carbonlife

Hi NorCal, I started posting recently but never properly introduced myself. My name is Dave. I was never a hardcore cyclist, but I used to have this favorite route on my old-school (no suspension) mountain bike: Start in Cupertino, ride up Hwy 9, take mountain bike trails along Skyline, down Page Mill Road, down Foothill, home (about 40 miles I think). I only recently got my first good road bike, and this year I want to learn to love climbing. I've met a couple of BFers, including running into jonathanb715 last week on Mt. Diablo after getting separated from the visiting serenegreen when I took a wrong turn earlier.

My hobbies include:

1. Photography


2. Giving grief to Msincredible
OK, I'm just name dropping to seem "cool" to the in-crowd, but seriously folks, I was one of the first to notice Paula's resemblance to Violet Parr, and the first to raise suspicions about her long "business" trips. I suspected that she was really out saving the world from evil-doers. It was on her infamous 30-day "business" trip epic that I did this sophisticated technical analysis and outed her secret identity:

I think she was actually relieved to be outed, and now flaunts her superpowers, though I have yet to witness the force field.

OK, now here's the solicitation. It's not sleazy, I just wanted some attention. On Sundays I ride with a tandem group where the stokers are all visually impaired. If you can't deduce what the stoker position is, blind guy goes in back! The group has five tandem bikes, which are stored at Blazing Saddles at Fisherman's Wharf. The biggest ride I've been on was six tandems (one person brought his own). Most rides start in SF and go over the bridge on a few different routes, and sometimes we BART over to Berkeley or Orinda. So anyways, the organizer Aaron would like to get a few more captains on the mailing list. There's never any pressure to show up for a ride, the only thing is, if you say you're gonna show up, show up or a stoker gets left behind! It does take up your whole Sunday (the sports bar / Indian restaurant visit afterwards is optional) so we're trying to get a decent pool of people to do the occasional ride. Although the rides are mellow, there's no such thing as a flat route in the Bay Area; even the small hills are a good workout because the bikes are heavy and most of the stokers are not athletic (although a few are pretty strong). Don't think you're wasting a training day, this ain't a bad workout (though the attitude is fun, not training). If you have any questions, let me know. If you're interested, please write to Aaron to be added to the mailing list, at tandemsacrossthebay at gmail dot com.

Here's the Garmin / SportTracks generated map of our route last Sunday. We typically take the ferry back from Tiburon, but the dock was closed for repairs so we had to hustle back to Sausalito to catch the ferry from there: TAB Tiburon route.

Here's a blog used just to post pictures (turn the volume down on your speakers before clicking on the link):
https://www.tandemsacrossthebay.com/

Yikes, did anyone actually read this far? If you did, thanks!

DiabloScott

That SF Grand Prix was one fine race... I saw all five editions.

redspoke

The only thing sleazy are some of these new ads over here------------------------------------------------------>>>>>
that are making BF almost NSFW.

That's really cool. I wish I was closer and had more time. And yes, I read the whole thing.

As for MsIncredible. I'm with you on the Superspy thing... For months I only saw her with the mask and I remarked to myself "Dang! She looks exactly like MrsRedspoke". I finally saw her without the mask and they look nothing alike. Phew! That picture still makes me go "Eh?" though.

7rider

Yeah, I had to do a double take when I saw an ad for the movie Doomsday over on the right. WTF?!

redspoke

Not to hijack the newb thread here, but 7Rider... I notice you have a link to Nor-Cal HS MTB. Are you a coach?

7rider

I'm a sponsor. I wish I had time to coach.

carbonlife. That's a great thing you're doing with the tandems. I know some runners who do the same thing.

For climbing, I love Montebello Road.

msincredible

Welcome Dave, I'm glad you signed up.

All, Dave is a longtime friend, former coworker, and occasional riding buddy.
And you can see he is indirectly responsible for my handle and avatar.

+1 on your cause, it sounds great and a lot of fun, I hope you get some more people to sign up.

x136 

That's very cool, Dave! That must be quite a thrill for them.

msincredible

Sorry for the confusion!

spingineer

Hey Carbonlife,
How about posting your intro to the sticky https://www.bikeforums.net/northern-california/285167-hey-norcal-let-s-get-know-each-other.html

taxi777

Ok...So here's how small of a world it is! Aaron is a good friend of mine. He and his wife we're tenants in one of the buildings I manage on Nob Hill. I used to store his bike in my boiler room. I saw the spark ignite and flare for their love of cycling. They we're really nice and a couple of my favorite residents ,we talked a lot about cycling, and he wanted me to captain a tandem for the blind but work commitments made me afraid of people depending on me to be there for them on a regular schedule. Now I find your connected to Paula and have met JohnathanB. Pretty cool! Tell Arron Pete his old manager said hi, and have him join up here and say hi. Welcome to NorCal
Pete

BlastRadius

Welcome aboard Dave. I wish my wife would ride a tandem but nooooo...

carbonlife

Thanks Paula.


Duh, I didn't even notice that. Will do.


Wow the circle of humanity. You know Aaron, who knows me, who knows Paula, who knows you. Cool. I sent him an e-mail to sign up and say hi. Maybe he'll come here and bug you to join us for a ride!


I was trying to emphasize that there is no expectation of doing it on a regular basis. We just want a few more captains on the mailing list who can ride with us occasionally. You know how cool Aaron is, we just have fun, with no pressure.

OK, thanks for listening, now back to your regularly scheduled programming...

taxi777

Ok! Sign me up!
I'll see what I can do....And tell that Pain in A** Aaron to give a hey!