# Cohutta Big Frog..Hey Alex/Jan-Fandango



## thadthetroll (Jan 22, 2004)

Y`all rocked it for sure and i have your First Place prize that is a gift certificate for any Thompson product.You had to be at the awards to get it so i got it for you folks.
I`ll get it to you at Aorta or i can mail it to you as we will show up for one of the rides somewhere over the week-end .
I will say i think we have a Fandango in our future for sure but it will be about a year before we can manage it..
Good race y`all and congrats for your win!!!!
Thad and Kellie


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## giff07 (Jun 7, 2010)

Hi Thad,
Its not for me to say but we will be spending one of the AORTA days at Dupont . I don't know if Alex Nutt has arranged anyone to guide the group but I do remember you offering to show Pat and I around. Maybe contact Alex. Just a thought.........
We are lookin' foward to the AORTA gathering.
Ed and Pat Gifford
Toms River, NJ
the Snot Rocket tandem


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## PMK (Oct 12, 2004)

We have ridden with Al and Jan. I'm sure they raced to win.

Plan to spend some time with them at AORTA.

PK


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## TandemNut (Mar 12, 2004)

Thad, the couple on the black Fandango at Big Frog was Al Grubb and Jan Andrews. They rock on a tandem; wish we could hang with them on the trails. I think they surprised themselves a little too! Sounds like it was a great event. Hoping for some pictures soon...


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## thadthetroll (Jan 22, 2004)

*A long,long walk*

At the moment our tandem is a bit crapped out. It has no chain, a busted rear derailluer and a non-functioning shifter. The drive train literally exploded at the 62 mile mark and we ended up walking the last 3 miles to the finish.
At about the 60 mile mark a "roadie" racer boy in the 100 knocked us off the trail and Kellie ended up with a stiff knee making her walk like a peg leg pirate.
Al and Jan caught us around the 30 mile mark and from folks at aid stations had about 10 minutes on us at one point. We had pulled back to about 2 minutes by the time we hit the last 10 miles of single track and were really hoping for a thrilling tandem sprint to the finish but as racing goes it just wasn`t to be.
We were really suprised to look back at around 25 mile mark and see them coming on strong. It was a great day in the woods and an awesome shared experience that only tandem folks can relate to.
We hope to have her rolling again and ride with y`all Sunday in Bent Creek. Dupont is still a possibility but i can`t commit to that on Saturday at this time.
Thad


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## jandrews5 (May 3, 2011)

*Big Frog*

Thad and Kellie,
Thanks for picking up the certificate for us. We were told there was not a tandem class and left around 5:30. We had a great time!

Jan and Al


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## eischman (Apr 5, 2005)

jandrews5 said:


> Thad and Kellie,
> Thanks for picking up the certificate for us. We were told there was not a tandem class and left around 5:30. We had a great time!
> Jan and Al


Al and Jan,
It was great to meet you guys! Thank you so much for bringing my new beautiful Red Fandango! What was your time?

We finished the 100 in 11:40 ish. It was a very fun course and ride. We were burning it up (first 70 miles) and on track to come in around 10 hours. I was so amazed that Alex was able to put my tandem together in less than a week including building new king wheels! I will post pictures soon. What a pleasure it was working with Alex.

Back to the Cohutta 100... It was a lot of fun passing people on the single track. One of the places we passed the most people was the real rooty part coming back into the whitewater center. The 29er tires just glided over the roots (I definitely ride through roots on the tandem I would push through on single bike). We were only passed on one gravel downhill by one person. The gravel was scary because it was very deep in some places which took a few riders out of the race.

The course had way more gravel roads than I expected but overall it was a fun course. Some of It definitely kicked our butts because we do not have any mountains locally...just smaller hills where we can power up and spin the legs out right afterwords. We got passed a lot after 70 miles and it was a death ride/walk to the finish

Okay, It probably was not smart riding a brand new bike on a 100 mile race. I am not a smart man but Alex put it together perfectly! Our only problems were:
1. The fork being dialed in. We absolutely love this fork on the 26er Fandandgo. It is absolutely amazing (smartest I have ridden) however there was way too much bob so standing zapped my energy. It will be dialed in this weekend 
2. Stem too long. I forgot the rear stem on the other bike was cut. Because the stem was too long my stoker had to bow his legs out to stand...so not much standing for 100 miles.
3. The rear chain broke/twisted and we lost a section. This was my fault..poor shifting and it would not go into all gears (did not want to break the derailleur off)

All and all it was a fun and painful ride. It is a heck of a bike and many thanks to Alex! We may do it next year but will have to train more. Next year the bike will be dialed in.....wait we have signed up for the Fools Gold 100, Wilderness 101, and the Shenandoah 100, We will be ready. Hopefully we will see a few more tandems.


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