Four men, including two brothers, Lorin and Dean Nicholson, both of whom are vision-impaired, are planning to ride two tandems from Perth to Sydney in late March 2010. The total distance is 4200km which they are planning to tackle in 170km bites.

They are hoping to raise money for Vision Australia, a leading provider of services to the Vision-Impaired. If you’d like to help, donations can be made at www.visionaustralia.org.au.

Sounds like a lot of riding to me. We’re hoping to catch up with them when they come to Perth to start their trip.

Welcome to the redesigned WATCAC web site. Our Webmaster is no longer employed by Elk Consultants – who had been generously providing hosting at no charge – so we’ve moved the site to a new host where it can be more easily maintained.

The WATCAC Committee would like to publicly acknowledge the valuable contributions of Elk Consultants and thank them for their kind support over the past several years.

In November 2009 and January 2010 we held two introductory tandem cycling clinics in Manning where we introduced some enthusiastic newcomers to the joys of tandem cycling. Thanks to our coach Hab and his assistants Trevor, Beau, Adriana, Greg and Erica for conducting the clinic

Also in January 2010 we held an intermediate tandem cycling clinic. It was great to see some of the faces from the introductory clinics – we didn’t scare them off! After a gentle start in Technology Park, we hit the open road through Manning and Como to our favourite Dux Cafe where we were entertained by the crazy man waiter and enjoyed coffee and chat.

We’re looking forward to seeing some of the attendees out on our rides.

Thanks to our expert coach Janelle, assisted by Trevor, Beau, Hab, Adriana, Greg and Erica.

WATCAC’s country tour this year, took the tandems to WA’s Great Southern. It rained a lot, see Tandemtalk February 2009 for a full report.

As usual, we had a great welcome from the schools we visited and this year we received some great letters from Mt Lockyer Primary School, some some of which you can read here (apologies to vision-impaired visitors, but the letters are presented as images rather than text.)

Apart from visiting schools, there was time for sightseeing, socialising and even a paddle at the beach.

This tour saw the tandems visit WA’s Mid-West. Long uphill stretches, high temperatures and headwinds made this a challenging trip. See the photos page and read the full report in Tandemtalk February 2008.

Our annual tour took in the Southwest of Western Australia. Four days of cycling, fun and a little bit of promotion.

Day 1 – We travelled by train to Bunbury where we met Hab and Paul with the bikes and support vehicle. Our trip to Busselton included a stop at Capel Primary School where we enjoyed their hospitality and afternoon tea and gave a presentation on tandem cycling, blindness and the path to the paralympics. True to form, Pollock, everyone’s favourite guide dog stole the show. In Busselton, we caught up with our friends Josh, Duncan, Jane and Nev, having dinner and a good time at Albie’s.

Day 2 – Accompanied part of the way by Nev, we travelled the back roads through dairy country to Cowaramup where we stopped for lunch then visited the primary school. At the completion of our presentation, we rode to Margaret River for our evening stop and food, drink and fun at the Settlers’.

Day 3 – Despite the heavy rain overnight, the third day had great weather for riding. After visiting the Margaret River Primary School, we travelled to Dunsborough via back roads, visiting vineyards, potteries, breweries, chocolate factories and Simmo’s icecreamery. The route took us through forests and vineyards and everyone agreed that it was a top day!

Day 4 – This was our longest day in the saddle. After visiting the local primary school, we completed the 85km trip to Bunbury, arriving in plenty of time to catch the train back to Perth.

The whole tour was an outstanding success. Thanks to all members for their assistance in the presentations to the schools – this is a vital activity in our efforts to promote tandem cycling for the vision-impaired. Special thanks to Gaele, Hab and Paul for their contributions in transporting the bikes and driving the support vehicle.