When Chuck Strawser got his first bike as a child, he rode it “up and down and off everything in sight.” Since then, biking has become a passion for Chuck. “I used to work for the Wisconsin Bicycle Federation as a program manager about ten years ago,” he said. A former bike mechanic as well, he is now the Pedestrian and Bicycle Transportation Planner for the University of Wisconsin.

“My wife and I were given a Cannondale tandem bicycle as a wedding gift in 1997,” he said. They took the tandem on their honeymoon to ride the trails in North Carolina and have been riding it together ever since. After many trips along state park trails and to the ice cream shop in their town, “the 22-year old tandem was getting pretty worn out,” Chuck explained.

This past winter, San Francisco creative consultancy Novio teamed up with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition to raise money to support biking in our city by giving away a custom-built Rivendell Hubbuhubbuh tandem bicycle — just in time for Chuck and Ellison to score a new ride.

After winning the giveaway, Chuck and Ellison welcomed this new tandem bike into their home in Madison, Wisconsin. In between the rains this season in Madison, Chuck, Ellison, and their 12-year-old son, Sam, have been taking the tandem out for rides and enjoying the good weather.

Support from businesses like Novio impacts our work. To learn more about business memberships and partnerships, contact whitney@sfbike.org.