, we discussed an objective for this summer and came up with setting a cross-Massachusetts record. We analyzed the calendar for the summer, looking at camp schedules and vacations, and picked July 14th as the target. Because we live just 20 miles outside of Boston, the East-West direction would provide the simplest logistics. Tracey Ingle agreed to be our official, and her husband, Bruce, was recruited as crew chief.

Once the goal and requisite support were set, the next step was preparing for the ride. I would ride some of the local brevets, which would take care of my training. Jane needed a different plan. She rows for her school, and with a full academic schedule and Saturday classes and regattas, she only had one day for cycling, and we would get out for 20 miles on the tandem or triplet on most Sundays — her rowing coach would not have wanted her to train any more, since that was ostensibly her rest day. Fortunately, rowing has strong crossover to cycling, and her school competes at a high level, so she was in very good general fitness.

Father and daughter still having fun!

After her return from the Henley Regatta, where her boat finished second in the finals, we started fairly intense workouts on the tandem, focusing on climbing. Massachusetts doesn't have high peaks, but there is no way to cross the state and arrive in Petersburg, New York without three major climbs of six to eight percent grades. We ended our training camp on July 7th with a successful ride at the 96-mile Triple Lap Challenge, held in conjunction with the Saratoga 24-Hour race. That course was tailor made for a rower stoking a tandem. There was one 0.7-mile climb at a ten percent grade, followed by lots of nice rollers, and one longer but more moderate climb. The main climb required approximately the same time and intensity as a standard rowing race, so Jane was in her element. The next day, Jane went to Maine for a challenging week of rowing camp. She got a day of recovery while returning on Friday while touring colleges and then Saturday July 14th arrived - time for the record attempt.

In terms of equipment, we only made one change from our standard configuration. The Santana still has its original Campagnolo Centaur 8 speed system and EDCO Competition hubs, with a very wide gear range available from the 54-44-28 triple, and we made ample use of both the highest and especially the lowest gears during the record attempt. The rear drum brake also saw plenty of action! Based on Jan Heine's very informative tire testing in Bicycle Quarterly, I had replaced the 32mm Panaracers with a set of Grand Bois Cypres tires, which indeed provide superior performance — a very plush ride, and very smooth rolling. I had hoped to remove the rack and fenders in a nod to weight savings and aerodynamics, but ran out of time, pulling only the front fender, but never thought another moment about it.

Our plan was simple — leave Boston City Hall Plaza early to avoid traffic, ride comfortably until Greenfield, and then let the fun, i.e., the real climbing, begin. The weather was perfect as we prepped the bike for takeoff. While we beat the traffic with our 6:58 a.m. start, the traffic lights beat us, and we were caught up frequently as we slowly made our way through Boston and the densely populated suburbs of Cambridge, Watertown and Waltham. Tandems really don't like starting and stopping frequently. Jane revealed a level of impatience with the lights that made me seem positively mellow.

Once we escaped into Weston, the roads became more rural and the miles went by quickly and easily until we reached central Massachusetts. As every veteran of Boston Montreal Boston knows, the climbing in central Massachusetts isn't advertised, but there is no way around the relentless short but very steep rollers, with over 3,000 feet of climbing giving us a net elevation gain of over 1000 feet in the first 60 miles. We did not follow the BMB route, which Eric Jensen used in his solo records, because I wanted better road surfaces — the backside of a tandem stoker absorbs a lot of road shock, and Jane and I aren't very good at riding together out of the saddle. Our route was definitely smoother and slightly shorter than Jensen's, but the Ingles thought it might have been hillier. I'm not sure — at least we didn't have the long tough climb into Princeton.

Flying around the hairpin curve.

With all of the hills, we were losing ground on the objective of riding comfortably until Greenfield, and we expended more energy than I had hoped. We did a good job of staying hydrated and nourished; I alternated between Perpetuem and HEED, while Jane took in HEED and PowerBar Endurance, which she supplemented with granola bars that she kept stashed in the stoker's handlebar bag. We also took a couple of SUCCEED! electrolytes every hour.

The road surface wasn't very good as we descended into Athol and we needed to shed some speed, and road construction added a detour that worked against my plan to shave off a few miles from Jensen's route. We got back on route and headed towards our planned stop at the Smokin' Hippo, a barbeque restaurant in Erving. This requires a little detour from the main story: Jane has been a hippo fan from an early age, and our discovery of the Smokin' Hippo was a revelation for Jane. Not only was the concept of the Smokin' Hippo appealing, the food is good too! So a stop at the Smokin' Hippo was always part of our itinerary. The hippo concept was embellished by Jane's new cycling jersey. While at Henley, Jane discovered the Leander Boat Club, whose emblem is a pink hippopotamus. I was able to purchase a Leander cycling jersey, which I presented to her on her 17th birthday, which happened to be the final day of the regatta. She held the jersey in reserve until the record attempt, and it led to a great photo-op.

Shortly after our stop at the Smokin' Hippo, I made one major captaining error. While avoiding an advertised bump on Route 2, I managed to steer onto a rumble strip, which provided a nice safety barrier from the ever-present moderate levels of fairly high-speed traffic. Because we were descending at speed, it took me several seconds to steer off it. But when you are getting shaken to death at 33 miles per hour, several seconds seems like an eternity.

Safely off the rumble strip, we were soon passing through downtown Greenfield, where I saw another New England Randonneur's jersey. Dave Kramer was beginning his Saturday ride, and we had a quick conversation at a traffic light before heading our respective ways.

Who could pass up the Smokin' Hippo?

The first climb out of Greenfield went reasonably smoothly. The second climb to the Whitcomb summit was much longer and more challenging. Reaching Whitcomb involves three climbs that blend together. The first is a couple of gradual miles to warm you up for the Florida town line, which comes after a sharp bend and the road points upwards for two steep and winding miles to reach the Eastern Summit. We took a break at this deceptively named point. Summit suggests finality, but finality has not yet been reached; while the steepest part is behind you, the road continues a more gradual climb for several more miles until the Whitcomb summit is reached.

Conquering Whitcomb brought the long awaited downhill. The descent of the famous Hairpin Turn above North Adams was a well-earned reward for the efforts of the climb, and Jane snapped some pictures of the gorgeous view of the Purple Valley as we sped by.

After we passed through Williamstown my GPS suggested a one-mile short cut on Beehill Road. I had a vague recollection of running Beehill 25 years ago when I was in college, but never remembered cycling it, although I had ridden Petersburg pass dozens of times. As we reached Beehill, I immediately remembered why I had never ridden it — we faced a dirt road with an inestimable grade. It might have tempted us as a challenge if we had seen it early on a training ride. Nearing the end of a long record attempt, we chose the certainty of the long way.

The final climb up Petersburg Pass was challenging - four miles at a seven percent grade at the end of a long day. Jane wasn't feeling well, and needed to take a break. With Bruce and Tracey's help, we got her off the bike, and made sure she got some fluids and calories. After a while, she started to show signs of life. When she "dissed" me for having hit the rumble strip, I knew that she had recovered. We climbed back on for the last three miles. The break really helped Jane — we climbed much faster than before and reached the state line at 5:46 for a total time of 10 hours 48 minutes.

At the finish after 146 miles.

A motorist who had passed us on the climb came back down to the state line to congratulate us for climbing the hill — he was very surprised to learn that there had been 141 miles prior to the final four that he had witnessed. I suggested to Jane that we might roll back down to Williamstown, spinning lightly to cleanse the legs before the long drive home. Jane wanted none of that — she was done with the bike for the day, and I couldn't argue. The Ingles took Jane down the hill, and I went down solo on the tandem. I did get a strange look from a cyclist climbing who probably rarely sees a single rider on a tandem.

After a quick change, we grabbed an equally quick ice cream in Williamstown, before heading back to Erving and the Smokin' Hippo for the real meal. We promised the owner, an ex-rower, a picture that would feature Jane's Leander jersey.

I can't put into words the pride I felt for Jane as we reached the top of Petersburg Pass. She had taken on a daunting challenge for which she really wasn't fully prepared, faced some setbacks en route and found the strength to complete the ride. I hope that there are more record attempts in the future for Jane and for her siblings as well!

A special thanks to Bruce and Tracey Ingle, who respectively supported and officiated our ride. Their positive demeanor throughout the entire ride was greatly appreciated!

Official Record:Massachusetts E-W, 145.7 miles in 10 hours 48 minutes, 13.5 mph
Start: Boston City Hall
Finish: MA/NY state line on Route 2
Official: Tracey A.L. Ingle