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Teesdale ride draws family, avid cyclists
by Rick DeClue · News · July 02, 2015
“For a serious cyclist, you want the bike to fit like a glove,” Mauro Heck, organizer of the first Tom Teesdale Memorial Bicycle Ride, said.
The ride brought approximately 30 riders from Iowa City through West Branch and on to Sutliff Sunday.
Thomas E. Teesdale, Jr. of West Branch died last year while riding in the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. He spent nearly 40 years designing and building custom bicycle frames for virtually every cycling experience.
From mountain and racing bikes to recumbent and tandems, for very surface, geography and weather condition, Teesdale was a pioneer in design and materials, according to Steve McGuire, a Professor of Metal Arts and 3D Design at the University of Iowa.
“His bikes are featured at the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame and the European Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, as well as many national bike shows around the country,” McGuire said.
“His knowledge of geometry and negative space were amazing,” McGuire said, “and he sought feedback from anybody riding his bikes – always looking to improve.”
He and Teesdale co-taught a course entitled “Fabrication and Design: Hand Built Bicycles” to a mix of art and engineering students. The course covered welding, modeling, 3D concepts, fabrication tools, aesthetics and materials.
The riders were greeted Sunday by Cathy Teesdale, Tom’s widow, and his family, who provided drinks and snacks for the midway stop at Beranek Park.
Teesdale graduated from Western Illinois University with a degree in mathematics and a minor in physics. He wanted to teach then, but after a brief stint decided that bikes were more interesting.
When asked how the family came to West Branch, Teesdale’s son, Matt, responded with a question.
“Do you want the real story or the feel-good story?” He then launched into the feel-good version, where his dad decided to leave the family farm and “just drove ‘til he found a house he liked.”
Matt’s mother then corrected the real story to moving closer to part of her family.
That house was in Downey, where the Teesdales lived for six months, before moving north to West Branch. The first shop for TET Cycles was located on College Street in the building now occupied by West Branch Roofing.
When the weather turned cold, “he heated the shop with a wood fire,” Matt said. Teesdale later operated out of an unmarked shop at 403 S. Maple St.
McGuire told the riders gathered Sunday that, over all the years, bicycles were always second to Tom’s family. His informal operation always worked around Cathy’s schedule.
Teesdale also designed uniquely custom bikes for attendees of Iowa’s Camp Courageous – children with various special needs.
McGuire’s own son has cerebral palsy. Teesdale designed a custom tandem bike to allow father and son to ride safely together.
McQuire said the Iowa Special Olympics created a bicycling event primarily due to the availability of Teesdale’s designs, including a tandem bike for a quadriplegic rider. He said Iowa City has sent 70 to 80 riders each of the last few years to participate in the unified cycling events.
Nine of the riders Sunday were riding Teesdale bikes. This included Heck, who has ridden in “six or seven RAGBRAI’s. He also celebrated his 50th birthday with a ride across Panama. Heck praised Teesdale’s knowledge of materials.
“Nobody wants to be on a ride like that and break a fork,” he said.
He also hopes the Teesdale ride can become an annual event.
According to the family, Teesdale’s mother was somewhat disappointed in Tom. Stlll living on the family farm in Niota, Ill., she always wanted him to be a teacher. But all he wanted to do was “mess with his bicycles.”
The story goes that it was years before she was even aware that his work was world-renowned. And a visiting professorship at the university counts as teaching.
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