Flying downhill together - mountain biker couple go tandem at Crankworx

Many mountain bikers were turning heads at Crankworx last week but Jackson and Rose Green attracted plenty of attention for a unique reason.

The couple took part in their first Crankworx on what is believed to be the only tandem downhill mountain bike.

Event director Ariki Tibble said he had not seen anything like it before.

He said riding a tandem was difficult on flat roads, let alone extreme downhill mountain biking.

It was "proportionately crazy" as far as mountain bikers went.

It started as a joke when Rose, who had wanted to do the Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge, said: "We should get a tandem bike so you could do half the work."

By chance, Jackson knew someone with a tandem.

It was husband and wife Rose (left) and Jackson Green's first time at Crankworx. Photo / Cira Olivier

"It was awesome and we had heaps of fun," she said, "but we were mountain bikers at heart, and so we thought 'I wonder if we can do this off-road'."

This led to the couple buying a basic tandem frame and fitting suspension forks on the front.

They took their new creation for a spin on easier tracks - and spent half the time on the ground because they were "slow and unco".

Three years passed and the pair realised a better-equipped bike was needed, which led to deep investigation into building a tandem bike.

The tandem at this year's festival was the fourth the couple have owned, the last three built by Jackson.

"You can't buy bikes like these off the shelf," Rose said.

Other competitors this week had tried their hand it, which left the Greens laughing as they struggled around.

"If you jumped on this without having done it before and went down the tracks it would be absolutely terrifying."

One passer-by during the festival, Morrinsville engineer Karel Gierke, could not help but gawk.

"It doesn't make sense, but it does make sense," Gierke said.

Being stopped constantly was something the Greens were used to, but they enjoyed it as it gave them a chance to meet new people.