US Tandem Sprint Nationals to Lehigh Valley this weekend

Eleven tandem teams will flock to the Valley Preferred Cycling Center on Friday, July 11 for the annual Tandemonium event, which will double as the USA Cycling Tandem Sprint Nationals.

Teams will include New Zealand national sprint team members Simon VanVelthooven and Edward Dawkins; Hall of Fame member Gil Hatton and team-mate Matt Diefenbach; Australia's Pete Fitzpatrick and Trinidad and Tobago's Hasseem Maclean; Argentine junior sprint champion Demis Aleman and fellow countryman Leandro Bottasso; Mike "Speedy" Beers and partner Kurt Begemann along with a number of other riders from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Ben Barczewski and Andy Lakatosh broke the flying one lap record at last year's event, and this year's teams will give it another go.

In addition to the tandem events, a host of champions of yesteryear will take to the track for a "Legends of the Track" event. Among the long-time T-Town favorites to race will be Bobby "the Baltimore Bullet" Phillips, Jim "Asphalt Beaver" Alvord, Art "the Dart" McHugh, Gil "the Bear" Hatton, Pat "Master of the Mad Dash" Gellineau, Mark "Big Bird" Cracji, Dave "Buff" Bonser, and Tom "Arm the Charm" Armstrong.