We signed up for the triangle land conservancy's ride for the land a
few weeks back. The ride raises money for the TLC to buy up more
rural/farm/forest land and keep it from being bought by developers to
turn into more suburbs. They had a 30, 45 and 60 mile routes. We chose
the 60mile routes. We were on the tandem so we were unfortunately not
on a rivendell today (I keep looking for a tandem on rivbike.com but
alas none are to be found :(). However, my beautiful stoker had her
eyes open and caught some shots of a couple of riv riders.
First - a beautiful mustard-y yellow custom that was having a few
chain problems:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skvidal/3710512379/
then a gorgeous blue rambouillet whose rider also has a longlow and
who said "don't tell me about any new bikes, I'll be filled with bike
lust" - so if anyone recognizes her from the picture, please send her
all the information you can about the Roadeo. :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skvidal/3711334666/
and then not a riv but clearly riv-influenced who kept pace with us
for a while in a section with a loose dog.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skvidal/3710544761/
finally, there was a woman on fuji touring that had swapped her bars
out for albatrosses and had the german mirror on there. We exchanged
some pleasantries at our matching mirrors and off we went.
This is the first organized ride I've been on in this area where I've
seen any rivendell bikes at all. It was nice to see two!
The 60 mile route wasn't particularly hilly or maybe all those hills
my stoker has been doing at the gym have been paying off. We zoomed
right along. There was a small sprinkling of rain which only served to
cool us off and dim some glare from the overcast. This was our first
ride with the computer setup at all. The stoker requested it for her
birthday so she could navigate better. Our average speed ended up
being 15.9mph which seemed respectable and a completely ridiculous max
speed of 46.1mph in one rather well shaped downhill. We weren't out
there for speed but we got a later start than everyone else so we both
felt a bit like we needed to catch up and we got two very pleasant
comments from some folks on singles to the effect of "I'm used to
tandems pulling away on downhills, but y'all passed us going UP HILL".
The stoker was rather pleased with herself about those comments.
Here's a view from the top of the big hill:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skvidal/3710547505/
and here's the video the stoker had the presence of mind to take:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skvidal/3710543703/
The ride had rest stops every 15 miles and burritos and falafel
waiting at the end of the ride. However, I attribute our good rate of
speed and rather happy demeanor to my crafty stoker. She ferreted away
a bag of medjool dates in her shirt pocket and popped them out
whenever she felt a little 'bleah'. They're excellent to eat while
moving along.
All in all a great ride out. We were home by the early afternoon. I
think this is definitely a ride we'll do again next year.
To bring this post back around to rivendell content - so -- when do
the riv tandems start being planned? This one seems like an
interesting 650b place to start:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ntfrnzn/sets/72157620747346384/
Thanks!
-sv
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