Ride report, Southern California Tandem Ride, Orange County,
California, USA
November 2, 1997
My wife and I were really looking forward to this ride. Unfortunately, Saturday night
Tera started showing signs of the flu. That night I e-mailed Andy Goldman (who was helping
Tom and Trudy putting together the ride) to express my regrets that we would not be able
to make it.
Sunday morning I got an e-mail back from Andy saying that my excuse for not being able
to make it was "not acceptable" (I'm sure he was joking!). Well, I'm not
the one who's sick, I thought, so I put the Burley in the car and drove to the ride alone.
Shortly after arriving, I had found a stoker. At 6'2", I was a little tall to
stoke Pat's tandem, so we set up the Burley for him to stoke. At 5'8", he fit O.K.,
except for the adjustable stoker stem that was still a little bit too long.
We took a little shakedown spin around the parking lot. Although Pat was heavier than
me, it didn't pose any problems in controlling the bike.
It was clear from the onset that Pat and I had two different riding styles. Since I'm
getting over tendinitis, I preferred to spin at about 90-100 RPM, while Pat liked a lower
cadence. Somehow I guess we managed to find a good compromise, because my knees were
feeling pretty good the next day.
We got off to a fast start with a slight, steady downhill and the Santa Ana winds on
our backs. We made our way to the front of the pack to socialize with some of other the
tandem teams.
After turning eastbound onto Katella, What was billed as a "small hill" in
the pre-ride advertising felt like a mountain with a hot Santa Ana headwind. Pat and I
alternated between "spinning" and "mashing" in order to get ourselves
up the hill. Pat was having trouble standing because the stoker handlebars were too close.
We pulled over at the designated rest/regrouping spot halfway up the hill. I had
underestimated the heat and had pushed myself a lot harder than I should have, so I was
glad to stop for a break.
After stopping for about 5 minutes in the 90+ degree sun, those of us at the rest stop
decided it would be better to regroup in a shadier spot. Since we were in the newer part
of the city of Orange, the only tall trees nearby were eucalyptus, which only provide
enough shade for real skinny people like me and Tom. So we made it up to the top of the
hill, then turned southbound onto Jamboree Rd. I was tempted to take a 100 yard detour to
my house in East Orange for some cold drinks, but I didn't have enough for those drafting
behind us. :) So we began the descent down Jamboree (yippee!), with Santa Anas again at
our backs.
We finally found some shade about 5 miles away from the original regrouping point.
Desperate souls that didn't have enough water resorted to using a nearby garden hose.
After 15 minutes, we still couldn't account for all of the tandem teams, so we figured
that some of them had either taken shortcuts or found shade elsewhere. So with the
climbing of the ride behind us, but with the temperatures even warmer, we completed the
rest of the relatively flat loop through Tustin, Orange, Anaheim, and Placentia before
returning to Tri-City Park.
Tom and Trudy of Downey Cyclery provided snacks and cold drinks after the ride. I
finally met Rann and Andy in person, two T@Hers that were on the ride, as well as a lot of
other faces. I thanked Pat for stoking on such short notice.
The T@H business cards came in handy - I gave out all five that I had on me!
After the ride, we talked about trying to make this a regular event, with the ride
rotating to a different location every month.
I really enjoyed the ride, and I'm looking forward to the next one!!
