Paul Van Dam, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, will spend the next month campaigning in rural Utah — from a bicycle seat.

And not just any bicycle. Thursday, he and his wife, Mary Dawn, showed off the unusual tandem recumbent bicycle they plan to ride some 600 miles along a route stretching from Boulder to Vernal.

Their trip begins Monday and is set to end June 19. Van Dam said they intend to ride slowly enough to be stopped by anyone along the way who wants to talk about issues facing the state.

"We don't want to rush through it in an automobile. We don't want to just have structured meetings. We want to really be out among the folks," he said. "We're going to just take our time and do what we need to do."

Van Dam has already campaigned throughout central and southern Utah to win the Democratic nomination. He defeated challenger Cody Judy at the party's state convention last week and will face Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, in the general election in November.

"It's a different world. Utah is conservative and Washington County is a very conservative place," Van Dam said, adding that he values the vision of residents there.

"People for the most part in Utah are gracious. They understand we may have a different point of view," he said. "We've had to answer some hard questions and we've had some interesting discussions. I don't avoid that."

He did not criticize the incumbent's level of interest in rural Utah issues. "I don't know if he is or he isn't," Van Dam said when asked if Bennett was giving those issues enough consideration. "I just know what I want to do."

This won't be the first long bike trip for the couple, who have biked together through China, Vietnam and much of the United States. It will be their first long trip on a tandem bike, however.

Mary Dawn Van Dam said the couple will make a similar tour through northern Utah sometime this summer. Their goal, she said, is to ride at least 1,000 miles throughout the state during the campaign.

She'll even take the driver's seat on those occasions when the candidate is making calls to potential contributors during the trip. That could be often, depending on cell phone coverage.

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