It's back, the SART Journal ongoing thread Here it is in the SoCalBikeforums.com forum under "Ride Reports"..or just follow the link.
Another 41 SART miles. Had planned to ride with Aimee but the morning of the ride Alyce asked if we had plans to ride the tandem. Yes we were so hop on your tandem and come along, Shirley it would be fun! Something unusual about Alyce's outfit, she's wearing tights and a jersey with an under layer. Heck, usually when it's this cool she's in shorts and a tank top ha ha!
So we head out and it feels cold so a nice long warm up was good. Because it had been so windy the day before I figured I'd move aside and let the H&A tandem take some pulls. This was nice, it makes a world of difference when someone works with you. Two tandems rotating is nice. Other riders didn't seem to mind at all either.
One point we made some rather wide turns on the horse shoe turn by the Honda Center. A couple of rider cut it short and ended up cutting of the H&A tandem, OOOKAY! Not sure where these guys came from but the race off and keep looking back like they want to race, OOOKAY! The H&A tandem hold the front and from behind I'm keeping myself entertained watching the two guys pretend we're racing. Sure enough by the time we get to the leaky fountain the guys are fading. The one at the back bobbing and swerving in a desperate effort to stay ahead. This is always good for a chuckle though I don't understand it. The H&A tandem keep pace at the front as we roll by the two riders. Of course they hop on the back and are happy to hang there so I got to get them on video ha ha! I guess I just can't ever understand why riders want to make a race out of it when they encounter other rides our there just doing their thing. Surely when a faster rider rolls by they just keep rolling. But when you got guys ahead the keep looking back every 10 seconds, you know they're up to no good ha ha! Seen this too many times and it's always good for a laugh ha ha!
So anyway, we stop to refill water at Edna and a short break. We get to talking about bikes and rides when I realize I really got to go pee. So I ask Herb to hold on cause I GOTTA go! Herb says no problem but stands at the door and keeps on with the story while I try to pee. I can see over the wall of the stall and I really got to go but Herb keeps on. Then he asks me a question and I can't answer. Dude, I really got to pee and he's asking for essay answers ha ha! I finally had to avoid the questions so I could do my thing. It was almost like when someone asks you to try whistling and peeing at the same time, it's not happening here, not today. So I come out laughing and tell the story to the gals along with some illustrations of myself trying to hit the target while Herb demands answers. That was good for a few laughs. You know Herb & Alyce skipped church to come along for the ride. Church is good but I don't think they would have had these kind of laughs if they had. Ya know, I could be making my way to hell with my sense of humor but I'm having a whole lot of fun doing it ha ha!
So on with the ride. It was fun! The H&A tandem would take a turn at the front giving us a much needed break. Herb did a good job with the rotation. We did nice long pulls, maybe 2 miles at a time. Most other riders that take the front will pretty much move to the front and immediately lift the pace. If we are racing OK, but trying to ride "together", it really helped that he'd let us catch our breath for a minute then continue. Too many times ride partners will let us take a monster pull then go around lifting the pace by 3 or 4 MPH. That's a killer trying to catch up and recover. Most times it won't happen for a mile or two. Then it's usually time for the other rider to off the front leaving us with pretty much more of an all out effort to catch up than recovery time. Ahhhh this is the way I like to ride "together". After a monster pull, your ride partners give you a minute to recover then continues.
After a couple of bad weekends and performances on the bike I was worried that today was going to be murder with Gina on the tandem. let me tell you, tandems can be fun and fast but if your partner is struggling, it can be murder on the legs. I was really expecting a big struggle today but Gina really came around for today's ride. Seemed we all did well and rode "together" well so it made for a really fun ride!
No comments:
Post a Comment