'Tubadour' pedals across the world

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'Tubadour' pedals across the world | 507 Magazine PostBulletin.com

“Tuba or not tuba” was never the question for English musician Jon Hodkin. In 2000, he came up with the concept of InnerTuba, an endeavor that unites a perfectly-tuned quartet of T’s: tuba, Tricycle, trailer, and travel.

Since its inception, Hodkin’s InnerTuba journey has taken him across thousands of miles through England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, pedaling a recumbent ICETrikes tricycle and pulling his tuba and gear in a specially designed trailer that weighs about 150 pounds.

“I've loved playing brass instruments since I was 10,” says Hodkin, “and I have loved cycle-touring since my late teens. I teamed up with a sheet metal worker in about 1987, and between us we designed and built my first trailer.”

Hodkin arrived in America in July. Since then, he’s ridden 450 miles with 10,000 other cyclists for The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) from Council Bluffs to Keokuk, dipping a tire in the Missouri and the Mississippi rivers on both ends. Sometimes he pedaled 16 hours a day in order to keep up with the demanding route.

Along the way, Hodkin is raising money for the Child Life Music and Arts Therapy program at the Blank Children’s Hospital. So far, Hodkin has raised nearly a thousand dollars.

The trip to the Midwest was sponsored in large part by the Connecticut Yankee Peddler in Chariton, IA, and the UK-based ICETrikes cycle company. The tour has included many ...

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The Englishman from Scotland who plays his tuba for Americans Mississippi Valley Publishing

Keokuk, IA - Bentley's Playground came alive Thursday afternoon as dozens of kids and adults gathered under the shelter by the splash pad to hear something not often heard – a solo tuba played by a Englishman who lives in the northernmost part of Scotland and who is biking from New Orleans to the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Wisconsin. That's a lot to take in so let's break it down.

Jon Hodkin said he has lived in many parts of England and served as a tuba player in the British Army's Royal Artillery Band. After his service, he worked in the health profession and eventually earned his credentials as an occupational therapist. But the draw of playing professionally was too great for him and he began free-lancing with symphonies and other organizations. He now lives in the northernmost part of Scotland and is on his second international tour.

Musicians do this sort of thing – touring – as part of their profession, but there's the kicker: Hodkin's tour involves a bicycle pulling a trailer that contains his tuba and other equipment from about 60 miles south of New Orleans over 2,300 miles to Lake Itasca, Wisconsin. Along the way, he stops and performs, spreading the word about tubas aren't just the ommpahs that many think of, they can be solo instruments with a wide range and a full depth of feeling and emotion.

In the shade of the Bentley Playground shelter, Hodkin played to his audience, to the kids. He's a natural teacher and had the ...

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Lansing hosts “Triking Tubadour” Jon Hodkin | The Standard ... Waukon Standard

InnerTuba pays a visit to Thornton Manor ... United Kingdom native Jon Hodkin (far right in the above photo) brought his cycling musical tour that he calls InnerTuba to Lansing Monday, August 7. As part of his stop in Lansing, Hodkin brought his custom-made recumbent tricycle and trailer, along with his tuba, to Thornton Manor, where he played some music and presented a program for residents of the care facility (some of whom are pictured above with him) about his InnerTuba venture that currently includes cycling the length of the Mississippi River.

InnerTuba provides “inner”tainment ... Jon Hodkin, creator of InnerTuba and a native of the United Kingdom, paid a visit to Lansing Monday, August 7 as part of his 2023 Mississippi River Tour that currently has him traveling the entire length of the Mississippi River, a journey of 3,000 miles in 150 days, from a starting point in Louisiana that began April 18 of this year to a planned finish at Lake Itasca in Minnesota scheduled for mid-September. As part of his travels on his custom-made recumbent tricycle that pulls a trailer housing his tuba,

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