[cfblue]

What a wonderful day we had in Marin, just north of San Francisco. Got the CoMotion out for the first ride after getting the rear disk aligned correctly and the stoker space enlarged a bit. We rode from home, downtown San Rafael, for my stokers first cycling adventure in West Marin, out Sir Francis Drake blvd., up and over White's Hill, through Samuel P Taylor State park on the rail trail, up and over to Olema and then the ultimate goal of the famed Bovine Bakery in Pt Reyes Station.

We took a bit too long with the coffee and bakery treat, but were chatting with the other lycra clad cyclists, so we rode off a bit stiffly to return via Petaluma-Pt Reyes Rd to Nicassio and then Lucas Valley Rd to home. Total of 46 miles with an average speed of 13.5. My lovely stoker's second hardest ride, but the first where she didn't run out of steam until after we got home.

What a grand cycling year this is going to be!

[The BikeForums Team]

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[Thigh Master]

Excellent thread - I'm gonna ride your coat tails... we had a great weekend ride and a stoker milestone. We have ridden from Menlo Park to Capitola 3x one-way; this past weekend we did our first down-and-back in one weekend, and like your ride - we had great weather too. It was the most mileage for my stoker as well as elevation gain (3,500' total on the return). GORGEOUS return. Great to know you were out there as well soaking it all up together, breaking new ground... thanks for the nice thread.

[matthew_deaner]

I also had a good Sunday ride. I originally didn't intend to take the tandem out on Sunday. Some friends and I had planned to ride a fairly hilly century that day, and I was going to take my usual road bike (a Trek 5200). But - my 10-year old son got homesick at his mom's house on Saturday night (we're separated) and decided he'd rather come home with me. So since my childcare arrangements were shot, I thought that the century that I had planned wasn't going to happen either.

I complained about missing the century to my son, and he said "Why can't we go on the tandem?" Well, I wasn't expecting this, since his longest ride was about 45-miles, with a really light pace. And the folks that I had planned to ride with on Sunday were on regular, single bikes, and they keep a fast pace. Then there was the terrain... we live near Bloomington, Indiana, and it's full of short but steep hills. The century we had planned covered the Nashville 90 route, and tacked on 10-miles north of Bloomington.

So we decided to do the century on the tandem. My friends couldn't believe it when I showed up on Sunday morning with my son stoking behind me. We ended up doing fine; we only had trouble keeping up with the single riders on some of the steeper hills. On the flats, the extra horsepower of the tandem was actually an advantage and we ended up doing a lot of pulling.

My son got tired and rear power pretty much shut down around mile 65, and that's also when the route started getting really difficult (at about Bear Wallow Hill, near Nashville, IN, for those familiar with the area). The rest of the ride was really hard for me... it was like an exploration in pain. But we still had a great time and I would do it all again in a heartbeat. My son felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment for completing his first century - as he should! And he wants to do long rides more often.

Overall: Length: 98.4 miles ; Climbing 7,148 ft; Avg. speed: 16.1

[Ginny]

If you did 7000+ feet climbing with a 10 yo and averaged 16mph, you rock!
And so does he.

[matthew_deaner]

If you did 7000+ feet climbing with a 10 yo and averaged 16mph, you rock!
And so does he.

Thanks!

We're a fairly light team, so we do OK at hill climbing. I weigh 160lbs and he weighs 71lbs. And it also helped that we finally got the out-of-phase climbing and standing thing down this ride - at least, when my son still felt like standing.

The main reason we maintained that average speed is due to the group we were riding with. I couldn't stand the idea of being dropped because of being on a tandem (even though our tandem is a Santana lugged steel boat-anchor from the 80s).

I am still hurting from that ride. I'm serious. My son, on the other hand, told me yesterday that, this weekend, he wanted to go with me to Calvin's Challenge on the tandem (Yikes!). He might be able to handle it - but not me. I'm not to the point where I can stand 12-hours and 220+ miles on a tandem in one day yet....

[stapfam]

I did a charity 40 miler last sunday with a new stoker. Relatively flat route so as not to put him under any strain and he did well. No pics of the Tandem but just to make you jealous of our "Rural" England- we had stops at two castles. One is the Oldest Norman castle in England and built around 1080 and and the other a bit more modern and is a false one having been rebuit around the 1700's.

A great ride for a Novice Stoker and we are now planning the next ride to take in a bit of offroad and some hills.
Batman and Robin are at the Norman castle at Pevensey and the lone figure in the distance is the new Stoker at Herstmoncieux