Date |
Ride |
Est. miles |
Actual |
Comments |
18-May |
Vancouver WA |
80 |
85 |
We picked up the new daVinci Fridy night. Today we rode from Cindy’s house in Portland over the 205 bridge and picked up the Ride Around Clark County route. The weather improved as the day progressed finishing in 70 degree sunshine. It was a very hilly ride. We saw 4 other tandems and even rode with Diane & Michael for awhile. We LOVE our new tandem. This was a bit long for a shake-down ride. The stoker bars weren’t right and there was a chirping sound we couldn’t find to elminate.Also the bike computer would only show cadence. |
19-May |
Portland – Salem |
50 |
45 |
After getting the bars fixed at Gateway we took off and from from Portland to Salem. The weather wasn’t as nice as Saturday but it didn’t rain. And the route was significantly flatter. Our bike computer started working about 15 minutes into the ride (after the only hills) so it showed our average as 17 mph. We left the bike at Gateway for some more tweaking and will get it again next weekend. Then we can get some photos online. |
26-May |
Mt. St. Helen |
85 |
87 |
We rode from the freeway up to the Coldwater Visitor Center. It’s a long hard climb. This is the third time we’ve done the whole thing and our best time ever. We completed 87 miles in 6:13 saddle time (7:35 clock time includes breaks). Our maximum speed was 43 mph. It might’ve been faster except we had a strong headwind going down the mountain.The day started cloudy and we got spit on more than once. It eventually turned warm and sunny by the end. The cobbler we picked up at the 19 Mile House was incentive to finish strong. |
27-May |
Mercer Island |
20 |
23.52 |
Did a nice fast loop around Mercer Island from our house. Averaged 16.6 mph. It was warm enough to ride without long sleeves. In fact it was muggy out. |
1-Jun |
Wenatchee Apple Century |
100 |
105 |
We stayed at Ellen’s in Leavenworth Friday night with Ralph & Carol Nussbaum from ETC. The ride was changed this year so it didn’t have a mass start. We felt strong all day even as the temperatures rose to 80+ and finished the 105 miles averaging 17.7 mph. We were especially working to keep our off-saddle time to a minimum and managed to spend 6 hours in the saddle and 1 hour off, averaging less than 15 minutes per rest stop. |
2-Jun |
Recovery Ride |
30 |
28 |
Rode from the house to Seward Park then through the Arboretum onto the Burke Gilman to Fremont and back home. Spencer’s goal was to not get higher than zone 3 (heart-rate) and he was pretty much successful. |
8-Jun |
Home to Auburn RT |
90 |
91 |
Unseasonably cold weather (55 degrees) and some hard rain and wind made this a challenging ride to do alone. We dealt with mechanical issues and detours. All in all our least favorite ride in a long time. |
9-Jun |
Carnation to Monroe |
50 |
36 |
STP Paceline training ride. What a difference a day makes! Today was gorgeous, sunny, dry weather, close to 70 degrees. We had a great, fast ride and planned out the remainder of our training schedule and STP strategies. |
15-Jun |
Camano Climb & Skagit Flats |
110 |
100 |
We forgot to check the schedule or we would’ve done the extra ten miles! We improved on last year’s pace around Camano Island from 15.5 to 16.7 for the 50 miles and increased our top speed from 52.7 to 55.4! Then we tacked on another 50 flat miles through the Skagit Flats |
16-Jun |
|
30 |
31 |
Did a Great Harvest Bakery run and picked up bread in our panniers. Ran into folks we knew on the way. It was a short, leisurely ride. |
20-Jun |
Mercer Island |
20 |
23.75 |
A beautiful, hot Thursday and Spencer was out of school so we went for an impromtu spin around Mercer Island from our house. Sheila dislikes the ride from the house to MI and back due to traffic but we both love racing around the island’s curves and hills. We averaged 16.5. |
22-Jun |
Flying Wheels |
100 |
104 |
Cascade Bicycle Club is the biggest bike club in the country. They produce many large and excellent events, including the STP. This one is no exception. We had fine weather (a bit hot by the end). They reversed the route but it’s still pretty hilly (5 big ones). We rode with Mike & Cindy from our training team and Jay Nordquist who’ll be joining us on STP as a tail-gunner on his single. We averaged 18.2. Our only complaint is that they really needed one more water/toilet stop on the route, especially on such a hot day. 1:45 minutes between rest stops is simply too long. |
23-Jun |
ETC Ride |
40 |
51.5 |
This ETC ride started at Sedro Wooley and turned around at Concrete. There were 7 tandems led by Don & Carol Hayes. It was another gorgeous day, a bit cooler than yesterday and the route was wonderful. We’d never been on these roads. Not only scenic, but light traffic and the ups and downs were so gradual it felt all but flat. This was a recovery day for us and the ride was advertised at 14 mph but the group ended up averaging a healthy 17.4 with some pacelining. It was great to ride with Steve & Denise on their new tandem. They helped set the blistering pace! |
30-Jun |
Seattle > Mt. Vernon < back |
140 |
138.3 |
Today was quite an adventure. After getting up at 5:30 a.m. we met Dave & Kelly and Jay in Woodinville and started riding at 7. The forecast was for rain. It stayed cool and cloudy and spit on us a few times. At mile 47 Kelly’s cold got the best of her and they decided they needed to turn back. Since Jay’s rear tire was giving out, we all rode back together to Jay’s house in Lake Stevens. Jay & Sara took Dave & Kelly back to their car in Woodinville and we continued on alone. When we came back through Snohomish we ran into the ETC Sno-Mon loop ride just coming out of the pie shop! It was fun to see Steve & Denise who lead that ride. Somewhere along High Bridge road some blackberry bramble jumped out and attacked us. We both had bloody arms. We ended up doing 138.3 miles at a 17.3 mph pace. Not too bad considering we did half of it alone and there were a fair number of hills. We rode through some sunshine with more rain spitting at us and at Maltby, 7 miles from the end, it started to downpour. We donned our rain gear and finished the ride at 5 p.m. It was a long day and we were pretty tired. It’s the longest ride we’ve done in one day, ever. Today we reached 1000 miles on our new tandem, Clio. |
6-Jul |
|
60 |
36 |
We met Jay & Sara at the airfield in Snohomish. We swapped stokers so Sara could try out the independant coasting on our daVinci. The hope was it would be good for her bum knee. While we had fun, her knee still hurt. We did a nearly flat 18 miles. Then after switching stokers back, we did the loop again, without them. The weather was gorgeous and we’re hoping it’ll be the same for next Saturday’s STP. |
7-Jul |
|
20 |
47.8 |
Today was our final training ride with our STP training group. Unfortunately Kelly was still not feeling well so they weren’t able to ride. The rest of us rode from Tracy Owens Park around the north end of Lake Washington including a loop around Mercer Island. After yesterday’s weather it was hard to adjust to the marine layer that brought clouds, colder temperatures and eventually rain for the last part of our ride. Mike’s foot came unclipped and he hurt it. We’re hoping it’s a minor setback. |
13-Jul |
STP |
200 |
199.3 |
Click here to see our full photo/report: STP |